Toulon - Mt. Faron and Sete - May 15 & 16, 2011

Ready to board the gondola to the top of Mt. Faron

Ready to go!  The peak is 584 meters

Toulon from Mont Faron

Emma enjoying the view!

Andy and his favorite mother in law!

Andy and his favorite wife!

The bikers - one event of their triatholon

Andy and his girl, ready to go back down

The view heading down - there was a bit of a
breeze when we went back down

Emma & Nathan

ADAM!

Emma and our "ride"



See - it was breezier! They closed the gondola while we
were at the top!



The ladies in Sete

My mommy and me in Sete

A little lunch seaside

Watching the sailing school from the beach in Sete

Mont Faron is a mountain overlooking the city and roadstead of Toulon, France. It is 584m high. At its peak is a memorial dedicated to the 1944 Allied landings in Provence (Operation Dragoon) , and to the liberation of Toulon.
The top can be reached either by a cable car from Toulon, or by a steep and narrow road which ascends from the west side and descends on the east side. The road is one of the most challenging stages of the annual Paris–Nice and Tour Méditerranéen bicycle races.-(Wikipedia)

Mr. Boisson highly recommended our visit to Mt. Faron while we were in Toulon so on Sunday we loaded everyone in the bus, got out the map of Toulon that Andrew had picked up from the Office of Tourism and tried to find the right road. After several twists and questionable turns, we made it to the bottom of the mountain and determined that yes, indeed, we should take the gondola and NOT attempt to drive up the twisty turny roads of Mt. Faron.  Unfortunately Adam was not excited about this outing and said he was staying at the bottom (not because he was afraid of the ride, he just didn't want to go - hummmmm).  We told him that he could not stay at the bottom by himself, bought the tickets and boarded the car.  The ride to the top was uneventful and the view of Toulon was beautiful! We enjoyed looking down into swimming pools and checking out the road that we would have taken had we decided to attempt the drive - we made the right decision to take the gondola!

At the top, Adam decided to hang out in the area where the gondola dropped us off while the rest of us went exploring.  Although we all felt bad that he was out of sorts and didn't want to join in the adventure, he seemed to be safe where he was, and he was next to a restaurant in case he needed anything.

The rest of us took some pictures of the gorgeous views and headed up the road to the memorial.  Suddenly we began noticing bikers (on bicycles, not motorcycles!) passing us while people handed the riders bottles of water.  We realized that earlier in the morning, when we had been at the beach near the house, we saw a swimming race and watched as the swimmers got out of the water and began running - we decided that we were, throughout the course of the day, witnessing a triatholon-And a difficult one!!  Swimming in the mediterranean, running and the biking up a mountain - these folks were in shape!  We saw only one ambulance come screaming up the mountain to help a fallen cyclist.

After walking for awhile we decided it was time for some lunch and headed back to the restaurant where Adam was.  We all ordered our food, some of us had a beer, Adam stayed where he was and refused lunch.  A couple of dogs wandered around outside and peaked in the door hoping for a snack but eventually they got tired of staring at everyone and went to lay down in the shade.  Lunch was delicious (various forms of crepes) and when it was gone we went out the door to get ready for the ride back down the mountain.  When the gondola began its desent, the car started swaying in the wind - I must say, it was a little nerve wracking blowing back and forth.  Our "driver" even had to stop the car at one point to allow an oncoming, empty gondola to pass us (when one goes down, the other goes up).  We did make it to the bottom safely, debarked and THEN noticed a big sign (see above) that said: "FERME - POUR CAUSE VENT DE VIOLENT!"="CLOSED BECAUSE OF VIOLENT WINDS" - Yikes!  I'm glad that sign wasn't posted at the top, we would have walked the twisty road down the mountain.

Back at the house, we began packing up, cleaning up and getting everything back in order for the Boissons' next set of visitors. Everyone pitched in and we got the chores done fairly quickly.  On the way through the city we tried to snap pictures of the "Green Bay Packer McDonalds" signs for dad - all of the McD's are green and gold in France rather than the red and gold that we are used to in the states so we referred to them as the Green Bay Packer McDonalds :). Andrew drove us home like a pro, we had some dinner (I don't remember what it was though :( ), unpacked and got ready for bed, we may have even watched an episode of "Bones".

Monday was a "ladies day" - Mom, Mrs. Eberhart and I went to Sete (one of my favorite spots) to walk along the pier, see the lighthouse, the old cemetary, the cute seaside town, have a little lunch and enjoy some beach time.  The sun was shining, the sky was bluer than blue - it was a lovely, lovely, wonderful day to visit the sea! We took a lot of pictures and mom and Mrs. Eberhart even held a sailboat in the palm of their hands :)  We enjoyed a little shopping and bought a few souveniers before lunch which was eaten at an outside cafe across the street from the canal and  included some Fois Gras pate with bread, salads and.... of course, a beer. A musician was playing along the sidewalk so we even had entertainment for a few minutes.  The fishing boats docked along the canal were huge with their nets wound up and ready for their next trip.

After our visit to the town and pier, we piled back into Mo Mo and drove out to the beach with our blanket.  The parking spot that we had found on our first visit to Sete was open so parking wasn't a problem and we walked down near the water, spread the blanket and began wading in the very shallow water.  Soon I realized that since our first trip to Sete, an area of beach that had been there before, was covered with water making it impossible to reach the rock wall that Adam and Nathan had climbed on previously, without swimming - the rock wall was completely surrounded by water!  It didn't take us long to realize why, however.  Soon, a parade of small sailboats emerged from the far side of the beachy area that we were wading in - it was a sailing school for small children!  In each little boat was a child and an instructor - very cute!  They headed out to sea, around the rock wall and eventually came around the far end and back into the beachy cove.  It made sense to us - if you live by the sea, the kids need to learn how to sail!

While wading in the beautiful clear water, we found several critters similar to those that we found on our first trip and picked them up to watch them wiggle.  A mom and her 2 year old daughter were having fun splashing and giggling nearby - I wondered if the little girl had found any critters while she sat in the water.  After awhile of relaxing it was time to get back into Mo Mo and head home.  It had been a beautiful, relaxing day in the sun.

Toulon, France May 13 - May 15, 2011

The Boisson's Beautiful Toulon Home

House from up the street

Walking to the beach

Grandma and the kids

The ladies at the beach

Adam the rock hopper

Cool palm trees

Cheers! 

Pizza on the front porch - our first Toulon dinner

Emma and Nathan enjoying the seaside

Serenity

On the way to Ile de Porquerolles

Marina at Ile de Porquerolles

Emma and Grandma

Mrs. Eberhart and Grandma

Doves!

Fort de la Repentance

View of the beaches from Fort de la Repentance

A & B on the seashore

Goofing off in the Mediterranean

Cute Emzie

Boys attacking the girl

Poor tired Adam

When the Boissons heard that my mom and her friend were coming for a visit, they offered to let us use their house in Toulon France - a 3 minute walk to the beach!  After discussing the week of events with everyone, we accepted their kind invitation, rented a bus (thanks ladies!), packed everything up, including sheets, towels etc... so we didn't have to use theirs, and headed southeast to their beautiful home! Andrew did the driving (as usual) and we arrived in the city of Toulon without a problem, finding the house was another story however.  We pulled into a gas station that was situated on the outer edge of a round-about (one of our favorite things about French driving - the round abouts!) to ask someone.  Our first question (as always) was "parle vous anglaise?" One nice gentleman gave us the most popular answer "a little" - he listened to our predicament, grabbed a map from the display on the counter, and explained how to get to the house.  After we said our "Merci", I realized that he was a Toulon police officer. We all piled back into the bus and made it to the house with no further issues.

After figuring out the locks, unpacking everything, turning on the water and electricity and settling in, we decided to take a walk to the beach so we would know where it was when we wanted it.  As expected, the beach and the sea were beautiful!  Palm trees were plentiful, the sand was soft, there was a rocky (big rocks) type of wall or pier to walk along and a nice breeze blowing.  We enjoyed our time on the beach very much and then headed back to the house to figure out what to do about dinner.  Mr. and Mrs. Boisson had recommended a little pizza shop down the street so that is where we headed.  None of the pizza makers spoke english but we were able to decipher the menu and place our order.  The pizza shop was on the corner, very small (no inside seating, and included a wood oven.  Mom and Marilyn headed across the street to a "bar" to ask if they could buy some beer but were unable to - on the list for the next day: "find some beer" :)

On Saturday morning, Nathan and Andy walked into town to explore and  when they returned, we prepared for a fun filled day at Ile de Porquerolles with is a beautiful island consisting of grape vineyards, lovely beaches, a charming village, marina, and an old fort at the top of the hill. The landscape of the island is breathtaking!  From the Boisson's house, we drove to the location where we caught the boat that delivered us to the island.

We went to the Office of Tourism first to ask about what the island had to offer.  We were given a map with directions about where to take a walk, hike and eventually, visit a beach. The kids, with there grandma and Mrs. Eberhart, decided to walk in the opposite direction of Andy and I who were going to head toward the ancient fort at the top of the hill.  They were headed for iced cream and a beach where we agreed to meet them at a certain time.

The hike to the fort was minorly strenuous and well worth it! The view from one side of the fort provided an amazing view of the shoreline consisting of blue mediterranean water and light colored sand while the view from the other side treated us to a beautiful landscape of grape vines and olive trees! Upon our arrival at the beach, we learned that the kids and ladies were treated to an interesting view themselves - topless sunbathers to further their education.  Unfortunately, the uninhibited sunbathers were not young and perky and may have damaged our sons' thoughts of the female body for awhile while reassuring Emma that she is definitely a beautiful young lady!  Due to the entertainment that we were enduring and the pebbly "beach", we packed up our basket and towels and decided to hike to the beaches that were recommended by the Office of Tourism.  We were sure that it was a fairly short walk in the direction from which Andy and I had come.  We were right about the direction, but wrong about the "short"! We walked, and walked, and walked, keeping in mind that the last boat would come to pick us up around 6:00.  Eventually, we did find the beach, enjoyed some sun and playtime in the water on a much more comfortable sandy terrain.  Adam was not a happy beach comber and decided to lay down, cover his face and catch som "z's" while Andy, Nathan and Emma splashed and swam in the water and the rest of us relaxed on the shore. A little while later, we packed up again and walked, walked, walked back to the boat pick-up but not before grabbing another iced cream cone which we all greatly deserved!  Everyone was quiet on the ride back to the mainland where we found our big white "bus" and headed for "home".

Dinner that night was interesting.  After driving downtown to find a nice seaside restaurant and after realizing how expensive all of the seaside restaurants were - we opted for a cute little place an got burgers and fries! - It was seaside too - right along the marina, and was very good!  Mrs. Eberhart, mom and I ordered beer which tasted great after a day on the island!

Grandma & Mrs. Eberhart's Visit! May 6, 2011

First morning in France -- They were treated to a trip to
the Arles Market

Enjoying Van Gogh's Garden

Smiling in the Garden

Andrew has been looking for just the right "chapeau"
since we arrived

Grandma found one right away!

Outside the cafe depicted in
Van Gogh's: The Cafe Terrace Arles at Night

Picnic at Sts. Maries Del La Mer with food from the market

Enjoying a breezy walk on the rocky pier

Celebrating Mother's Day!

Enjoying a little relaxation by the pool - Cheers!

Next stop - PARIS! 

Mom and Marilyn arrived on Friday night after 9:00 pm.  We had the house cleaned up, snacks ready and were very excited!  When it was time to go, we all walked to the tram station to discover that the trams were running 10 - 15 minutes apart and we were probably going to be late to pick the travelers up from Gare St. Roch!  The trams typically run 3 minutes apart except on Sundays when they run 10 minutes apart - this was a Friday night - I have no idea what the issue was! Rather than waiting for the tram, we began walking to the next station - down the road to Station Boutenet - when we arrived there, we would still have a 7 minute wait so Adam ran to the next stop while the rest of us patiently waited for tram 1 which finally arrived, right on schedule, 7 minutes later!  As we stopped at each of the following stations, we looked for Adam to jump on but never found him. I could tell that Andrew was concerned and I was beginning to be also.  I decided, however, not to panic until we got to the Gare St. Roch station - if he wasn't there, we had a problem!  Sure enough - the tram stopped at our destination and there he was, waiting for us with a sweaty brow!  He had run all the way from home to the train station - about eight tram stops!

We walked into the train station to discover that the train was running a few minutes behind so we had some time to catch our breath and figure out which platform they'd be coming in on.  Soon, the train pulled in and people began pouring out of all 20 cars.  Since we didn't know which car they were in, our family of 5 was evenly distributed along the platform looking for two grandmas and their baggage. They were found, baggage collected, hugs and "French" kisses (three in a row on cheeks!) were distributed as we showed them the way out of the station and to the tram.

Upon arriving home, they were given a tour of the house and a small portion of the gardens since the sun was setting and it was getting pretty dark.  We had a nice visit that night with wine and Pain au Chocolates (a welcome to Montpellier tradition started by the kids) as they settled into their visitors quarters - Emma's room  :).

Bright and early Saturday morning we awoke, drank some coffee, tossed everyone in the car and took them to our favorite Saturday morning hangout - the Arles Market.  Arles is approximately 1 hour from our house so the drive was nice and we showed them the outer edges of Camargue region.  The Camargue is known for the "Guardians" (cowboys) and their white horses and black bulls.  It is also an area where Camargue Rice is grown.  As we passed by many of the fields, I mentioned that I wasn't sure why there was so much water standing in some of the fields - Mrs. Eberhart (very smart former kindegarten teacher!) very nicely suggested that the fields might be rice patties - Ahhhh Haaaa!  Well duh!  That makes complete sense!  The drive was nice, we got to our favorite Arles parking garage without incident, and headed for the market.

Showing visitors around the market is always a big treat for us.  Mrs. Eberhart kept her eyes open for some Provencal fabric while mom looked around for souveniers.  We walked away from the market after a while to find a bathroom which, ironically, happens to be in Van Gogh's garden (the nicest bathroom that we've found in Arles that we don't have to pay for anyway!)  While we were there, pictures were taken and the various Van Gogh memorabilia was perused before our return to the market. 

Everyone agreed that since the sun was shining and it was close to lunchtime, a picnic on the beach sounded nice.  We bought some bread, cheese, olives, fruit, baked goods etc... packed everything into the car and headed for Sts. Maries Del La Mer for a nice beach picnic.  When we arrived, the wind was howling and the temperature was chilly!  We eventually found a barrier to sit behind (most of them were already taken), set up "picnic shop" and ate our market lunch on the chilly beach next to 4 teenagers - two guys, and two bikinis who, I'm sure, were happy to have our company!

After walking on the beach and watching some wind surfers, we collected our basket of goodies and headed for the town to walk around the shops and see if we could find the area of the church where people go to say a prayer for fertility that Mr. Boisson had explained to us. We bought rice from the Camargue area since we pass the rice patties every time we visit the area, tried some Gelato and enjoyed the afternoon before heading back to the house.

Sunday was Mothers' Day - Nathan surprised us with gorgeous flowers and wonderful cream puffs from the patiserie as well as a nice card written in French.  We went to St. Pierres for mass in the morning and enjoyed a tour of the Parc Zoologique, compliments of Adam, in the afternoon. The sun was shining, time was spent by the pool.  Andrew and Nathan left later in the day for Aix en Provence, where Nathan had made arrangements to take his important A.P. Biology exam. Aix is approximately two hours from Montpellier so they wanted to get there Sunday night in order to check out the town, find the testing location and get a good night's sleep before the test began early Monday morning.  During the test, Andy toured around Aix and had an enjoyable time on his own! Nathan felt that he did well on the test and will be anxiously awaiting the results until they arrive at our Ohio home in July.

The rest of us spent Monday touring around Montpellier, showing the ladies all of the monuments, little squares, Place de la Comedie etc... The guys returned on Monday night and we celebrated the end of Nathan's intense studying regiment with a delicious cake from his favorite patiserie! Early Tuesday morning I delivered the ladies to Gare St. Roch to get them on the next train to Paris - which is where they spent the next few days, touring around by themselves.  We got them back on Thursday evening.