I am writing this post on Saturday, Oct. 26, too. And I forgot to tell you something about Tuesday. A big part of this week has involved taking public transportation, buses to be exact. We have done really well considering we were always between 12 and 15 people traveling together, often with groceries, since we needed to bring them up to the villa everyday. The villa is in the hills above Nice and the only thing nearby is a restaurant – closed on Sundays and Wednesdays. Mostly we had a big, good lunch at an interesting restaurant on our travels everyday, then we bought an easy supper – bet you know what – bread, cheese, wine, and chocolate – with a little bit of veggies and pate thrown in for good measure. Our villa is positioned on a very narrow, very, very, curvy road – I think I mentioned this before – and they drive it like it was the Indie 500. Every morning we made our way to the bus stop single file hugging the side of the road, took the bus to Nice (about 30 minutes), then took another bus or two wherever else we were going. Then we did the same in reverse on the way home. You can probably imagine how tired we got of this travel part of our adventure. Well, Tuesday night, after a very tiring day, we were so happy that we all made it to the bus stop on time and we were hauling some pretty hefty groceries. We saw the bus coming down the street and then, whooosh!, it drove right by us!! We were so stunned! Then we realized, the buses don’t stop unless you wave them down!! It seems that every time anyone had taken the bus before, some other rider had flagged it down and we just didn’t see it. Now we all wave like crazy. We worried sometimes that the bus would drive pass us because 15 people loaded down with groceries and waving like maniacs would be intimidating!

I also have to tell you that I didn’t take pictures all the time. I was in the role of leader and teacher and was often so preoccupied with that that I neglected to remember my camera and this blog. So you are only seeing a small fraction of what went on here. For example, I have no photos of several of us swimming in the pool and soaking in the hot tub on Tuesday evening. And I have no photos of our dance party on the deck on Tuesday evening. It was Charles’ idea and he had an iPod loaded with good music and some excellent tiny speakers. We had a blast, not only dancing, but singing, too. Great fun.

Now, on to Wednesday. We did our usual chaotic morning of 15 people getting showered, dressed, and breakfasted, then our usual death defying walk to the bus stop, then our bus ride to downtown Nice. Getting off near the train station, we walked to the Chagall Museum…in the rain!! Yup, Wednesday it rained all day. But since we were going to two museums, no one was very upset about it. I did take photos at this museum, and of our lunch in their cafe on the museum grounds, but then I have no photos of our time at the Matisse Museum, since they don’t allow any. Now that it’s the end of the week I am having trouble remembering all that went on and everywhere we went – the photos help jog my memory, but if I didn’t take any, I might very well be leaving things out. I think that Wednesday evening is the time when we had an art session when we came back home (did we do that on Monday or Tuesday? Well, no one is here to help me remember, but we did it most of the days). Then we had dinner and wine and sat around talking till everyone started to fall asleep. At least I think that’s what happened. If I am wrong I will correct it in a future blog. So, here are just a few photos of a small portion of our Wednesday.