Sunday, June 26^th 2016

Oops!  I was so tired last night that I forgot to write more stuff.

On our way back from Menton, we decided to visit the Musée Matisse in Nice.  As luck would have it, we arrived way too late to snag a parking spot.  Parking is limited.  There was no street parking due to a wedding at a nearby church.  Whoever got married was pretty darn popular because guests were parked in every available space within a half mile!

Musée Matisse. This pic is from Wiki because I forgot to take a photo.  We will visit NEXT time and will make sure to arrive early in the morning!

We decided to try our luck revisiting the Musée Marc Chagall.  The parking situation was worse.  It’s like being in Manhattan with the street parking.  Rather than drive around wasting precious time, we drove home.  Proof that timing is everything when touring.  We need to arrive early.

I had to go into my photo archives on my Shutterfly account to get this photo I took a few years back. This is the exterior of the Musee Marc Chagall.

Another shot I took.  We’ll revisit next time around!

It also proves that you take the good with the bad. We love having a car here because we can be in control—but, we can’t always be in control of parking.

I was in dreamland by 9:00 PM.   I’m a regular barrel of fun on vacation.

We’re meeting Bonaparte’s niece, Nathalie, and her daughter, Elodie, for dinner this evening. They spent a couple of days in St. Tropez with Bonaparte’s dad, Dany, and are now on their way back to Paris via train.

We’ll meet them in St. Raphael.

Another beautiful morning here on the terrace overlooking the Mediterranean and we are witnessing some strange goings on.  A yacht is anchored not too far from the shore.  From Bonaparte’s binoculars, we can see the guests and crew standing on one of the decks looking down at the sea.

People on jet skis are circling the yacht. First close to the boat and with each lap, the jet skis move a bit farther away.

A helicopter is hovering over the large yacht.  It circles closely at first then moves into larger circles.

Is someone lost?  Is this a British Yacht seeking asylum from the Brexit?  We both hope all is well.

Because we had such an active day yesterday, today we are bumming it back at the pool.  And it is noticeably more crowded.   The vacationers have arrived.  I detect other accents among the French; German, Dutch, Russian, Australian, British, Italian, Spanish—but no American ones.

I stand alone. Or rather I laze alone. Under the umbrella.

My usual spot. Under the umbrella!

So I write instead. And today I’m writing about our apartment.

Bonaparte “found” this apartment through an extensive online search back in 2010.  Previously, we stayed at his mother’s little home in Ensues.  After her death, the house was sold.

What was Bonaparte looking for?

He wanted an apartment close to the sea.  He also wanted a place in a convenient location. One that would lend itself well to our day trips and touring.

Bonaparte couldn’t have found an apartment with a better view.  This beauty has been a regular sight for a couple of years now..

In addition, we needed parking since we would have a car.

Parking was great. As you can see from this Rolls that Bonaparte is obsessed with, nobody is too concerned with anyone breaking into their vehicles.

He found it all in the gated community of “Port la Galère” in Theoule-sur-Mer.

The apartment is perfect for us.  It is a gated community; and in order to get into the community, a pass is needed.

Yes, my friends, I am THAT weirdo who collects our entrance passes from each year. 

Steps leading up to “our” apartment (I love to say that because it sounds so pretentious. I can dream, can’t I?)

Our little keys to…

…the front door that leads to….

…the living space. Notice the little round table in the left-rear. In all the years we’ve been here, we have never eaten a meal indoors..it’s always…

…out on the terrace. Breakfast and dinner….

…and besides the sea view, we have lovely flowers to admire while enjoying the terrace…

..which leads to the bedroom on the opposite side of the living space.  (I took this photo last year).  Notice the doors are opened.  In the years we’ve been staying here, this year was the only time we closed the doors while sleeping. It was one night and Bonaparte closed the doors because of  noise from a party.  

The little kitchen window.  There are always plants to greet me while I’m cooking!

The community even has a basketball court and playground for the kiddies! Oh..and tennis courts too.

Port la Galère also houses a small club, complete with great hotel rooms and an excellent restaurant. (I sound like a commercial. Trust me, I’m not sponsored, but we just love this place so much and have been staying here for years!)

..a view of the club from our table at the restaurant…

During our stays, we have spent a couple of nights at the hotel. I’m telling you, the rooms are fantastic!

View of the restaurant area from the hotel room. I think this was taken the year before last.

View of the club’s pool from our table at the restaurant..

The club’s menu is brought to your table. I’m telling you, we’ve had some of our best meals at this restaurant over the years. The food is consistently excellent!

After a few hours at the pool we went back to the apartment to get ready for our dinner with Bonaparte’s niece.

A nice drive along the coastline brought us to our destination in St. Raphael.

We enjoyed a nice private dinner at La Factory. For me, it was fun to see Bonaparte leaving English behind and getting into the groove of his native tongue. It was also enjoyable to people watch while Bonaparte and Nathalie spoke of family matters.

Silly me. At first I thought the name of this place was “L.A.” Factory! I forgot we were in France–oh la La Factory!

My steak tartare and frites. I couldn’t finish because the portion was so huge.  The tartare was excellent.  The frites were very good but the dressing on that little salad was the best I’ve ever had. It was a light creamy lemon dressing. I didn’t get the recipe.

Bonaparte’s surprise was the many photos and photo albums that his niece, Nathalie gave him.

One of Bonaparte’s favorite photos is this one of his sister Isabelle (RIP).  Is she praying for a great meal of seafood?

I”m kinda fond of THIS pic of Bonaparte and Isabelle taken at La Ponche. The hats. I love them!

Travel tip: Try not to be all “food snobby” when on vacation.  We weren’t looking to have dinner at a fancy place. Nathalie and Elodie were in transit from St. Tropez back to Paris and were limited in time.  We ended up at La Factory in a random moment and ended up having a really good and inexpensive meal.

Hugs, kisses on the cheeks, a wave goodbye and they were back on their way to Paris.

And we left St. Raphael by driving along the coast.

We drove along the coastline back to the apartment.

..stopping to snap a photo of boats on the bay..

And while driving, we both decided that tomorrow, we will return to L’Estagnol!

A nice, sweet great driving song for you on this Sunday.  Le Métèque by Georges Moustaki. Thank you FreeNeverSaid for a great video!