So after some technical dificulties…

I THINK I can post from the road here in France.  So far I have lost two blog posts…but here goes:

Today is Wednesday, the fifth day of this adventure.  I will recap.

We left Albany on the Delta Connection (operated by blah blah) which is another way of saying “small plane”  There was no service on board, but fortunately I never travel without a pb&j so I was sufficiently fed upon landing to send the crew off into the wilds of the terminal to seek their last hit on the American fast food system while I watched their bags.  The flight down was very pleasant, following the Hudson for a long way, turning out over the Catskills, down the west side of Manhattan over Ms Liberty & Brooklyn, up the Rockaways and into Kennedy.  Fascinating that the entrance to the terminal was down the stairs, onto the actual “tarmac” (a phrase used only by those who are familiar with the movies of John Wayne) and into the ground floor where we had to climb fully non=handicapped accessible stairs to the main floor.

The international flight left right on time, and 7 hours later we were in Nice-Cote d’Azur at 8:00 AM local time on May Day, a national holiday.  That meant that there was only one fellow at the passport control and he did his best to process the proceeds of a 767400.  No matter really, because there were even fewer people staffing the luggage carels and we still had a time to wait for our bags.  Thankfully they all made the transfer (accross the tarmac) at JFK and we were able to circle the wagons – as in rolling luggage- and head into the wilds of Southern France.

We were quickly discovered by M. van der Strict and Remi Metardier, the two Rotarians who arranged the trip from this end.  They handed us the traditional forget-me-not bouquet sold everywhere for labor day, and led us to the brand new Fiat van they had rented for the duration of our stay.

one hour and forty minutes later, we were at the home of Remi Metardier in Sollies, just east of Toulon.  He is a veterinarian, and with his wife Sylvie, daughter Delphine (21) and son Benjamin, live in a beautiful house on the side of a hill with a drop-dead, only in the South of France type view.  Loved this place.  They built it.  Practical, simple yet gorgeous.  Plus a great spot to sit outside and have an only in the South of France type of BBQ. And so we did, which is when  Bertrand (don’t have his last name handy) showed up to take over the Fiat and drive us all to our lodgings in Toulon.