Catching up in Venelles

Whew!  It’s been a busy few days and I havent had time to post for a bit. Let me get caught up...

On Tuesday morning we met Hannah’s friend Ninon and her mom Alice at the same spot on the sea as yesterday.  The girls had a wonderful time playing together in the water and collecting sea glass on the rocks. Alice invited us to meet up with them in the afternoon, so after lunch we met them at their summer apartment in vieux Nice. We walked to the main park and the girls loved playing on the structures, running through the misters, and getting soaked by the fountains.  We all had finoccio gelato then Jon, Hannah and I walked towards the port to see some more sights and take pictures. Jon took Hannah back to the apartment and I got an hour to wander through Galleries Lafayette to look through les soldes. 

That night we went out to dinner in town and got to see everyone all dressed up to support France in their soccer match against Belguim. After dinner we walked along a main plaza where they were live broadcasting the game and got to hear the French commentators on our walk home. Once we got Hannah in bed, Jon and I live streamed the game on our ipad and cheered with our vocal (yet unseen) neighbors as France scored their goal and eventually won the game. Hannah woke up to the sounds of car horns honking and people yelling for joy. 

Wednesday morning we met Alice and Ninon back at the beach for one final playdate. After a nice swim and float in the water, we all got pasteries together to eat before our goodbye. Then we rushed to get packed up to catch the TGV to Aix en Provence.

Véronique, one of my host sisters, picked us up and drove us to her house in Venelles. We had a fun time  catching up and Hannah enjoyed playing hide and seek with their turtle and tormenting the cat. We had a lovely dinner on their front patio and Hannah was happy to have their trampoline to keep herself occupied during our long conversations. 

Thursday, we took the bus into Aix and had fun exploring the old town with its pedestrian streets and we made a game of seeing who could find the most fountains (which Aix is known for). Hannah loved the English book store, and sat and read a book for over an hour. Jon very kindly stayed with her so I could get a little shopping in myself. :). We found a bungee/trampoline place in Aix by the rotunda and Hannah was so happy to have two turns jumping. 

On our way home from Aix, we stopped at the grocery store and got fixings for dinner. We surprised Véronique and Thierry with dinner when they got home from work. After dinner, Thierry took me and Jon on a walk to show us the path to the local swimming center. (I would say pool, but there were 4 of them!). We are all loving their huge house with nice amenities. Hannah especially loves the glass floor on the 2nd floor landing. 

Today, Friday, Hannah rode Antoine’s bike while Jon and I walked to the swim center. We learned some French laws- men MUST wear speedos (Jon borrowed one from Thierry), no one can wear a swim shirt (which meant that I had to buy Hannah a whole new swimsuit from a vending machine because all she had was a shirt), you must take a shower WITH SOAP before entering the pool, and before you even go into the locker room to put on your swimsuit you must take off your shoes and wash your feet. Phew!  Luckily there were nice “moniteurs” around to help us naviguate these foreign rules. 

Now we are back at Véronique’s and just met two of her kids who just came back from scout camp- Maylis (18)  and Antoine (8). We also got to see Lucie (21) again who came down to spend this last week with her cousins at camp. 

Antoine seems to be tolerating Hannah. :)