The south of France

La Croix Valmer, a relatively small city located on the southern coast of France directly between Toulon and Nice. I went there with the fam for 4 days, from Feb. 9-13. It was about a 7 hour drive. Beautiful, windy, cold (10-12 degress C), but very sunny. No snow, it was a nice break from the snow. The town was almost completely empty, not quite tourist season. So here are the pictures!

Also, my employer said it was fine for me to post pictures for my friends and family to see, she just ask that I not include names. So here they are!




Above is the house we stayed in. It belongs to the grandmother of their friends who invited us. It was actually two small houses next to one another. Below is the view of the Mediterranean from the house.Above is just a picture from our drive there. It bore a strong resemblance to southern California to me. The foliage, the sunshine, the soil, the terrain. I have never hear of the two being compared, but that is what I thought. So anyone reading this from SoCal, just look around and you now know what the south of France looks like. Obviously the streets, architecture and people were very different from California.




So the beach kind of slightly reminded me of the beaches in Ghana. The emptiness perhaps. The beaches in Ghana were gorgeous, probably the most beautiful I have ever seen. But they were all empty. There was an area roped of like 100ft by 100ft that you could wade in. I think it was because nobody knew how to swim.


I saw all these posters around, and I was thinking "That looks like Nelly from Little house on the Praire". It is, apparently she is coming to visit France as some celebrity. Funny! People here know much more about old American TV shows than Americans do. I still have never seen an episode of Dallas, but people often hum the theme song when I tell them I am from there.








This is a little nativity scene inside a church. The people are dressed in the traditional clothing from this area.




Above are pasterys from a local bakery. The are a specialty of that particular area. They were so delicious! It was like a thin cake/bread, chewy and more sturdy like a bread, but really soft and a bit sweet like a cake. It was filled with incredibly rich, vanilla creme and topped with powdered sugar and little clusters of sugar that add a little crunch but quickly dissolve in your mouth. So good!

Above are little vegetables made of marzipan. Basically sugar paste. Cute!


Above is a cute picture of the family that I live with.

















Above is a window in a church.






Above is the dress code for a particular beach. The minimum of course. I haven't been to any beaches yet (obviously it is winter) but I do hear that most people go topless. I am going to feel so overdressed! Maybe I will just embrace it and go in an old fashioned knee length, neck high suit. That would be fun.






Above is the family, and below was our entire group.