Sunday, November 1

Drove from Genoa, Italy to Grasse, France.

Arrived at the house in Grasse after leaving Genoa this morning. After a quick tour of the house we found out the pool was still a decent temperature so a quick clothing change and headed outside to enjoy it.

Justin and the kids enjoying the pool.

Monday, November 2

Visitors in Grasse

Woke up this morning and had a family workout. We found a weight bench and punching bag as well as some free weights. All of us had a good workout this morning and it was a great way to start the time off in our new house in Grasse. Grocery shopped this morning as we have Matt, Paulette and Gia joining us today. I’m very excited to see some familiar faces from home. The kids are super excited about having Gia around to play with, especially Max since he was a bit on the sidelines in Servian as most of the kids were Shelby’s age around there.

Justin picked up our visitors from the train station as they travelled from Paris this morning. One slight blip on the 10 minute drive home…they lost one suitcase on the road from the back of the car. I guess they hit a round about and the tie job gave way and out flew a suitcase. Looks like everything survived the fall though.

Had a great dinner and catch up with them. So nice to hear about their travels as they’ve been travelling around Europe since mid July.

Dinner at home with Matt, Paulette and Gia.

Tuesday, November 3

Fragonard and the city of Grasse

Paulette and I were given the green light to head out on our own this morning so we drove to the centre of Grasse and took a tour of the Fragonard Perfume Factory and treated ourselves to some Parfum.

At the Fragonard Perfume factory in Grasse.

We then walked around Grasse and and shopped a bit before stopping for a great lunch. Then some more walking followed by a coffee and treat. We stumbled across this great store in town. When you walked in it had a table of spices in open baskets and a variety of artisanal foods. I had hoped to come across some jam that I’ve been on the hunt for but no such luck. However, in the end, the gentleman working there made it one of the best stops of the day. Paulette was looking at some sugared mint, jasmine, and rose so he offered us a taste of it. Then he told us that it can be placed in a champagne glass before pouring the champagne in, conveniently he also sold champagne, one stop shopping. We then were looking at the reduced balsamic vinegars, so again he offered a taste test of all of those. o we decided on the sugared mint and the champagne to go with it, as well as the vinegar, Paulette was paying for the items and he threw in a package of Provençal herbs which was nice, and then as he was walking us out the door he passes Paulette a bag of breadsticks too. Funny how one of those “ah, lets just pop in here” stops turns into one of the most friendly and enjoyable visits.

The artisinal shop in Grasse.

We then headed to the grocery store for some extra food and wine for the house and arrived just as the rain picked up. Matt and Justin were with the kids today doing crafts and keeping them occupied.
After a great dinner and some card games, it’s late and it’s bedtime. Plans for tomorrow are to head to Nice for the day and do some exploring.