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.
