Saint Jeannet

We are so far behind with this blog we may have to do some fast forwarding especially since we leave Paris tomorrow and in the meantime have been to Aix en Provence, Lyon, Nice, Monaco, Menton and of course here in Paris for the non event semi final that NZ didn't play in!!! Just so you know we sold our tickets for a healthy profit and have been using the funds to enjoy the city of lights.

It is worth retracking though and describing our stay in St Jeannet the small B and B that Chris arranged for us before we left NZ; called the Frogs House or L Auberge it was a " day and night stay in a small village about 30 minutes from Nice and much nicer than the detour one. The village has about 1500 people living in the area but only about 200 living in the actual village confines. It is hundreds of years old and truly beautiful set high on a hillside over looking the valley and on a clear day you Can see the Mediterranean and the Mountains in 2 directions. Our stay with Corrine and Benoit our French hosts was truly memorable. They looked after us from the minute we arrived and we would recommend this place to anyone looking for a taste of real village living of course with all the perks of being waited on hand and foot!

They took us to local producers so we could see how things were still being done after hundreds of years so we sampled a local market where the growers come to sell their goods. Chris had the best honey he has ever tried. We also drunk local wine, our photo shows how it is stored in 50 glass bottles in the sun. This is the cleansing process no artificial filters here!

We visited a local olive press and tasted their products as well, good but not as tasty as the vino. Went mountain climbing only to stop at the summit and enjoy some local wine again, yes there is a theme and some bagette, fromage and jambon supplied by our hosts.

Chris also sampled Roquefort blue cheese and believe it or not goat and donkey meat! We improved our French hugely staying with our hosts and a number of other french speakers but were made to feel so welcome. They even commiserated with us when the french beat us. No they did really but only after we agreed to support France.