December 3, 2023
I have now been in Juan les Pins for the past 19 days and it has been absolutely wonderful. Here’s a bit of an overview of how I have spent that time.
November 16-18 – Juan les Pins, France
The first few days in Juan les Pins, I worked on sanding shutters to prepare them for repainting and explored the area with my friend, Fiona. We ate lots of pastries and bought baguettes most days when we went for walks to admire the Mediterranean. The place is absolutely beautiful, with amazing sunsets and palm trees all over.
We wandered into various marinas with extremely fancy yachts. Some of the boats were gorgeous, some were gargantuan and most of them were registered in places like the Cayman Islands and other tax-haven places. We had fun trying to guess where boats were actually from by looking at the flags they flew and just in general marveling and scoffing at the insane display of wealth while simultaneous daydreaming about working on one of these boats.
These first few days were about getting accustomed to the area and getting started on the sanding project. We started planning the rest of our stay and just soaked in a lot of sunlight and warm days while working outside.
November 19 – Antibes, France
We walked in to Antibes on Sunday to go to the Marché Provençal, a market in Antibes that during the winter months only happens once a month.
We explored the old village in Antibes and walked along the Sea until it was time to head to the market where we bought some cheese and olives to have lunch overlooking a sailing school lesson. The market was really lovely, with lots of fish, cheese, olives, spices, and vegetables for sale along with some arts and clothing booths.
The day was absolutely gorgeous and Fiona was able to practice French with many locals while I sat by trying to understand what was being said.
Once we had eaten our food we wandered around the marina in Antibes, admiring once again, the obnoxious display of wealth while also being amazed at the beauty of the sail boats in particular. Once again, we had fun imagining ourselves on some of the boats and wondering about the people who own them.
We finished off the day in Antibes by walking around the old Antibes Fort, although we arrived after it had closed for the evening, so we couldn’t go in. So as the sun began to go down, we watched the sail boats returning to port.
November 20 – Juan les Pins, France
After another day of sanding and hanging out around Juan les Pins, Fiona and I went to a BalFolk event at the location of the Marché Provençal without really having any idea of what to expect. It ended up being an event led by an Italian man who lives in Juan les Pins and wanted to bring BalFolk to the area. He plays recorded music from a speaker and teaches dances to a group of around 15 people.
It was fairly chaotic, because some people seemed quite new to dancing, but really really fun and the enthusiasm level was amazing. The man leading the class, Valerio, taught the dances in English, French, and Italian, which was impressive and fun to listen to the different languages all describing a similar dance.
We ended up getting drinks in a pub after the event with the class leader and another nice guy. The conversation wandered all over the place and was in a mix between English and French. They were very surprised by our experience with BalFolk in the US.
It was a really fun event, and it ended up giving us some social connections to Juan les Pins and Antibes beyond the people in the house with us. Also, it was really exciting to get to do BalFolk in France and learn more about where the dance form comes from and how it has continued to evolve.
That night, after walking back from Antibes, we both were excited enough from the dancing and socializing that we had a hard time getting to sleep.
November 21-22 – Juan les Pins, France
The next few days were more working days around Juan les Pins. I had been moved from shutter duty to a sewing project making covers for our host’s massage chair. I enjoyed the challenge of making curved, removable covers and fitting them carefully to the chair. For two days I was covered in teal fuzz from the fabric, but it was very fun.
We had lots more baguette, croissant, and yummy homemade food. Took evening walks to watch the sunset along the Sea and enjoyed the sun as much as we could. Just a bunch of nice days of working and hanging out around the house getting to know our host and other other people staying in the house with us.
November 23 – Nice, France
On Thanksgiving day, we went to Nice. We had plans for another BalFolk event in the evening, so we decided to make a whole day of it.
We started out by going on a walking tour of Nice which took us around the old town and gave us context for what we were seeing as we wandered around later.
After the tour, we ended up wandering around with three other people who had been on the tour with us. One from Miami, Florida, another from Mannheim, Germany, and the third from Santiago, Chile. It was really cool how after the tour was over, we all just sort of turned to each other and asked, ‘well, what next?’ We proceeded to spend time walking and admiring the sights while not being 100% sure where we wanted to go exactly.
We went to the marina and tried to guess which of the boats there might be Elton John’s boat because we had learned on the tour that he has a house in Nice and had seen it from afar up on the top of a hill where no one (else) was allowed to build.
After a quick snack, we found our way to a park that had a playground built into it, including trampolines built into the ground. It was a stunningly beautiful day, and was so pleasant to be outside running around and exploring.
We all grabbed a drink on the waterfront to watch the sun go down and continued to get to know each other and chat about ourselves and just generally have a good time.
By the time the sun had gone down, we were getting hungry and wandered off to get food. We ended up dubbing the meal we had “Francegiving” because we shared a family-style meal with these people we had just met and had some really yummy, not traditional Thanksgiving foods. We had muscles with fries, two different types of pasta including one with truffles, and some escargot. We went around the table saying what we were thankful for and just had a really pleasant time enjoying a spontaneous day of new adventures and new friends.
After dinner, we convinced the others to come with us to the BalFolk event. It was in the backroom of an Irish Pub and while we only knew one person from the Antibes class, he was very welcoming and even seemed enthusiastic about the fact that we had brought complete novices to the event. He was very gracious in teaching the other beginners, doing very basic dances, and having Fiona translate for us when he couldn’t explain things in English. The atmosphere was once again, amazing. This time, there was live music, and more like 30+ people. It was a really wonderful end to our Francegiving day of making new friends.
We had to leave fairly early to make sure we caught the last train back to Juan les Pins, but it was still an electric night of really fun music, lots of French I couldn’t understand, and many smiles and laughs as we danced. These are the kinds of experiences that make travel like this really special. Meeting new people and sharing a real connection, even if just for a fleeting moment, is powerful and exciting. While I don’t expect any of the tour group friends we made that day to keep dancing BalFolk, I know they at least had fun for a single night and it was wonderful to be able to bring them into that space for the evening.
I am also really thankful that Fiona was a good catalyst at getting me to the dance in the first place. Her ability to speak French and make connections with people really opened the door for our invitation to the event. Her excitement and enthusiasm about BalFolk and the opportunity to do it in France was infectious and helped get me excited about something I would have likely been too nervous to do on my own. So, thanks Fiona for making my Thanksgiving this year such an exciting and memorable one.
November 26 – Juan les Pins, France
After our adventure in Nice, we had some work to catch up on, so for a few days we continued our routine of working and going for walks and buying bread. It’s a routine I cannot complain about and feel super lucky to have gotten to do.
On Sunday, Fiona and I hosted a more traditional Thanksgiving meal for our host and the other two people staying in the house with us. It was the first, and ultimately, only meal all five of us ate together the whole time, but it was really lovely. We spent a good chunk of the day cooking mashed sweet and regular potatoes, a lentil/nut roast, Brussel sprouts, gravy, stuffing, a pumpkin pie, and an apple crisp. It was a great feast!
Right before we sat down for the meal, Fiona found some fall foliage outside and we decorated the table. Our host provided wine for us and we all, once again went around and said what we were grateful for. This whole experience of getting to travel through Europe, visiting friends, family, strangers, and making connection has been an amazing and unbelievable experience. I feel so extremely thankful that I get to do this and expand my own comfort zone, experience new cultures, languages, and just meet so many wonderful and amazing people while getting to see a small fraction of this amazing and beautiful planet.
November 27, Juan les Pins and Antibes, France
The following day, we decided we had done enough work the previous day to deserve a day off and wandered off to the Cap d’Antibes to check out more of the surrounding area before heading back to the dance event that evening.
We had a bit of a late start because we have both managed to shift our sleep schedules thoroughly into the wee hours of the morning. But once we got started, we wandered around a part of Juan les Pins that we had not been in before. We wandered past very fancy houses and eventually found our way to the Antibes lighthouse.
The views from the base of the lighthouse were really lovely even though we arrived as the sun was getting somewhat low and the clouds made everything pretty dark. Still, it was really nice to contextualize the surrounding area from a very high vantage point where we could see all the way to Nice on one side and to the edge of Cannes on the other.
We also stepped into the church up on the hill which was being setup with Christmas decorations and was cozy and warm. Then we headed back down and made our way to Antibes where we had dinner before heading to the outdoor BalFolk event once again. It was slightly more sparsely attended this time, but still great fun.
November 30 – Cannes, France
The next few days, we stocked up on work hours. I had finished the massage chair cover and had moved on to recreating cushion covers for an outdoor sofa. The first cover took more than twice as long as the second, which I suppose proves I had learned something during the process. I made quite a mess of the room and the space, but this time the culprit was small red fringe from the canvas fabric. I have yet to see the finished cushions because new foam needs to be cut, but I hope they turn out well once they are completed.
On November 30, we headed to Cannes for the day. It was a quick 10 minute train ride into Cannes. When we arrived, we immediately found ourselves in the commercial district, surrounded by fashionable clothing stores and cute cafes. We wandered around the shops for a little while, popping into some of the stores admiring the things and trying not to look at prices.
Eventually we made our way towards the old part of the city and found a little Christmas market on the way. We admired the decorations and window shopped a bit before heading to the port to look at the big boats. After looking at boats, we went to find the walk of frame handprints of various movie stars who have visited Cannes as part of the film festival, or who have filmed in the area.
Then we made our way up into the old village which is up on a hill and wandered around there enjoying the view and the sights. We went in the church and made our way to a museum where Fiona had a lovely conversation in French with the people working there before they decided to switch to English to speak with me and even threw in a bit of Spanish as well.
The views from up there were really nice and despite the grey, somewhat windy day, it was a nice way to spend an afternoon.
When we made our way back down, we wandered through the lower part of the old town a bit more and grabbed a baguette and a pastry near the site of the local market, which was not open, before heading back to Juan les Pins.
December 1-2 – Juan les Pins and Cannes, France
December 1 was a very chill day which we used to get ourselves organized for the next legs of our journey and finish up various tasks.
Our final full day in Juan les Pins, we actually went back to Cannes and took a ferry to Île Sainte-Marguerite where we wandered around the island enjoying the natural beauty of a forest, crashing waves, and a lagoon as well as the human built beauty of a fort. The water getting out to the island was really choppy but the weather was absolutely gorgeous with a brilliant blue sky.
It was a really wonderful day of exploring and island before we headed back to Juan les Pins to prepare to head to a BalFolk Ball.
That evening, we got a ride from one of the people we had met dancing in Antibes to a ball in Contes. The headlining musician was Rémi Geffroy and he was absolutely incredible. The music was amazing, the dancing was great, and just in general the whole event was fantastic!
I’m not really sure how to put into words how amazing the ball was. Everyone was so welcoming, it was well attended, and the music was absolutely amazing. It was just absolutely so much fun and so amazing to get to do BalFolk dancing in the region where it comes from. While there are a variety of dance traditions that get caught up in the umbrella term of BalFolk, much of the tradition seems to be from the region we were in, which was really fun.
After the event, on the hour long car ride back, we had really great conversation with the two Italians from the Antibes class and ended up heading over to Valerio’s apartment to continue the party there. We stayed till almost 4am and had just a really wonderful sendoff with them to end our time on the Côte d’Azur.
December 3 – In Transit and Avignon, France
We spent the morning sleeping in after our very late night out, then cleaned up the house and headed to the train station to make our way to Avignon for the night.
I have officially used every one of my rail pass journeys at this point, just in time for the December 5 expiration. The Eurail pass has a handy map visualization of all the trips I took using it which is really fun to look at. While this doesn’t include trains I paid for separately or buses I took, and obviously doesn’t include airplane travel either, it is a nice visualization of some of the journey I have had so far!
