On Tuesday, we carried on exploring Nice on foot. First we visited the apartment where Mom stayed when she was an exchange student in 1958. There is a Russian Orthodox church nearby, complete with coupolas like the ones in Red Square. Next Will and I got haircuts while Mom shopped at a nearby yarn store. We had an inspiring lunch at an ourdoor cafe and then we did a bit of shopping, with Will and I scoring a couple of t-shirts each.
We’d had enough walking at that point so had some downtime at the hotel before heading to Nice’s old city, down near the marina. The buildings are indeed old, and the streets are very narrow. It’s largely pedestian only and also very touristy. We had a so-so margarita at a cafe before heading to dinner. This was a place found on Trip Advisor and it didn’t disappoint. It was a small menu that changes every few weeks, but we all managed to find something to eat. Will and I visited the bar from the previous night and the same pack of Scottish lasses were there, although a bit more subdued that night (thankfully).
The next morning, we left town around 10:30 and made our way to St Cezaire, a small village in the mountains above Nice. It took over an hour to get there, and was well worth the drive. We stayed with Suzanne and her nephew Joel. She is the same age as Mom and spent a year in the States while Mom was in Nice. They overlapped for a bit and got to know each other and have stayed in touch ever since. Suzanne lives in the States and only arrived the previous day after delayed flights and lost baggage. Despite this, she seemed in good form and was an excellent host.
We had a beer on arrival and then headed into the village for lunch. It’s a town of 5000 people and is considered small by the standards of the region. We had a lovely meal at a local cafe which made up for the previous day’s. After lunch, we had a stroll around town and took in the magnificent view from the edge of the village that overlooks a river valley. You can see all the way to St Tropez on a clear day. There was a small clothing shop in town and Mom found a top to buy. We vegged out in the afternoon, enjoying the sunny day and arid climate, including the interesting vegetation in the garden. Joel lives in the house year round and has a small veggie plot, from which Suzanne made a lovely salad for dinner. This was served with bread and cheese and baked cod that Will was brave enough to try. We had an early night since we had to leave the next morning.
We would have liked to stay longer but had to head back for the weekend of concerts. We got on the road around 10:30 and had a problem-free drive, arriving home slightly ahead of schedule nine hours later. We had mac and cheese for dinner and then played some cards before bed. On Friday, Mom and I went to the shops in the morning since there was nothing in the house. According to everyone we spoke to, it had been raining non-stop for the previous few days, which was evident by the length of the grass around the house. We had band practice with Christian in the afternoon while Mom made a batch of cookies for that night’s event.
This was the first concert, a “Soiree Suprise” featuring my choir. The idea is that everyone meets at a pre-arranged time and then carpools to that evening’s venue. In this case, it was a yurt in the woods near Varaignes, half way to Angouleme. It had been raining on and off all day and sure enough, started again right when we got there. One of the choir members is 82 and although in good shape, wasn’t happy with the idea of climbing a muddy path uphill in the rain but we got there eventually. A yurt is a Mongolion tent, made of bamboo and canvas and was largely covered, except for a few sections. Will wisely decided not to attend since he’d already seen the choir and didn’t fancy a lot of sitting, which was precient since we sat on the floor. Mom wasn’t off the hook and she made the most of the evening.
There was a musician and a storyteller in addition to the choir. We started with a few songs that went mainly well, then a bit of music beforing pausing for food and drink. We did another few songs that didn’t come out as well, which I blame on the drink. Then the storyteller had a turn and to my surprise, he was actually pretty good. We finished with a song circle, like a round but each group sings a different rhythm / melody. After trudging down the hill, we found our way home, arriving after midnight with very cold feet since we had to remove shoes before entering the yurt. Will and I had a drink and watched telly before going to bed on the late side.
Concert number two was on Saturday where Will, Christian and I were the opening act for a group from Bordeaux. The event was the Fete des Voisins in Milhac where everyone brings a dish and shares. We brought Mom’s biscotti and a chicken salad as well as liquid courage in the form of vodka. We declined payment for the gig and just played for beer, which was Perigord Beer’s Festival Ale. We did their site and try to order from them whenever possible and everyone enjoyed it, especially the musicians. The other group is a semi-pro act from Bordeaux whose lead singer comes from Milhac and is Jackie’s son. There are six of them and they’re all excellent, playing multiple instruments and songs with lots of different parts and harmonies.
We arrived around 5 to set-up the beer, and then hung out while the other group set-up the equipment and did their sound check. This took longer than expected which meant doing ours at 7, the official kick-off time. I thought Will got nervous before a show but Christian was far worse, and could barely playing during the sound check. We stopped and all had an apero, which helped calm him down a bit. We started at 8 and played for an hour or so and it went mostly well. The most frequent feedback we received is that we’re much improved since when we first started playing a few years ago. It helps that Christian is a semi-pro musician and that the equipment was good and set-up properly. Mom was kind enough to be cameraman and videos are forthcoming.
After our set, we had something to eat and a lot more to drink and mingled a bit. Quite a few people turned up to see us including Anne and Andrew and Richard and Brigit. There were also the usual suspects from Milhac including B&V and Sam who had a rare night off. A number of people who planned to turn up didn’t including Francoise, M&M and Lewis who is back in town. It had only stopped raining that day and was a chilly evening, so I don’t blame them. We watched the main act and danced for a bit, then the musicians came down from the stage and did a few numbers amongst the crowd. We worked hard and managed to finish one of the three 30L kegs of beer, then chatted with some straglers while the band took down the set and loaded up. We accompanied them back to Jackie’s where we had a quick drink before heading home around two. We stayed up and watched some telly taking advantage of the post-gig high.
The weekend continued the next day when we were all invited to lunch at Sophie’s. The weather finally came good yesterday and it was a lovely 23 degrees and sunny. In attendance were the three of us, Paul and Nathalie, Jackie, four out of the six musicians plus one daughter and her boyfriend. We had lunch on the terrace which was artichokes with homemade mayo, plus various leftovers from the previous night. Sophie managed to cater for everyone’s dietary restrictions incuding Mom’s garlic allergy so we all had different things including chicken with yellow rice, prawns in a curry sauce, and salad. This was followed by cheese and crepes with Paul’s honey for dessert. We relaxed for a bit and then all hit the road around three.
There was a voicemail message that morning from our vineyard in Castilion with some happy news. There was a fair in Brantome on Sunday and they’d be there with wine. So we headed over after lunch and were surprised at how busy it was compared to the usual Spring fair. We managed to find parking and located their stand where we quickly snapped up their remaining supply of 2011, six bottles of oak-aged 2014 and the 24 bottles of 2015 they had with them. They were happy to see us, and not only because we were buying wine but because it’s now a tradition. They’ll be scaling back the business in the coming years since it doesn’t appear their kids want to take it over. She was a bit vague on the details so we’ll see. We asked about the 2018 and they’ll be bottling it in the spring, so we’ll probably end up buying quite a bit of that. Their nephew lives not too far from here and they told us we can make arrangements with him to collect some any time we want.
We headed back to Milhac afterwards to help take down tables and meet the beer people who collected the tap and remaining kegs. It was finally nice enough to enjoy a drink on the terrace that evening so Mom finally got to experience our new furniture. We had leftover veggie enchiladas for dinner and then watched a film. It was back to work for Will and I today and both managed to get caught-up fairly quickly. I stopped around four to mow the front garden that was so long I had to raise up the mower. I’ll tackle the back tomorrow and then hope it stops raining for a bit. We’re off to dinner at Francoise’s now, so you can look forward to those details next week.