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| Gab in Menton |
Next chapter… Olivetta San Michele !
It’s been
already 4 days, since I arrived in Olivetta with Bram’s good old Citroen C15
(its a french statement..) with trailer, fully loaded with our last stuff. The
trailer was so loaded, that some stuff actually fell off after 15 kilometers..
a moment of stress, to tie everything up again along the road, turning the word
“stress” into an understatement. With 30°C, two dogs and one cat (of which
you’re desperately trying to avoid that he escapes), cars passing by full speed,
my knees started to feel wobbly and I would have preferred to throw up
under a tree. So I'd better dig deep into myself and find good old zen-jen… and tie everything up again and travel down the remaining 350 kms to Italy. Like a pro gypsie
queen!! Pro or pure luck, who can tell, but I arrived safe and sound 5 hours
later. What a relief… and so happy to reunite with
Bram, Gabriella and Benjamin after two long weeks apart. They were happy too…
not so easy to start a new life and school, far away from old friends and habits
and even if Bram did a great job on his own, I think they missed their mummy in all that.
Well, next
morning my turn to take the kids to school and get used to the 12 kms
mountain road to their school in Breil sur Roya. It’s a winding beautiful road
with stunning views.. but you better stay focused. A few hairpin turns you
don’t want to take too fast… But it’s pure pleasure driving, a motorbiker's paradise!! It takes 20 minutes one-way, not too bad at all. And there’s a great
bakery in Breil, so opportunity to pick up a tasty full grain baguette for
lunch.
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| Beach Menton |
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| Chill chairs Menton |
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| Menton |
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| View of Ventimiglia from Menton |
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| Me Menton.. |
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| View from our Olivetta internet café. |
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| Nice Old Town |
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| Nice Old townI |
Tuesday was
also a return trip to Nice. Bram had an appointment with a doctor to check on
his bloodpressure, that’s been slightly up lately. Probably stress related,
cause it was down to normal again.. Enough time for a stroll in the old town, which is SO cute and full of people, boutiques, restaurants, beautiful
buildings in pastelle colours and market squares. Love it!! A quick lunch on the market and off home again by the inland mountain road
(instead of the highway). A winding (read hairpin turns…) road leading up over
a mountain pass at 1200m. Fantastic. Slightly scary though. But if you have the
time, it’s worth every minute. We were overtaken a few times by a few sports
cars, some Monaco registered… I can see this is their local playground.
The kids are
doing alright, under the circumstances. Especially Benjamin, he’s feeling right
at home, at school too! For Gabriella it’s not so easy. She’s been holding up
pretty well in the weeks she was here alone with Bram, but the day before
yesterday the volcano burst… Not going into any details, but it was a major. Boiling down to that Olivetta is literally a shit-hole and moving
here was the most terrible thing we could have done to her, etc etc… calling me
all sorts of names… I suppose she had to boil over at some point. It was bad
while it lasted (Bram was in a state of shock!), but it cooled down and
yesterday, since she had no classes on Thursday afternoon, we had a girls
afternoon out in Menton. Strange what shopping can do to a girl.. hmmm… but it
did a lot of good being the two of us, having an icecream (I found THE place
for Italian gelati!!) and just enjoying this awesome small town. I just love
Menton…
TV and
Internet, well we don’t have it. Yet. I’m using a wireless connection at the
neighbours place (Börje and Gudrun), a very nice retired Swedish couple. Great
to have some Swedish connections next door, they’ve been through all the red
tape so I’ll profit from it a bit ;-) In October we’re invited to a crab party
organized by them, apparantely an autumn tradition that Börje keeps up. Will
meet other Swedish couples living in Olivetta! There seem to be a few.
Isn’t that amazing… of all the places in the world, little Olivetta with its
250 inhabitants cater several swedish and dutch families. However, most of them
use it as a second house. Only us, plus Peder and his wife, are the ones living
all year around. Peder is THE person to approach for help, he’s lived in
Olivetta for many years and speaks fluent Italian.
To finish
today’s post, let me give you our new address details:
Jenny & Bram
MUL
Casa Lunas –
Localita Faiscia
51, Viale Degli
Ulivi
18030 Olivetta
San Michele (IM)
Italy
Tel fixe:
+39-0184222359 (you need to incl the “0” !)
Mobile
Jenny: +33-(0)621742767 (French operator)
Mobile
Bram: +33-(0)686944799 (French operator)
