hiking high up in the hills of mandelieu

our furry neighbors

we often sit out on our balcony, which overlooks the front garden of the hotel next door. it's a small, quiet hotel in it's down season - probably just picking up a bit, now that the weather is nicer. they have a huge orange tree and a tiny fragrant lemon tree that bring brightness and cheer to our daily view.

we have seen the cats come and go, lounging around in the sunshine taking in the breeze...scurrying about, jumping from one front garden to the next. then one day, we saw something that, at first glance, was furry, fluffy and.....wait, is that, a....bunny?



yes, it was indeed a bunny. and it has a strange resemblance to an old bunny friend we used to have in our family as kids, harlequin. he was a boisterous little thing - always trying to get away and escape from his bunny house. sadly, harley won the battle one day - he succeeded. he ran away. all for what we think was in search of a lady friend. little bugger.

i do hope that everyone had a nice weekend, as we did here. we went on a new hike yesterday, gorgeous views - i'll post some photos soon. the weather here is getting warmer and the sunsets setting later and later as the days go by ;-)

this past weekend felt very much like springtime or even the beginning of summer.....warm sunshine in the afternoon, fresh cool breezes in the evening.

we were not the only ones enjoying the beautiful weather this weekend, our furry friends were too....and i was happy to see them all frolicking about together.

perhaps they were posing just for me....

hiking in the south of france

ok, i feel better today. back to normal, back on track ;-) happy self!! thank you to everyone wishing me well after being so sick!!

so david and i are on a new kick. every sunday, for the past couple of weeks, we have taken a walk or hike in a nearby city or village.

i wrote about Pégomas already, and this past weekend we went to visit Vallauris (pronounced val-lure-eese)

we aren't just randomly taking walks or hikes, that would not be advisable, we would most definitely get lost, knowing us.....we would have to leave breadcrumb trails in order to find our way back.....

we are actually pretty organized with our hikes, and it's so much fun - - i'll tell you how we do it...

in france, there are a myriad of organized, documented and marked hiking trails and excursions all overseen by the Fédération Française de la Randonnée Pédestre (FFRP) - which is a recognized public body (utilité publique). basically everything in france has a governing body, that creates rules, guidelines and is the central govern for that association or federation.

there are more than 160 different trails, hikes and marked tours on their website. you can buy maps, join clubs, get gear - - apparently it's a huge thing here for the outdoor'sy types, and we are just discovering it for ourselves (are we becoming outdoor'sy types?!?)

we didn't quite know all of that information last weekend when we went out, but we were able to find a great website. for our region specifically, Des Alpes-Maritimes, there is a fantastic website with specific information for our area, RandOxegéne, maps and all. perfect directions and great routes.

we are total amateurs though. it's sort of funny. really.

last week we decided to go on this hike ---> Circuit de Cordula. since it's in french, let me summarize:

this is what the 'key' said about the hike (translations are in brackets)

Caractéristiques (characteristics of the hike)
Vallauris (this was the city it was in)
Longueur 3.5 km (Length, 2.18 miles)
Montée +150 m (Climb up, 492 feet)
Descente -150 m (Climb down, 492 feet)
Durée 01h30 (Length of hike, 1 1/2 hours)
Difficultée Facile (Level of Difficulty, Easy)
Période conseilléeJanvier à Décembre (Best time to go, January through December)

sounds pretty easy, right?

haa haa. joke's on us. what amateurs. perhaps we should try to find out if they have a 'very easy' category next time! ha!

it was so hard - - the climb to 'the top' was seriously taxing. i had to stop and literally sit on a rock fence to stop and breathe a little. plus, we were up so high in the mountains - - i think it's harder to breathe up there (or maybe i was just being a big wimp?!?)

david was giggling at me the whole way, but he was carrying the bag so i was okay with that.....perhaps i had one too many glasses of rosé at our valentine's dinner the previous night? hmmmm. could be.....

anyway, i should probably start back at the beginning of our hike, i'm missing important parts of the story here.

so the first part of the hike says this:
"Du centre de Vallauris (parking de la mairie), prendre vers le Nord l'avenue de Grasse pour remonter bientôt à droite l'ancien chemin de Biot (petite route) qui longe le cimetière; on remarquera au passage la monumentale tombe de l'acteur Jean Marais décorée de grandes sculptures"

which means (hopefully my translation is suffice):
"From the parking lot at the town hall in Vallauris, take the street Avenue de Grasse going northbound. You will see on your right, chemin de Biot - a small street by the cemetery. As you pass, you'll see the marked tomb of the actor Jean Marais decorated in large sculptures."

ok, great. we made it to the cemetery. didn't see the grave of the actor, no bother, carrying on.

next step:
"Déboucher plus haut par un escalier sur la RD 435 qu'on traverse avec prudence face à la chapelle St-Bernard; continuer en face par une petite route calme qui s'élève en direction de la Chèvre d'Or (aven naturel), puis contourner toute la colline des Encourdoules par la gauche (Ouest) tantôt sur sentier, tantôt sur route, jusqu'à un bassin d'eau"

which means:
"Across from the St. Bernard Chapel, by a staircase, you'll run into the RD 435 by; cross the road with care. Continue in straight ahead of you to a small calm road that goes up towards the Chevere d'Or. Then go around the hill of the Encourdoules on the left, stay on the route until you see a basin of water."

ok, this is where we first messed up. if you could have seen the choice we had you would understand. a staircase? i mean, literally? oh wait - - we actually see a sort of staircase, that must be it!

so we look up this staircase, which is more of a tiny path almost like an alley, it doesn't quite look right. oh well, we figured we would try it out. all of a sudden "BARK> BARK> BARK>" ooooweee. we bolted right out of there.
must not be right - - a crazy semi-rabid dog? i don't think that was on the map.....!

so we kept walking down the street we were on and found another way up to the RD 435 road. and surprisingly found the next step of the hike - the calm road towards the chevere d'or.

nice......we were having fun.

so we climbed up the road - - it was literally wide enough for one car, and at an angle upwards that was seemingly difficult!

so we passed some beautiful multi-million dollar homes secluded and nestled into the side of the hills, with breathtaking sea views, infinity edged pools, verandas, vines and bmw's. (cue corey into a dream-state.....sigh) oh, not to forget me snapping photos......

hang on a minute, is that the low battery signal flashing?!?! oh crap, i forgot to charge my batteries........

on to the next part of the hike:
"Un chemin commode sous les yeuses conduit au sommet de l'oppidum de Cordula (248 m), plateau arboré où se déroulent des fouilles archéologiques"

which means:
"An apparent path underneath the oak trees will take you to the top of the l'oppidum de Cordula (the archeological site of an ancient city). Mostly flat and filled with trees where you can see the archeological site."

so after passing some more crazy guard dogs who barked ferociously, at the millionaire's houses, we were beginning to wonder if we were on the right path. seemed sort of strange and we really didn't know where we were going. nonetheless, we kept walking upwards.

the whole way, i was getting more and more tired and this is where i had to stop....take a break, sit on a rock fence and have some water. we were up so high in the hills, it was beautiful!

all of a sudden we see other hikers! oh, we must be on the right path then, huh? but how pathetic must we have looked....me semi-hunched over, sitting on someone's rock fence, guzzling water? i suddenly became embarrassed, such amateurs, this is a facile (easy) route!

to our surprise, the lovely couple stopped and asked us "vous êtes venu faire le tour?", "you're taking the walk?" we explained to them that we weren't sure if we were going the correct way, they assured us that the rest of the loop is just up to the right - - where we'll see the archeological site. they also warned us that the path isn't always apparent once you are in the forest. they wished us luck and off they went. and up the hill we went.

at first, the path was well laid out, marked and easy to follow. well, we knew it was a loop - our small map on our printout said that, so we just have to keep turning right until we end up back here again, right?

not quite. we kept coming to forks in the path - - and normally one way will always look less travelled so to speak, and you can sort of use instinct to follow through. i have a pretty good sense of direction, am pretty good with maps, reading directions.....but, in a forest, tall trees surrounding you, no frame of reference (oddly enough, we did have a constantly barking dog for direction).......

so at one point, i turned around. have you ever had that feeling of 'oh shit' which way did we come from? well, i did. i don't normally get the feeling of being lost. i normally have a map or just plainly remember where i am going or came from. but this time, the forest started making me slightly claustrophobic, high up there in the mountains, no frame of reference to see...........am i starting to sweat?!?!

this one of the last photos i could take before my battery crashed, it was the only one i have of the forest...

david grabbed my hand, and we barreled forward towards what we thought was the right way. he assured me he knew where he was (i don't really think he knew at all). then all of a sudden, david was like - - oh look, do you see that yellow mark on that tree? i think that looks like the right way!

again, total amateurs. how could we have not known that since this is an official hiking route that it would be marked using the official hiking route markers used in france.

all this time, there have been balises (route waymarkers) posted on trees, fences, etc. and we missed them all. could have saved us a horrific run-in with a semi-rabid dog, almost getting severely lost in the countryside and for me a moment of complete claustrophobia.

once we realized that we could follow the yellow markers we were home free. we found our way back easily and had a wonderful time on our hike. although the archeological site wasn't actually anything more than a forest with a few piles of rocks here and there. it wasn't exactly like any ancient ruins i have ever seen elsewhere in europe.....

it was fun and we are excited to learn more about the many, many different types of routes there are, waymarkers you will see to help guide you and terrains we can discover.

this photo give you an idea of our view on the opposite side of the ocean, facing inland, gorgeous....

missing....

this photo was taken last september in chicago.......audra, margo and i were all together and went walking along lake michigan just after a big storm. it was beautiful, we took tons of photos and they make me happy whenever i look at them....(for this one, we setup the auto timer and then jumped in the air - - we were cracking up - - it was hilarious)

i have been very sick for the past two days. actually, this is the sickest i can ever in my entire life remember being. and i feel far from home.

i think when people are sick, they really go back to the basics - - besides feeling horrible, it wrecks havoc on your senses and your emotions. we all search, and need, that comfort feeling of home and warm and safe.

i'm not sure how long it takes in a new place for that to become 'home' - - but i'm not there yet. do you think it's a frame of mind? an event that causes the flip in thinking? the people you are surrounded by? a steady job?

i am not sure......

but just for today, i'm taking a pause....thinking about things, and wishing i could transport myself - - even if for one day - - to the place i call home.

i don't know how lots of things work here - - i don't know how to say things politely in french, or at least i feel like i am going to sound rude, and fear offending people constantly. everything is so different and i never know what to do or what to say. and it makes me uncomfortable. on a daily basis.

but, to reassure myself, this is quite normal. i'm not sure there is a person on earth who wouldn't have these feelings once in a while if living in a far away place........

so tomorrow is another day, a new beginning and don't worry - i'll keep moving forward.....

everything will be okay ;-)

(and i promise i'll write lots of fun and happy stuff in a few days......)

plane trees in cannes

our gorgeous plane trees in cannes are now naked. sigh.
they must be chilly......

every year, before spring, the gorgeous plane trees are trimmed bare naked - - ready for their new leaves to sprout out in the springtime. this is actually their second trimming though. their first trimming, a few months ago, was to remove all of the crispy dried and dead leaves.

now, only a few 'whiskers' remain.

this is the time of year, when they are naked, that they look like upside-down trees.

almost as if someone came along and planted dozens of trees into the earth, but the wrong way up!

i couldn't resist taking some photos to share - they are absolutely eye-catching with their tangly, knotty branches spindling upwards into the blue sky....






you can find these trees in many, many towns in the south of france - not only in cannes. most of the year they are filled with beautiful leaves, full of life and green as can be....and they provide needed shade in the heat of the summer months.

here is an excerpt i found from rick steves' book 'Provence and the French Riviera' about the plane trees of southern france:

"Stately old plane trees line roads and provide canopies of shade for town squares all over southern France. These trees are part of the local scene. The plan tree is a hybrid of the Asian and American sycamores - created accidentally in a 16th-century Oxford botanical garden. The result was the perfect city tree: fast-growing, resistant to urban pollution, and hearty (it can survive with little water and lousy soil). The plan tree was imported to southern France in the 19th century to replace the traditional elm trees. Napoleon planted them along roads to give his soldiers shade for their long marches. Plane trees were used to leaf up grand boulevards as towns throughout France - including Aix-en-Provence - built their Champs-Elysees wannabes."

i'm not quite sure why i am so fascinated by the trees here in cannes, i just think they are all so beautiful.....they transport me to another place, another world and jump-start my imagination.....

to dream and to imagine..........thank you plane trees, thank you.

mimosa flowers in pégomas

yesterday, david and i went to pégomas, a town not to far away, to visit the mimosa fields.

i was never familiar with mimosa flowers in the past - - and if anyone were to ask me, i'd probably say it was a drink, champagne and orange juice, right? delicious with brunch. but recently, my eyes were opened to the prettiest and most happy looking flower i have seen in a long time. and right now is the height of the mimosa season. and i love it.

mimosa's can look very different, depending on the variety, where you live, climate, etc. here in the south of france the winter mimosa's are famous for being bright yellow, snowball-like and fluffy and they smell amazing. there are festivals celebrated in their honor, parades marched for them and even tours created to view them.

they bloom from mid-january through the summer. in hindsight, we went to visit pégomas a bit too early - - the mimosa's are not all fully bloomed just yet. but amazing they are, regardless if we were a week or so early.

i am so happy for the mimosa's......

so david and i decided to take a hiking tour that we found listed online, about a 2 hour walk, to see these magnificent flowers in all of their glory. pégomas is the best mimosa town to go to visit near us and is very well known for their flowers.

we started off in the city centre of pégomas and headed down a little country lane along la siagne river. we passed some typical provencal houses, fireplaces roaring, wide open spaces, just gorgeous.

if you look closely, all of the yellow you see in the hills are the mimosa flowers blooming

after a few wrong turns here and several back-tracking routes, we were able to find the mimosa path that we were avidly searching. the beginning of the path made us stop and think for a minute - - where does this path go? is this even right? looks sort of weird. but we went for it.

the path immediately ascended steeply up the hillside. twisting and turning, one step too far to the left and you may swiftly end up sliding down the side of the hill. and the further we climbed upwards towards the sky, the more we were starting to feel as though it may be a mountain as opposed to a hill.

we kept climbing.






then, after walking for a while and around a sharp bend - - we started to see the flowers. wow. the views were breathtaking.

and every so often, the path would flatten out a little bit as to help us catch our breaths, slow down and take in the landscape around us. i just kept saying - - "oh, wow. just beautiful! look at that! oh wait, look at that!" (then snap, snap, taking photos)

the further we hiked upwards, and it seemed at every turn, the view just kept getting more and more beautiful as we ascended.

and we were alone, except for one or two lonesome passer-bys. like an old man with a hiking cane - - looked like a localman out enjoying his sunday

there is an undeniable rejuvenating feeling of just being out in the wilderness, breathing fresh, crisp and clean countryside air....being surrounded with wild beauty and never-ending blue skies

then finally, we realized at a turn, just how far up we had hiked.

look at the view we had......wow

here are a few shots i took of the mimosa's in all of their fluffy yellowness along the trail

there were also eucalyptus bushes along the path as well. i don't think i had ever seen wild eucalyptus before. and the scent. i don't even know if i can describe it.

i did, though, pick one little leaf off the bush. i crushed it in my hand and the essential oils burst out from this one tiny leaf - - i couldn't believe how fresh and yummy it smelled. i was amazed! and even when you are just near the bushes, the wind picks up the scent and whooshes it around you, it smells delightful!

we had a wonderful time out in pégomas on a bright, beautiful sunday afternoon. we will definitely do this again, perhaps in a few more weeks when more mimosa's are fully bloomed.

to market, to market!!

le marché forville is just one of the few markets that operate in cannes - but it's my favorite...

it is open everyday until 1 or 1:30ish except monday. you can find fresh fruit, veggies, cheese, fresh flowers, fresh meat and cured meat, artisanal breads, olives and plenty more!

it's located near le suquet, or the old town, and it's also near the vieux port.

it is a beautiful building, with large white pillars where vendors setup their tables each day. the exterior walls of the building are essentially 'cut-out' and when the market is empty, you can see through from one side of the market to the other. when it's cold, windy, rainy or such, large curtain-like 'walls' are rolled down into place around the exterior openings to protect the people and food from the elements.

when shopping at the market, david and i love to circle around a few times to see what is being offered. not every vendor is there everyday - and depending on what time of day you are there at - some vendors packup and leave as soon as they run out. so if you go too late you may miss out!

sometimes, if you look carefully, you will find some vendors selling fruit / veggies as a 'lot', as shown in the photo above. for instance, if you wanted to buy all the fruit in one of the metal bowls, you would pay, say 1 euro (there is always a sign showing the price per bowl)....much less than what you would pay by the kilo if you select each peice yourself. they are oftentimes very, very ripe fruit, sometimes may be slightly damaged (but perfectly good). and depending on how / what you need to use it can be worthwhile.

the prices vary according to quality, where the food originates from (i.e. from france or imported from spain or morocco) and also you'll find that when the fruit is super-ripe you will see very low prices. which, in my opinion, you have to be careful of - but i always touch/squeeze everything just to make sure. no one wants to buy 10 kiwi's for 2 euros if they only last one day right? (that's a lot of kiwi!!)

so far, we have a few vendors that we like to visit and their prices are just right :-)

some vendors use vitrines, or glass display cases, everyday to display their food. they are primarily used for the fresh cheese and meat and also for the cured meat and saucisson.

markets here are seasonal and people tend to eat more seasonally so than in the u.s.. which means that people eat more so what is in season than what is not. also, it is pretty hard to find most summer fruit here in the winter. you can, of course, buy berries and kiwi and such but they come from very far away and are really pricey. most of the 'summer' fruit and veggies right now in the markets come from spain or morocco.

i have found that i really like to eat seasonally and since it's so easy to do here it is fun! in the u.s. i guess it's not something that is on the top of everyone's mind when buying fruit / veggies, as everything is so accessible. eating seasonally is not culturally integrated into everyday living in the u.s. - but i do recommend it!

the flowers sold in this market are one of my favorite things to browse / buy. if i could buy flowers everyday i would. flowers are seasonal as well. so it's not likely that you'll find my favorite, peonies, now in the wintertime. i guess i'll have to wait.........

in the meantime, there are plenty of other flowers you can buy, normally sold by the bunch (5 or 10 stems per bunch usually) for 3-5 euros a bunch.

i will try to post a 'market' entry every so many months so i can share more pics! all of these photos i took myself and are all recent. i have tons of other market photos from various other years david and i visited danielle, but i'll only ever use current photos on my blog, and only photos taken by me!

i hope everyone is doing well 'back home' and managing to stay warm in all of the arctic weather that has been whisking through the midwest.......

À bientôt!

what if....

what if?

what if plays an important role in each of our lives. we make decisions based on it, we live our lives according to what we feel the answers are to it. we don't do things because of it, and sometimes don't take risks because of it. i like to think that i make decisions despite it.

does it really matter, what if?

if we let what if take hold, we give up something intangibly wonderful.

adventure, no regrets, happiness.

at least that's what it means to me....

if i fell prisoner to my fears of what if, where would i be? what would i be doing instead? would i be happy?

i have many what ifs, don't be mistaken. we all do. they circulate in our heads constantly and try to slither their way into everything we do. it is what we do about these incessant nudges from our conscious that makes the difference.

i won't let the possibility of failure, of my own definition, prevent me from swatting away my what ifs and the fear that precedes them. and taking the same risks i always have, those without regret and nothing to lose.

because do we really ever lose anything?

today is today, yesterday is gone. what i do tomorrow is a whole other story.

what are you going to do? you still have time to decide. and no one will judge you.

but if they do, don't worry. it's your life, not theirs. if you go to sleep each night with a smile, that is all that matters. they can't see it from where they are.......

perhaps next year i'll be somewhere else? somewhere different? with the love of my life at my side, holding my hand and giving me strength and endless smiles.

i'm only trying to stay on the right path, you know. the one that i can see, no matter where it goes, that makes me happy.

what if.

rain, rain, go away......

rainy and wet weather.....not a typical scene in the south of france, but hey - - it is february. the coldest month of the year...

at least we didn't get the snow that fell yesterday and today in london, paris and madrid. not being accustomed to snow at all, these major cities are gridlocked and chaotic. in london, they say it is the worst snowfall since '91. i happen to remember that snowfall in '91 becuase we were living in england then. i think my mom even took some home videos of me and my sisters making snowmen and throwing snowballs (ok, remember, i was 11 yrs old...). it's funny that i feel like a little part of history.......

it has been raining here for a couple of days, and grey skies before that. we had a cold, but fun, weekend nonetheless.

we cooked a bunch of yummy, and somewhat not healthy food this weekend, (armenian boureg, which is a cheese pastry - and also osso bucco), and i was really looking forward to running it off today. a little rain is fine, but pouring rain is not.

perhaps i'll wait until this afternoon......

yesterday david and i took a walk in the drizzling rain and clouds and walked out onto the hotel carlton's dock, normally reserved for the rich and affluent in the spring and summer months, entering only patron's of the hotel.....however, in the wintertime it's open game. the restaurant is closed and the rows of umbrellas and beach chairs you would normally see are absent.

these are the moments when i love to be outside during the rain and clouds. the colors are beautiful and the sea takes on a certain unique personality that one can only see every so often.

before i forget, i said i would follow up on the 'greve generale' from the other day. well, personally, i'm not actually an employed member of this society yet. so perhaps my opinion on the subject is somewhat lacking substantial weight. i know though, that record numbers of people from all walks of life, financial standing, races, ethnicities, the unemployed to engineers and doctors, lawyers and teachers were out on the street. the french say it was an outstanding act of solidarity.

"liberté, égalité, fraternité" is the french national motto (meaning liberty, equality and fraternity). it's written on the french euro coins, many government buildings and some documents and you'll find it is used often. solidarity seems to fit right along with that. and that is what the people of france were trying to tell sarkozy 'we're in this together, and you'd better do something about it quick!'. i don't pretend to be an expert on the subject, i'm still learning about france and her quirks. so for now, i guess the only thing we can do is follow the president's actions and see what he is going to do about such widespread social unrest.....

so on my rainy french day, i'm going back to my searching, hoping and finger crossing.

i'll continue to scour the web for job openings and hopefully apply to some more postings. let's all hope i get a phone call soon......

at least i can keep my smile ;-)