Weekend in Saint-Raphaël (France)
I think I can congratulate myself on the choice of dates and destinations because as soon as I go somewhere, the situation improves at the right time. We didn’t know, when booking the flight to Paris, whether we’d be allowed to exceed the 10km travel limit, but we just had to wait a few days, until we’d isolated a bit, for all of France to open up.
Having deliberately chosen a weekday to travel, I’m surprised to see that the TGV from Paris to Saint-Raphaël is full all the way to Marseille. Usually, we wear cloth masks, but we’ve finally upgraded to FFP2 masks for public transport. To avoid a full-blown maskne outbreak, I keep wearing a small cloth mask under the FFP2 mask.
Clearly, if I could avoid this 5-hour journey on a packed train during a pandemic, I would have avoided it at all costs, especially since I get train sickness after 4 hours. But I probably won’t be able to attend JB’s grandmother’s birthday party this summer, and I was supposed to come see her a year ago, so I took all my precautions: my masks, my hand sanitizer, my vitamins, my Quinton water, my black seed capsules… and I made the long trip down South.
Luckily, I had good weather & the Audible version of The Lord of the Rings with me. It helps pass the time, and it’s a bit of a win-win since we at least did something useful. The guy reading the book does all the character voices, it’s impressive. I highly recommend it. I’ve already explained how I pay little for my Audible books here. This audiobook cost me just €3, for over 20 hours of listening.
I arrive first in Saint-Raphaël, followed by JB who takes the train from Tours (at his mother’s). He suffered more than me: 9 hours in total, including a transfer in Lyon. After that much time on the train, we feel super gross and all clothes go straight to the laundry in the washing machine as soon as we step through the door. Luckily, thanks to the constant mistral wind, clothes dry super fast.
I’d struggle to settle in Provence because I hate the mistral. I hate the dust, having dry skin… and you feel like you’re permanently on vacation here. I can’t concentrate or work despite the recent fibre optic installation.
I wanted to write some travel diary entries, but I couldn’t: my eyelids close on their own and I constantly feel like taking a nap.
We got takeaway from the restaurant Coelacanthe at Santa-Maria port. Every time we come to Saint-Raphaël, we go there to taste their delicious fish soup. The rouille is out of this world. When JB called to order, I asked him to remind the restaurateur to make sure we get the rouille. He told JB to reassure me: “tell the lady I haven’t forgotten her rouille” 😀 one portion is enough for two meals. It’s delicious, don’t miss it!
While JB waits for his order, a couple, probably Parisian because they look lost, walk into the restaurant and ask the restaurateur if he sells… pizzas. The restaurateur is stunned and explains that it’s not the “concept of the house” ahahahah. We’re surrounded by seafood restaurants (makes sense, we’re at the port). Good luck!
Then we do the grocery shopping at Leclerc and I bring back 24 No. 2 oysters from Île d’Oléron at €7.80 per dozen. Who can beat that? They’re so fresh and so delicious that I wonder why we live so far from France??? Huh, why? Even the two slices of foie gras as thin as my screen., were full of flavor.
I take the opportunity to plug the honey sold at “Miellerie des Balcons“. The beekeepers are friends of Claire, JB’s cousin. Remember Claire, who runs a tourist agency in Provence, and with whom we went to see the monarch butterflies in Mexico. These honeys are delicious, organic, and harvested with love. They can ship via Mondial Relay if you’re interested. For it to be financially worthwhile, they send a minimum of 6 per order. I highly recommend it because as you can see, the two jars are already almost empty even though they were opened recently.
Every day, JB takes the car to pick up fresh-from-the-oven organic pastries for us. So good! <3
We took the opportunity to re-sort the stuff left here. From 4 boxes full of clothes, we accepted reality and reduced to 2 half-empty boxes. I kept 2 winter coats (in case I come back to France one day), three pretty winter dresses, and all my jewelry-making supplies. I’m sure I’ll start making jewelry again someday, I love it so much.
Well, our weekend in Provence is already coming to an end. I love visiting family, but only in small groups. I hate big parties with 80 people where I repeat the same thing to 20 people in turn. Small talk is just not for me.
We take another packed train to Paris and settle in the 15th arrondissement while waiting for our flight to Thailand. After all that travel, JB does a rapid antigen self-test a few days later, but it’s so hard to stick a huge piece of plastic up your own nose that we don’t know if he did it correctly.
The rest of our Parisian adventure right here
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