French Sing Along

We’ve had another busy (in the French view of time) week. We’re settling into a routine with me walking in the mornings, coffee & tea in town, doing some writing, lunch on the patio and an afternoon of exploring neighboring villages.
Mike has become proficient with clothes washing and drying. He found a contraption in the house for a clothes drying rack. It’s easier than climbing the terraces to the clothes line.

We tried to go on an organized hike with a local group but were not able to find their meeting spot – we got contradictory information. So, we made our own hike. We went to Lac Carces and walked for a couple of hours by the lake. We stumbled over a small canal that draws water from the lake so we followed it for awhile and came across a beautiful waterfall. It was a delightful afternoon full of unexpected surprises – the best kind. We found some other charming places this week including Aups, Entrecasteaux and an 12th century abbey built by Cistercian monks. It was beautiful in its stark way.


Today we went to a Medieval Festival in St. Maximin. It was like our Renaissance Festival in that it had people dressed in costumes and vendors with the usual swords, lancets, shields and dragon jewelry. This one was different, however, as it was in the shadow of a 4th century basilica. The basilica was beautiful and they were practicing for a concert that evening using the big organ. That was a nice treat.


We have been trying different restaurants and cafes in town. This week we stopped into the Modern Bar. Mike says that it is the Chick and Ruth’s of Cotignac. I think that’s being gracious to the Modern Bar. It’s clearly the hangout for the working guys and nonworking guys. It’s bustling and loud. People are outside drinking beer from opening until closing. They even have wine on tap. We’re probably not going to venture back into the Modern Bar!

Monday we go to Nice to finally get our tire replaced. What a saga! Mike has made call after call. Mercedes North America were the ones who finally got this worked out. Mercedes shipped a tire from Germany to Nice. They let us know that the tire was available in Nice and “all we had to do” was call to make an appointment for installation. Easier said than done. That took two tries since the first call was between Mike and someone who spoke only French. He finally hung up on Mike. Next I tried with my limited French. That went better particularly once the woman on the phone spoke English. Whew. Anyway, we get the tire on Monday. We’re making an excursion out of it. We’re going through Grasse to tour the perfume manufacturing operations. Eighty percent of the world’s perfume is made in Grasse.


The most entertaining event of the week was our “concert” in Cotignac on Saturday night. We made an evening of it with dinner before hand. (I almost mistakenly ordered a bottle of wine instead of a glass. It was listed for 9 euros so I assumed it was a glass. No – that was the price for the whole bottle! The glass was 2.5 euros. That’s definitely the cheapest thing to drink in town!) Afterward finishing the most amazing ice cream I’ve ever tasted, we set off for the concert. Remember, this is a tow of 2200 people. The concert was in a small town hall with plastic chairs and a little stage. A woman was in the back putting out paper cups and cookies. Very quaint. The performance was a one-man show. The best we can tell, he was singing the songs of a well known French singer. It was like someone performing John Denver songs. Everyone loved it and would sing along with most songs. Of course, we couldn’t understand. I was at least entertained by trying to pick out a word here and there. I averaged about ten words per song. It’s hard to develop a storyline with only ten words and some of those are prepositions. The effect was something like this.

“Les lys (the lilies)………..avec (with)…...Je suis (I am)………..……jolie (pretty)……..fleur (flower)……..…[everybody sing along now]…les lys, les lys…………...couleur (color)……....demain (morning)……….petite (small)……..” enthusiastic clapping

This went on for 2 hours and 15 minutes! He took no breaks (except to recite some poetry). We couldn’t leave. Towards the end he was singing a song with what seemed like a jillion verses – and he kept forgetting the words. The audience would help him out. Finally, he had to give up on the last verse – no one could remember. He did one more song and took a bow. Mike and I sprinted for the door. We were almost there when he started yelling about “le porte” (the door) and pointing to us. Oh my. It seems he remembered the last verse to the song and we couldn’t leave until he sang it. The whole experience was an evening to remember. Oh…and the concert started at 9PM!