Gorgeous Villefranche-sur-mer on the Cote D'Azur

We're spending 5 months here on the French Riviera, 10 minutes from Nice. The town is tiny, quaint, think terracotta and sienna yellow buildings on the water with a small rocky beach and harbour. Narrow, steep, stone streets, and ancient church, a citadel and fort at the top of a huge mountain and you'll have it. Villefranche is situated on a bay just around a point from the grandeur that is Nice. We chose Villefranche for its miniature stature - true village living, no english spoken. To the east of us we have Nice and such ritzy locales such as Cannes, St. Tropez. To the west, Monaco (20 minutes away) and Italy (2 hours away). The weather has been lovely for winter at 10-14 degrees celcius and mostly sunny.

Our apartment is located half-way up the mountain which affords us fantastic views of the riviera and of the picturesque St. Jean Cap Ferrat peninsula across the bay from us. The view costs us about 10 stories of stairs up/down the mountainside, however. We have no car here. We have had no need to join a gym.

Laura is attending french school, Ecole Joseph Calderoni, and is picking up french quickly as expected. It was very hard for her at first as she wasn't invited to join recess games, but now as she has picked up some french and made some friends she's in like a dirty shirt. While Laura's at school, Ian and I take a city bus for 1 euro and go explore the different cities nearby or hike around these mountains and shores. It's pretty incredible.

A City of Many Faces

We arrived in Amsterdam, Holland and went straight to the Amsterdam Hilton known by some as one of the spots (the Queen Anne Hotel in Montreal was the other) where John Lennon and Yoko Ono held a week long "love-in" for peace and tolerance. The next day we opted for the hop-on hop-off boat cruise along the miles of canals that weave through the beautiful city filled with impressive buildings, churches, synagogues, museums, and parks.

We explored NEMO (an extensive, interactive science museum), a flower market full of tulip bulbs and gorgeous blooms of all kinds, the Rijksmuseum (a classics art museum showing Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Vermeer), the Amsterdam Zoo and many streets and squares.

Everyone was on a bike. Bike paths ruled municipal transport. We worried more about getting run over by a bike while crossing the bike lanes than by a car or bus which were much fewer and seemed less menacing. The bikes were fantastic though; new, yet styled old fashioned. Many had big baskets or wooden crates stuck on their fronts.

Finally, we come to the "coffee chops" and "red light district". The former are laid back places with low profile couches with alot of zoned out young people hanging out. We almost walked into one called "The Green Room" thinking we'd get a nice salad for lunch, then thought twice once getting a glimpse of the scene inside. Coffee shops may or may not serve coffee, but rather offer smokes of the variety not legal in Canada. In the "red light district" there are actual lights located above doors to flats! We still aren't sure what the light on meant - come in or stay out- and neither of us wanted to test out a hypothesis.

Picking Blackberries in Port Meadow

We went on an outing with a friend Laura met from swimming, Rosie, and her family. A 20 minute stroll from our doorstep and we hit on a 440 acre green space along the River Thames called Port Meadow. As we approached the park, a field of green opened up and we could see lush foliage in every direction dotted with what we soon realized were free roaming cows and horses. As the story goes, in return for helping to defend the kingdom against the marauding Danes, the Freemen of Oxford were given the land in 1086 to graze their cattle and horses free of charge by King Alfred who founded Oxford in the 10th Century. The Freemen's collective right has been exercised ever since and certain folks are permitted to house their animals on these common lands.

The meadow is picturesque, enhanced by views of the Thames River (really a canal at this point), swans and other beautiful birds, colorful sail boats, and animals of all types. Wild blackberries are available aplenty for those brave enough to face the thorny bushes to pick them. And as is the case with all of Britain, a couple of pubs are placed at strategic points along the route. All in all, we really enjoyed this gorgeous, relaxing spot and will return many times to get away for the hustle and bustle.

A Bird's Eye View of Oxford

To get a skyline view of Oxford we climbed 99 steps of Carfax Tower, all that remains of the 13th century St. Martin's Church. We saw terrific views of the Radcliffe Camera - originally built to house the Radcliffe Science Center - it is now home to additional reading rooms of the Bodleian Library. Also visible at this height was the beautiful Christ Church Cathedral built between 1160 and 1200. Though considered a relatively small cathedral, it serves not only the diocese of the City of Oxford, but is the chapel for Christ Church College, the largest of all 36 colleges at Oxford University.

Ancient Roman Baths

We took a day trip to the historic city of Bath, 1.5 hours by train. What a gorgeous city with Georgian architecture carved from the limestone of the surrounding hills. The highlight was the Roman Baths - one of the most beautiful and intact thermal bath houses built in the Roman period. Built atop hot springs, these Roman baths continue to be supplied by hot, fresh water. Since the rooftops have been lost, the algae has taken over and bathing is no longer possible. You can, however, buy a glass of the spring water straight from the falling spring for 60 pence - while it tastes horrible, it's said to have healing powers?
Bath is also home to one of the most elegant curved line of townhouses called the Royal Crescent (named so for one of the first residents was a Prince). These houses are a landmark of Bath and go for about 4 million pounds (that's $8 million Canadian) each. Nicholas Cage recently bought one in the middle (#7). He took the number off the front door (maybe in the hopes of his house not being spotted between 6 & 8?).
Home to many famous characters, Jane Austen stands out as a prominent Bath resident. Though she prefered the countryside, she spend many summers, then 7 years staying in various spots around Bath to write her manuscripts.
Finally, we found Bath a city of roadway anomalies - as our bus tour guide said, "Cheap Street is expensive, Broad Street is narrow, and North Street is a one way going south". Bath is truly a spectacular place.

Dinosaur Bones and a Stuffed Dodo Bird

Last Sunday afternoon we headed to the Oxford University Natural History Museum and were in for quite a treat. Not only the collection was fine, but the building's architecture (like much of Oxford) was impressive and the space inside better still. The room housing the collection of fossils and specimens was large and stately with lots of wood beams and mosaic tiling. A perfect backdrop to the enormous dinosaur, elephant, and giraffe skeleton displays. Laura enjoyed it thoroughly.

Blenheim Palace - Sir Winston Churchill's Birthplace

Who knew Sir Winston Churchill was the 10th Duke of Marlborough? Not us, until visiting Blenheim Palace in Woodstock, UK, 30 minutes drive from Oxford. The Palace was a gift from Queen Anne to the 1st Duke, John Churchill, for defeating the French at Blenheim, Germany in 1705. The 2100 acres of pristine grounds, water terraces, and Italian, Rose and Secret Gardens were stunning. The interior of the palace was grand and elegant with a great audiovisual tour given by a "ghost" relating the 300 year history of its occupants. Spookishly entertaining.