Blake and Deborah in Europe: Tale of Four Cities

You can walk to the town of Gonfaron from Jill and John's house, but I wouldn't bother. It's really a drab little town where the colorless buildings crowd the narrow sidewalks and most of the window shutters are kept closed. There's a central square but it's empty save for the handful of leafless trees. Everything looks dingy and depressing. Simon looked Gonfaron up in Wikipedia and found it only rated three lines, primarily featuring its “Village des Torues,” a rescue center for tortoises, which have yet to visit. It might be a bit perkier come spring, but from what John and Jill have told us it doesn't improve much.

Fortunately France is filled with many more picturesque villages and cities. We had a chance to visit three over a couple of our days off when Jill drove us to Hyères, Toulon, and Aix-en-Provence. Hyères features some nicely landscaped public gardens replete with palm trees and an old town dating to medieval times which is great to wander. Toulon is a much larger city with a sheltered harbor, numerous museums (unfortunately closed on the day we visited) and all the amenities you could need. Aix manages to be both stately and hip with mansions, cobblestone streets, outdoor cafes, cathedrals and lots of college students. Jill was able to get in a little shopping therapy while the rest of us played tourist, although Deborah wasn't feeling up to the trip to Aix and instead stayed home. The twins were at day care so she actually got to have some much needed quiet time.