Revelation

Normally, if Fred and I had a full 6 weeks of holiday, we would plan some monster trip involving at least 3 or 4 destinations.  It would never occur to us (me) to just chill in one place, least of all Vallauris, for the entire time.  6 weeks!  I would have thought we'd run out of things to do after 2 or 3 weeks!

We were meant to spend 3.5 weeks in Vallauris, followed by 2 weeks in Greece on a Robarts shindig, but Greece got cancelled so we extended our stay in Vallauris by 2.5 weeks.  It was a revelation.  Provided there is a swimming pool, 6 weeks in one place with no sightseeing obligations (I've been holidaying there every year since I was 3 weeks old so the pressure is off) is wonderful, and so much more restful than visiting a new place, or moving around every few days.

See!  I am becoming one of those people.  Far from wanting to dust off the old backpack and go trekking around the world with my proginy in tow (which I always imagined myself doing, preferably with a stray dog picked up along the way for good measure), I find myself daydreaming of buying a holiday home in the South of France, moving there for 6 weeks every summer, and just letting the rest of the world come to me.

So what did we get up to?  Oscar learned to sail, play golf and play the piano; Leo learned to swim and ride a pony; and Audrey learned to eat with a spoon and walk (just a few steps at the end of the holiday).

We hosted lots of friends and let the kids run amock.

We hung out with Papou and Lala, and Tegus and Alba.

We went for a few long walks, and ate a lot of ice cream.  We sailed to the islands on Lala's boat (previously my grand-father Papi's boat), and Oscar sat in the very front with his legs dangling (previously my spot).  

We even read a few novels cover to cover, and I flew on a trapeze - not sure which is the bigger achievement!  We had fun.  We chilled out.