Settling In

We have truly settled in to our daily rounds of life in Antibes. We've gone to the Monoprix in the upper town for our grocery shopping for basic supplies. We've done laundry and used the drying rack that seems to be the preferred local drying method. (It's a whole other story or two if you'd like to hear about our experiences trying to retrieve our clothing from the house's combo washer/dryer. That thing has a mind of its own, and it only speaks technical French!)

We've visited the train station several times and taken the train to Nice (where we walked to the airport to meet our friend, Kathe). We've ridden the local buses. We've walked around the port several times and have scouted out the choicest yachts in the harbor. We've spent hours on the beach--even we, non-beachy people--where the people-watching is unparalleled. We revisited a cozy little neighborhood restaurant, and our waiter remembered we had been there before and made special efforts to visit with us and provide extra service.

We have visited the market almost daily. We now have our favorite bakery. Jerry has started a new morning tradition of going out to bring home a fresh baguette. We know the best of the local olives. We know which seller has the sweetest strawberries and which sells the freshest breakfast radishes--to which I am quite thoroughly addicted. We've gotten used to our little espresso machine, and I've even started drinking caffeinated coffee again.

I had visions of sitting on the sea wall and staring out to sea. It turns out the sea wall is chest high, and the top is sloped to discourage exactly the sort of thing I had in mind. I imagined myself sitting in a sun-dappled plaza, writing in my journal and watching people go by. One can do that, but you would be seated amongst many dozens of other people, with their coffees and cigarettes--not quite as conducive to idle thoughts and musings as I might wish.

This time in Antibes has not been what I anticipated, but it has been an experience I do not at all regret. It is a rather small town in which to base oneself for two weeks sans vehicle. There are only so many options for daily amusement without hopping a train to another town. And yet it creates an opportunity to experience living here. Two weeks is probably a rather short time to make such a claim, but we can with some impugnity say that we have lived in Antibes for two weeks--not visited it for two weeks.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad