We have wheels! A brand new Renault Captur that we reserved months in advance. We used Auto Europe, a rental wholesale company, after individual agencies quoted prices that broke the bank. It’s a four door with a hatchback — big enough for us and our stuff but hopefully small enough to avoid disaster as we squeeze by the walls and through the narrow streets of old villages. When I spotted the advertising sign at the first gas station, I was surprised by the low cost of fuel — until I realized the 1.862€ posted price was for one liter. One gallon would be 7.15€ or about $7.87.

Our first rental house, La Farigoulette, is a gîte about 12 miles above Nice — high up in the foothills of the Alpes. It is near St. Blaise, a village with fewer than 1000 residents that is situated on land given to a religious abbey in 1075. We achieved one of our primary objectives — to stay in areas where no one speaks english.

Continue reading →

One of Renie’s favorite French slogans is “In France, the trains are always on time.” The railway system is indeed a marvelous thing and everyone in France relies on it at least some of the time.

From our little town Villefranche-sur-Mer, the journey to Monaco is twenty minutes and costs less than 2€. Monaco is mountainous and glitzy, crammed with skyscrapers squeezed in among the few remaining villas in the commercial area. The first rounds of the Monte-Carlo Masters tennis tournament were playing out with thousands of spectators in the stands. We passed numerous blocked streets and construction sites on our walk down to the port where preparations for the Monaco Grand Prix (May 26-29) are underway. We couldn’t help gawking at the Bentleys, Rolls-Royces, Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Mazarrattis, etc. that were valet parked around the famous casino.

Continue reading →

(Days 1 – 10)

WE’RE FINALLY HERE.

Thirty-four hours after leaving Little Rock, we landed in Nice (LR-Dallas-London-Nice on American and British Air). We stayed in a chambre d’hôte which is like Airbnb used to be – a bedroom and bath in a private home with breakfast provided by the host. It was modest and completely acceptable and safe in an excellent location. We were anxious to explore the old town and signed up on line for a free guided walking tour. When we were in Spain a few years ago, we discovered these tours where the guides, who are usually advanced students, wear red tee-shirts, carry red umbrellas, and work for tips. They are excellent.

Continue reading →

Diane came up with the name of this blog. It translates into, “travel in the third age“. The troisième âge is the french phrase for elderly or senior citizen. I think the french sounds a lot nicer. Not sure what happened to the deuxième âge. It just went by while I wasn’t watching! Anyway, tomorrow we’re finally leaving for our year in the french speaking countries of France, Belgium, and Switzerland in an attempt to, as Diane says, improve on our bad french. We’re flying Dallas to London to Nice on British Air. After 3 days in Nice, we move Sunday into an apartment near the Institut de Français, a french immersion language school in Villefranche-sur-mer, just to the east of Nice, on the Côte d’Azur. We will be in classes there 5 days a week for a month.

Diane and I have both had an interest for many years in learning french. She took french in high school and college and has a brother, Richard, who has lived in Paris for over 40 years. She has been to France almost every year since her first trip there on her 40th birthday. As for me, my heritage is Belgian. My dad was born there and french, along with flemish, the dutch language spoken in Flanders, was his native tongue. He taught my brother Phillip and me a few french phrases but unfortunately never conversed with us in french. So now I’m trying to learn it on my own.

After one month at the school we will have a rental car and travel to various regions, first in France, spending 2 to 3 weeks in each area, staying in gîtes which are similar to VRBO’s. We will try to limit our stay to small towns and villages where few people speak english. OK. Enough of this “introductory” post. Expect a new posting, hopefully with an occasional photo, about every other week.
Later,
Renie (René)

Continue reading →