South of France

We arrived in Nice, ready for the wedding events... J's sister and her fiance had booked "The Stones Villa" which is named after the Rolling Stones because this was their house. They bought it in their younger years as a place to get away & to record music. It has been sold to another family at this point, but it's not hard to picture them spending time at this villa. It's tucked away far up in the hills, overlooking Nice, just outside a town called Vence (pronounced Vance). Twenty of us stayed there and had plenty of space. It has gorgeous views of the Mediterranean & the towns below, with decks and balconies everywhere you look, and a great swimming pool. We had a "Rockers on the Riv" 70's costume party, along with a Welcome BBQ for all the wedding-comers (although it was more like a gourmet catered dinner than a BBQ) at this house, and it served as a great pad to head out for day trips to check out the area.

Part of the 70's Crew

Welcome BBQ at the Stones Villa

I had been to Nice & Saint-Tropez with my girlfriend Christy a few years back, but that was a different experience. She's a clothing designer, so our only goal was to gather "market research" (aka "shopping!"), hang at the beach, and relax. We stayed in Saint-Tropez, which is still one of my favorite places, but I never saw the beautiful hill towns up above the beach towns. You can get to the French Alps in 1.5-2 hours from the Mediterranean.

We went to Antibes to spend time at the beach, and we would have spent more time checking out the beach towns if the traffic wasn't so bad. There was a yacht convention going on, so that brought in a lot of people... We stopped in amazing little town called Saint-Paul de Vence, and I think this was one of my favorite towns. It's perched up on a hill with an old stone wall around it. You could take a photograph of any street, any corner, any view, or shop & it would be worth framing. It's worth the visit. *On any of these photos, click once or twice to make them larger...

Saint-Paul de Vence

We also cruised up to Saint-Jeannet (which is where the wedding was held) to hike the Baou de Saint-Jeannet. The hike takes about 60-90 minutes to get to the top (I can't remember exactly how long it took us), and it's a pretty steep hike. It felt great to me to get some exercise, after all the eating! The trail has views as you hike up, and we passed a group of billy goats and sheep with all their bells on. Two of the billy goats got into it & had a full fight in front of us so that added some entertainment along the way. I have a video of it, and I'll load it eventually & add it here. The view from the top is incredible. Here are a couple photos... All of these photos are iPhone photos so forgive the quality...

billy goats

view from the top

View of Saint-Jeannet from the Baou

The rehearsal dinner was in the town of Vence, at Restaurant de Siegneurs. The groom's family has been eating at this restaurant & celebrating big occasions there for a long time (I think they said at least 35 years, if not longer...). Great food, lots of fun, good company, creative speeches by the family, and an overall great atmosphere! Here we are....all dressed up.

Em + J - Town of Vence

Restaurant Des Seigneurs, Vence, France

Inside the restaurant...

The wedding itself was amazing. Not only were the bride and groom looking stunning, but the church in Saint-Jeannet dates back to the 16th century, and the town of Saint-Jeannet is blanketed with flowers and overlooks the Med. You can't beat it! I can't wait to see the professional wedding photos because I know they will be timeless....not to mention make my iPhone photos look terrible. The cobblestone streets are so small that you can't drive a car down most of the roads. I wish America had more of that architecture. We just don't spend much time on our buildings, we don't have that craftsmanship, and we don't build them to last like they did back then. After the wedding ceremony, we got in vans and went down to L'Abbeye for the reception. They had at least 10 different appetizers, yummy cocktails, and we all had a chance to check out the Abbey. Then it was a delicious dinner that I'm still thinking about. It's the best food we had while we were in France, and it was a 3-star Michelin restaurant. I hear that the Michelin stars are pretty hard to get...and 3 stars is the highest a restaurant can get on the scale. It was a lovely setting, and then they topped it off with a dance party in the chapel at the abbey that is dated to the 10th century. It was a dark-stone chapel that felt cryptic because of the darkness and the uneven floors. They put a DJ in there, gave us all sandals so we wouldn't break any bones (I still did something to my knee...and I know I'm not the only one!), and also loaded us with flashing toys (disco balls, squishy stars, sunglasses that lit up and flashed lights everywhere). That was all it took to have every one of us soaked with sweat and laughing until the wee hours... I was too busy dancing to get any pics of that part of the wedding. The night ended with our taxi's transmission going out, attempting to get back up to the Stones Villa which is not an easy trek for a car. We all had to walk the rest of the way home but no one cared... It was a great wedding!!

Church of Saint-Jeannet

Saint-Jeannet

Views from Saint-Jeannet

Flowers throughout the town of Saint-Jeannet

Bride (Ashley) & Maid of Honor (Sara)

We had planned to head to Cinque Terre the next day, but we weren't moving very fast so we stayed at the villa for another night and left a day later. My next post will be the start of Italy...