Cap d'Ail was not initially a planned stop in our journey. When we had mentioned our trip to our friends, the Bauers, it worked out that Brian had a timeshare with his company in Cap d'Ail that wasn't being used, so he graciously offered it to us. This was a huge blessing for our dwindling budget.
During the week, we probably experienced some of the most extreme highs and lows of the trip. A few of the days we were blessed with full sunshine and temperatures in the low 60s. We had a lot of fun driving along the three corniches, high mountain roads, that carried you on the cliff's edge towering above the Mediterranean (you felt like a race car driver zooming around a track). At the end of one of these corniches was a small town called Menton that was situated next to the Italian border. It was our favorite spot where we sat for hours at oceanfront cafes enjoying our cafe creme and reading, writing, and people watching. Per the recommendation of the Dufoixs, Ron tried a seafood specialty called Coquille- St. Jacques, served in a seashell. It was one of Ron's favorite dishes on the trip.
We did have a few low days as rain came in for 3 consecutive days and Ron came down with a bad stomach virus. We consented that it was the raw sea snails he ate on accident due to our poor French! Whatever you do, do not order BOULETS when you are in France!!!! One night we were really struggling with sickness and travel weariness, and we were close to packing up and heading home early. However, we decided to call our life line, Tim Shirk, to help us. We took his advice to slow down, make a longer stay of our next trip, and to really do all the things we wouldn't have time to do once we are back home, i.e. read, write, sit, pray, eat slow meals, and do nothing – we learned more about this 'doing nothing' while we were in Italy. We'll explain later!
Looking back, the week was perfect, just what we needed. If you're gonna be run down and sick, you might as well experience it in a beautiful place!
Our Italian update will be coming soon!
Much love,
Kathryn and Ron
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