With all our imaginations urging us towards our arrival in Vence for Christmas it was easy to forget that we had 10 more days to explore Vence and the Cote D’Azur; 10 more days for the cousins to have fun; 10 more days with John, Wendy, Pete and Sally.
Vence was the perfect base from which to launch our adventures. The walk into town, although steep in places, was soon a familiar trip and public transport from Vence was easy.
It continued to rain on the day after boxing day so we had another day around the “Villa” and a few of us made the journey under umbrella into Vence to run errands, get haircuts and pick up groceries. The kids enjoyed more time to read, play Uno, write in their journals and generally chill out. There was a reasonable selection of books at the house – including a few Dan Brown books. I read Digital Fortress, a book I can’t recommend, but Amelia read The Da Vinci code and I think she is hooked.
On Thursday the 28th December we headed a short way south to St Paul De Vence. A small, old town given over to artisans, restaurants and tourist shops we all wandered and perused the many stores. The ladies made some purchases and Pete found us a Crepe Restaurant with an incredible view.
The next day most of the clan stayed put while the Ingrams headed into Cagnes Sur Mer. Our first stop was the tourist info office to confirm our plans. A lovely lady happily assisted us and, like several people in France, tolerated our attempts at French in trade for them to practice their English. Our day included a visit to the Renoir Museum, the Medieval Village and the Grimaldi castle. Hamish has written about this in a separate blog. Hamish was disappointed to miss a ride on a carnival swing – something I would rectify the following day.
Plans for the next day saw the girls heading back to St Paul De Vence. More shopping, lunch and the pick up of of some earlier purchases was on the agenda. I had decided to take Hamish into Cagnes Sur Mer to ride the carnival swing and to have some father/son time – something Hamish has been asking for some time. We extended the invitation to Pete and Alastair and John who all decided to join us. A simple day … fun on the swing, followed by lunch before heading back to Vence.
Over the coming days we took trips using bus and train into Antibes, Nice (including a side trip to Villefranche-sur-Mer), and Cannes with the full clan.
In the midst of these journeys, the Ingrams also managed to squeeze a travelling day to Monaco. Another country ticked off but also the realisation of a dream of mine. So many late nights watching the Monaco Grand Prix with my Dad and an unfulfilled promise to travel there with him were in my mind as we rode the tourist bus along parts of the track.
Before we knew it, our time was nearly up. A special dinner (with a Michelin Star chef) on our last night allowed us to toast John and Wendy whose original desire to have us together in Vence was the catalyst for our entire trip. Home to the house for a final pack and we were off by 9:30am on the Saturday with London in our sights.