Friday, September 18, 2015
The blog has suffered this week because I have had visitors and by the time we reach the end of the day, my body and my mind are in no shape to sit and write!!
However, I hope I can begin to capture the essence of this day and translate it into a word picture for you. My friend Jeannie Cavender from Santa Barbara, California is here and today we took a bus east along the Middle Corniche between Nice and Monaco, to the perched Medieval village of Eze le Village. We got off the bus in the middle of the village and quickly learned that we still had almost a half mile of cobblestone and brick and rough flinty paths, nearly straight up to reach Château Eza where we had reservations at 1:30 PM for lunch at a beautiful old restaurant, part of the hotel grounds. So first I must say, that the ascent and descent (after a bottle of very fine Rosé) and the return ride on a local bus at 5:30 PM on Friday evening mark several major accomplishments. First and most importantly, we made it up the rugged path and back down again without stumbling or taking a tumble. Had I know ahead of time just what the terrain was, I might have said I could not do it. Bravo to both of us!! Secondly, I have negotiated the tram, the bus which was very easy late morning, and the bus at 5:30 PM overfilled with teens from every part of the world, who were noisy and rude, and pushed and shoved to get on the bus ahead of the more senior passengers who had waited far longer to get on the bus. Yours truly stuck a long arm across to the rail by the bus step and blocked the passage of a particularly obnoxious young fellow so the tiny woman wedged between us could get on the bus without being crushed. She tapped me on the arm as Jeannie and I got off the bus in Nice and gave profuse thanks and said she hoped we passed a bonne journey in France. Third, we had a divine view, and I should probably write Divine with a capital letter because it was so magnificent and a perfectly delicious lunch. And finally, we moved outside to the terrasse for coffee and sweets and were seated next to a couple from Seattle…she was the sister of my neighbor across the street of the Viewmont Way home when I lived in Seattle. She took a photo, got my email address and mailed the photo then and there to Tom and Gail. Now, there are certain members of my family for whom this will come as no surprise…nor will this other little small world happening this week. The housekeeper came here on Wednesday to change the sheets, clean the bathroom and help me prepare for Jeannie’s arrival on Thursday. He brought his wife. We had a conversation and she showed me the photos of their grandchildren, whom she said live in Aix en Provence, asked if I know where Aix is. Bien sûr. I then said to her that my former daughter-in-law’s family lives in the small village of Velaux near Aix. I thought she and her husband were going to faint away. Velaux is where their son and his family live, but they named Aix knowing it was the larger city and never dreaming I would know Velaux. Oh yeah, it continues to happen down here in the Mediterranean part of Southern France. For you readers, it is where my grand daughter Miriam’s other grandparents live, a population of about 8,000 people, where Miriam was baptized, and where many of our friends and family gathered for Greg and Odile’s marriage.

Back to Château Eza. It is a very old structure, carved into the rocks of the top most hill in the old village. There are no two parts of the floor that are the same level. There are steps up and down to every part of the reception area, the restaurant, the terrasse, the restrooms and then there is a view of the Mediterranean that extends to Corsica, northward to the Nice airport, east to the southern part of the Alps and almost directly thousands of feet below us to Cap Ferrat and Beaulieu. There was a mental conflict…whether to watch our feet on the uneven floor beneath us or to raise our gaze out across the sparkling cerulean sea. Our table in the restaurant was perched on a little balcony on the exterior of the chateau with a white awning extending out that just kept the sun off our faces and food but left us with what felt like a view of the world. One dared not look down.

I am posting photos of parts of our meal…the cold cucumber soup which came in an oversized black bowl ringed with ridges, garnished with slices of fresh coconut and an edible flower, our maigret of duck with potato quenelles laced with bits of olive and full of toasted pine nuts, and tiny little grilled cherry tomatoes that had a slightly lemony flavor to them. It was perfection. For dessert we had an almond mousse crusted with crackled caramelized sugar leaves and a tiny carnation for garnish alongside a dollop of apricot sorbet, dotted with dabs of apricot sauce.

Then we were invited to move out to the terrasse for coffee and were served six pieces of homemade candies on a rectangular slab of slate. I tried unsuccessfully to take a photo straight down to give a sense of the height of our dining experience….I simply could not stay focussed down that far without holding onto my chair and the railing beside it…and when the gentleman from Seattle said, “You had better slide your chair towards me just a bit. One of the chair legs is not quite on the terrasse” I knew a photo was out of the question.

During our lunch the sky was cloudless and it was hard to distinguish the horizon of the sea from the sky, but as the afternoon progressed, mackerel clouds began to gather between Eze and Nice and a fresh breeze blew in from the sea. We were able to look south and see the island of Corsica during our lunchtime meal.

We have returned safely to our apartment, there are parties galore taking place on the yachts below and I am feeling like today was one of the most magical experiences I have ever enjoyed in France.