21 May – 18 June

It has now been a couple of weeks since we have left the city to try a few weeks in the ‘relative’ country of the area around Mimet. A few weeks of enjoying the (mostly) beautiful springtime Provincial weather, of adjusting back to being car dependent and, most tryingly, not being 100m down the road from (in our humble opinion) the best bakery in the world. 

We are loving the views across to the mountains, the outdoor space, the convenience of having a car downstairs and, of course, the pool.

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But we do miss life in the city. The centre of Aix had become our home. The streets and squares had become our playground – one that, during confinement, it felt like we had to ourselves. We miss the markets on our doorstep, the bakery down the road, rollerblading to the bus stop and bumping into people we know.

We have replaced the majesty of the 18th century stone architecture of the Aix old town with the distinctly less romantic architecture of the Alcan Aluminium smelter in Gardanne and the towering smoke stacks of the Provence power station, not to mention the hookers who parade their wears alongside the vineyards, poppy fields and hiking trails along the D7 between Gardanne and school.

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(Side note – it makes it sound dodgy, and I guess that section is, but in a very civilised, French kind of a way).

Gardanne itself (our new, biggest nearby town) is an industrial centre for Provence, with a distinctly more working class feel than Aix. Rather than trying to cover up its industrial past (and present) it has decided to own it. Old industrial relics decorate the roundabouts and concrete is dyed rust coloured. It also boasts the largest market in the area, the word on the street being that it has the same vendors at Aix but at a significant discount – a theory we have yet to test.

In any case, our new home is perfect for the last few weeks of our stay in France (the kids feel like they’re in heaven), but we are very comfortable with our choice to spend the year living in town. 

Since we have been in our new country residence (OK, more a townhouse in a newly built allotment), France, and subsequently we, have  continued the march back towards something resembling a ‘mask bound’ normality. Despite our observations around the lack of masks in the centre of town, it appears that the government’s approach to deconfinement is working. New cases are down to less than 1000/day (lots for Australia, but a decline from the 8,000 new cases per day that were being experienced in March) and hospitals are managing the volume of covid related patients. The famous traffic light chart of the country shows everywhere except for Paris as green. 

Like the rest of Europe (with the exception of the UK which appears still to be struggling under the weight of new cases), France is scrambling hard to be ready to allow a meaningful summer break for its citizens. Doubtless, the government realises that, if the French people miss their holidays on either the Atlantic or Mediterranean coast for summer, they would probably start building barricades on the streets of Paris in protest. 

It will, however, be an unusual summer here. Rather than being swamped with North Americans and Brits, Provence will likely be swamped with Parisiens this summer as the borders remain shut to non-Europeans, and the UK are invited to quarantine for 2 weeks on arrival. Across Europe, it will be ‘a summer for Europeans’ as the rest of the world is shut out. 

On 2nd June, France went to ‘Stage 2’ of its deconfinement strategy, meaning that some cultural institutions, beaches and sports facilities could start to open up (all with strict distancing and hygiene measures in place) and, excitingly, we could venture outside of our 100km radius.

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This meant that we are now free to travel anywhere in France, and, importantly, start to tick off some final items in our bucket list… but more on that later. 

The thawing of deconfinement has seen us return the kids to school. Whilst many other public schools in the area remain shut, we have been both fortunate and really impressed with the efforts that IBS has done to open up both safely and quickly. After holding the kids back for a couple of weeks to see if the world exploded (it didn’t) we made the decision to send them back to school the first week we were here. The kids were excited. We were excited. All of us, like so many families around the world, had just about hit the limit of productive homeschooling and it was time to let the professionals step back in.

The kids were excited. They too knew it was time. We, free of 7 hours a day teaching duties, had packed our week with a range of social engagements and sporting activities. 

Sena, unfortunately, had other plans. On Saturday morning she woke up with a fever and vomiting. Just what we wanted in a country where covid still circulated actively. Off to the doctor we went, and quickly negotiated a covid test with the nurse (still not that easy to get in France). After a subsequent wait, we finally got to see the doctor who was distinctly put out that we had dared to have a test (his solution was that we self isolate for 2 weeks just in case and return if she still had a fever in 4 days. Neither of these options were going to fit in with our plans). By the afternoon Sena had recovered but we still waited somewhat nervously for the test results, cancelling Jessie’s 8th birthday party previously scheduled for the following day and nervously giving a heads up to all those we’d been in contact with for the previous few days. 

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Sunday 24th May was Jessie’s birthday. By this stage we had convinced ourselves that Sena was fine and so all focus was on a family birthday for Jessie with a party rescheduled to the following week. Lots of excitement in the morning, running around the house and then a thump. Ellie screams. We run. Jessie is spread eagle at the bottom of the stone stairs, blood coming out of the back of her head, too shocked to cry. Eventually she recovers enough to start bawling. We call the ambulance who arrive rapidly, deliver free first aid and do an initial range of concussion checks before we bundle Jessie off to yet another medical centre to get her head glued back together. For all its occasional frustrations some things in France do work incredibly well… like getting an ambulance to your house in the country in less than 10 minutes on a Sunday morning… and for free.

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Despite the dramas of the morning, Jessie makes a full recovery and we ended the day as all birthdays should… with cake and presents. 

At 7pm we got Sena’s covid results back confirming that she did not have the virus and was clear to go to school the following day. By this time, unfortunately, we had missed the window to get all the supplies necessary for the kids to function in a post covid-can’t share anything world, so our return to school would have to wait a day. 

At least no one had the virus and everyone’s heads were still (more or less) together. And there was a new rule. Medical centres were banned from now on. 

So it wasn’t until Tuesday that the girls made their way into school for the first time in almost 3 months. There were strict protocols to be followed. Lines were marked at 2 metre intervals for each child to line up at the entrance to school to have their hands sanitised and temperature taken (subsequently recognised as a really effective way to spread head lice). Bags were not allowed, nor was sharing stuff. Anything that went to school had to stay there. Lunch times were staggered, classrooms spaced out and interactions between classes basically avoided. Masks were mandatory for everyone aged 9 (including all teachers and parents) and optional below that. Sporting programs were highly adapted, school yard games transformed (lots of hide and seek and touch-less tag) and welcoming hugs became complex dances of foot touching and elbowing. Parents were instructed to maintain strict social distancing around the school and when waiting (outside) at kids pick ups.

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(Fun fact: The teachers did a pretty incredible job managing the kids through these strict processes, only to look on with some exasperation as parents milled merrily outside in the afternoon, letting the kids (including our own) frolic merrily and without constraint as soon as they walked out of the school gate. All that hard work rendered useless).

The initial trepidation lasted for a day with Jessie and Ellie, Sena jumped straight back in, delighted to see her friends again. By Wednesday, Ellie and Jessie had found their groove too and were happy to be back… again showing how resilient kids can be when we let them (and how great the school and teachers were in supporting them through this). 

In their second week back at school, Ellie and Jessie entered ‘evaluation week’ where they were tested in both english and french. It was a chance for the girls to realise just how much they had learnt this year in both languages and we couldn’t have been prouder of them.

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Jessie, recently ‘graduated’ from the French as a Foreign Language program, came home proudly showing the results of her french exam with almost all answers correct.

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Ellie came home mumbling something about a 4 hour french test and then collapsed on the couch (turns out she tops the year in maths – who knew!). Sena, on the same day, came home proudly showing off her ‘dragon achievement chart’ gained over the last few months.

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So wins all around. Considering where they were at the beginning of the year (absolutely nowhere) the progress has been astounding.

(Side note: we have talked previously about the ‘Christmas Miracle’ that was meant to be bestowed upon our house at the end of the last year, delivering us perfectly fluent little french children. We think perhaps it went to the wrong address? In any case, over the last few weeks, the ‘Christmas Miracle’ seems to have tracked us down to our country house in Mimet. And not just for the kids.

After almost 10 months we are now seeing and hearing both Liz and the kids be able to understand a large part of what is going on around them and have conversations in a variety of situations. Liz has managed to progress through 3 levels of French (to complete B1 in a year) and Ellie and Jessie are holding their own in native French classes. Even Sena has not been immune and is suddenly seeming to understand what is going on around her in French and throwing around the odd word.

… and after 6 months of waiting, Anthony finally received his DALF certificate that was meant to arrive after 6 weeks.

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This is both wonderful and a little frustrating as our time here is coming to an end, just as the language is starting to click. Whilst we plan to continue with French in Australia, we will obviously need to peddle a little faster to get there!)

So, whilst the kids have been getting back into the groove of school, we have been adjusting to our new lives in the country, building and ticking off bucket list items and ramping up return to work activities (well, let’s face it, Liz has effectively gone back to work full time, just with less social working hours and a nicer view for her Team calls. 

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After 3 months of confinement-induced hibernation, socialising has kicked in again with lots of playdates, parties and catch ups. Whilst in theory the ‘10 person’ rule remains in place, this appears to be relatively loosely interpreted, particularly with small people often counting as small fractions of full humans.

Despite the best efforts of school to keep the kids separate and socially distant, we (and everyone else it appears) have been going hard at birthday parties, playdates and sleepovers where, it would be fair to say, distancing is a largely theoretical concept. It seems that most weekends and many afternoons after school we are either sending or receiving kids that the girls are keen to see before we take off. 

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Jessie’s 8th birthday party, delayed by Sena’s covid test, was a great success – with Lola, Sofia, Aer Sophie and Nora coming over for an afternoon pool party and playdate. Never has there been a group of such lovely 8 year old girls. The day was such a success that a follow up sleep-over was immediately scheduled at Sofia’s house for our last full weekend in town. 

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The following weekend we found ourselves in a position of having 3 parties on at once, inevitably at different ends of town. For Sena, it was the social event of the year – her best friend Florence’s 6th birthday party where the guest list included her other best friends, Noor (from Holland) and Kurosh (from the US). Good company, a pool, a treasure hunt and a flying fox (+ rose for the adults) ensured it was a great success.

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Meanwhile, Ellie was at the other end of town at her friend Lily’s 10th birthday party – another pool party with many of her closest friends from school.

… and whilst this was all going on, we were enjoying (and/or juggling around being a taxi service to and from the other events) our own going away party at Matthias and Corey’s house, with Claire and Jean, Christine and Marc and Susa + kids all enjoying great food, champagne and the pool of their lovely country bastide. 

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By the end of the evening we had managed to gather all our kids into one spot and had a wonderful spring evening among friends. 

We have also been taking full advantage of the fact that we now have an outdoor area, BBQ and pool to entertain, and have started making up for the months of being socially confined to our company. We have enjoyed hosting Greg and Emily and their kids,

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Claire, Jean, Matthias and Corey and Adrienne and Rob and Otis, Elizabeth, Noemie and Nir + lots of kids.

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We also loved going around to Noemie and Nir’s beautiful house to pick mulberries and have dinner and to Lauren and Clemence’s place to pick and eat their fresh cherries. It’s certainly feeling like summer is on its way! 

As our leaving date approaches we have started to plan each week with military precision, trying to ensure we tick off those last ‘bucket list’ items before we head off. 

The top of the list was to keep a promise to Jessie to climb the Sainte Victoire with her. This was a pre-confinement promise that remained a goal throughout. We planned the climb on one of the many public holidays that seem to land in May in France and agreed to partner with Otis, Elizabeth and Isadore to make the climb (whilst Sena and Florence hung out for the day – no one has ever been happier). Unlike the climb with Ellie earlier in the year when the wind almost blew us off the mountain, this time had perfect climbing weather. Sunny, warm without being too hot and calm. We made the long climb, appreciating again both how beautiful and challenging (especially for 7 year old legs) it was, and were rewarded with incredible views and perfect conditions from the top (Fun fact: also with about 40 other very non-socially distant people enjoying the erstwhile tranquility of the top). 

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In early June we hit the Luberon around Gordes and Roussillion looking for early blooming lavender, but had to make do with the stunning Monastery of Saint Sénanque instead, as the rock star purple flower (in a world of amazing wildflowers) has still not got out of bed for the year. Fortunately, our new covid inspired itinerary meant that we would be in Provence until the end of June, giving us plenty of time to see the lavender fields in something like full bloom.

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We took the kids to Marseille for the afternoon (it only took us 9 months to travel the 30 minutes down the road to visit the second largest city in France!) and went for a walk/bike ride around the Vieux Port area before doing the obligatory ‘getting lost in the Marseille tunnel system because the GPS doesn’t work underground’ thing before hitting Cassis for Bonnie to have a swim. On the way home we stopped at Aubagne for an ice-cream which was an experience in itself. It turns out that not all of Provence is 18th century architectural perfection or rugged wildflowers. Some of it is run down town and ageing infrastructure… and a lot of this is seemingly clustered around Aubagne. Whilst it is far from the Peter Mayle-esque image of provinçale perfection, it did deliver on the ice-cream front, so all can be forgiven.

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Liz and Anthony took Ellie and Bonnie on a day out to the seaside whilst Jessie and Sena had playdates and birthday parties one Wednesday afternoon. Whilst they were hanging out with Nora and Noor respectively, we went down to Saint-Cyr-sur-Mer for a swim with Bonnie, before hitting the Thalazor, Bandol for lunch, a cocktail for Ellie followed by lemon meringue pie ice cream. She has developed a penchant for ‘nice’ things, so did not hate the experience! 

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Also high in the list was kayaking down the river Sorgue and under the Pont du Gard, the Roman aqueduct that Anthony was lucky enough to visit with Adam in October last year, as well as heading back to the Carriers de Lumieres to see a new light and sound exhibition on Dali and Gaudi. We decided that this trip warranted a day off school, so we pulled the kids out on a Wednesday and made the trip into the Luberon and the Beaux de Provence. The exhibition (managed in a post covid world including masks, hand sanitiser and temperature checks on entry) was lovely and had the kids enthralled. From there, it was off towards Orange where we picked up our kayaks for the 8km paddle down under the Pont du Gard. Whilst boat one (containing Jessie, Sena, Bonnie and Anthony) voted the trip a great success, there were some serious questions being asked around the quality of pre-departure briefings and safety procedures in boat 2 (Liz and Ellie) as we made our way down some (unexpected) rapids. 

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We also joined our friends Sophie, Julien, Victoria-Louise and Éléanore for a wonderful hike around Le Rove and the calanques to the west of Marseille. The 11km hike (which Sena largely enjoyed from the comfort of a backpack on daddy’s back) meandered through rocky scrubland exploding with wildflowers of yellow, white, red, light and dark purple and just about any other colour you could think of.

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The route took us steeply down to a stunning calanque with turquoise blue water before climbing back up along an (unfenced) cliffside path above the Mediterranean past neolithic caves that housed people some 9000 years ago. It was a wonderful hike, if a little noisy at times with Liz concerned we were going to lose a dog or a child over the edge, or various children questioning ours or their life choices! 

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On a slightly more sombre note, Ellie and Anthony took a morning off school to go to the Les Milles Deportation Museum – one of the many deportation camps dating back to WWII. This camp, originally a tile factory, was originally set up by the French to inter Germans and Austrians in 1939, before being used as a holding camp for Jews and other non desirables on their way to Auschwitz. The museum included a fantastic overview of the origins of WWII, the Vichy government, the resistance, the ‘Final Solution’ and subsequent examples of genocide. Ellie was both appalled and captivated – the first time she has been exposed to a ‘living history’ of WWII (unfortunately our plans to head up to the beaches of Normandy were scuppered by confinement). 

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In the last month we have also had the most important day of the year (Mother’s Day) and have been able to spend a (very few) quiet minutes kicking back, sketching our new surroundings and even learning to play chess (even if Sena’s rules are slightly different to everyone else’s!).

Ellie’s gym has tried to start back for the end of the year with ‘outdoor training’ – more an excuse to catch up with friends than actually do anything specifically gymnastic related.

And of course there has been the obligatory return to Indian Forest to do some last minute zip-lining when the kids had had enough of touristing.

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The last item on our list, and one of the reasons we were glad to be ‘stuck’ in Provence (rather than be in China right now), was to have the chance to see some lavender fields in bloom. This starts around the middle of June (despite our best efforts to get in early, it actually does start in the middle of June and not earlier). After our initial false start in Gordes at the beginning of the month, we struck gold around Valensole during our final week here. Field after field of perfect rows of blooming purple flowers, interspersed with fields of lighter mauve ‘soge’ fields (we think sage but we’re not 100% sure) set against the blue sky and typically stunning provençale cloudscape. It is easy to see what all the fuss is about (even if we’re not massive fans of the final product!)

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Anthony has also been taking advantage of the fact that the cycle ban has been lifted to explore some new routes around our new house and appreciate the beauty of the provençale countryside in spring. Some of the highlights have been heading back to Saint Zacharie (where we went to the ‘transhumance’ festival earlier in the year and Bonnie met a bunch of sheep) and up into the hills to Plan d’Aube, various routes to the south of and/or around Sainte Victoire, through the Calanques National Park to Cassis and around Ventabren and the Aqueduct de Roquefavour. 
The highlights, however, have definitely been climbing Mont Ventoux and doing our own personal Aix Ironman 70.3. 

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Mont Ventoux has been part of the Tour de France on a number of occasions including where Tom Simpson tragically died in 1967. It is an unrelenting 24km climb of 1700m from the beautiful town of Bédouin, through vineyards, cherry trees and forests before breaking out into a rocky, treeless moonscape for the last 6 kms. Anthony was joined by friends Otis and Nigel for the climb on a beautiful spring day. The climb up was a 2.5 slog with a short pause at the famous Chalet Reynard at the top of the treeline, past the ‘professional’ photographers selling photos and up to the summit. From there, it was an incredible 25 km winding and fast descent to the town of Malaucène before winding back to Bédouin and a well deserved beer. 

3 days later, Otis and Anthony did a ‘trial run’ of the Aix Ironman 70.3 course – originally scheduled for May this year but delayed until September due to covid. This was a 2km swim in Lac Peyrolles, a 90km ride around the Sainte Victoire and 3 7km laps of Aix (in our case, cut short to 12kms to allow us to get back into time to pick up the kids from school!). This event was something that we had been training together for for much of last year prior to confinement, and it was awesome to be able to achieve it before heading off. 

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In and around trips into the broader region of Provence, we have still been ducking back into Aix when we can to hit the markets, the boulangerie, the fish shop and the butcher. We can’t resist heading back into town, chatting to the shopkeepers and walking our favourite streets, now heaving in the springtime warmth. Saying goodbye to the physical space is almost as hard as saying goodbye to the people in it. 

So the ‘to do’ list has been whittled down, the seemingly endless goodbyes started but not yet finished, and we are all slowly getting our heads around the fact that we are leaving. We are all riding a roller coaster of emotions, the kids in particular bouncing from happy, to sad to be leaving their friends and their school, to excited to be going home and seeing their friends, to crying or laughing maniacally because they are basically overtired and overwhelmed. We are the same, but just a bit better at controlling it. 

Slowly but surely we are getting ready. 

Our bags are almost packed. The logistics for our return trip are (relatively) sorted. 

Bonnie is sporting a new, sleek, Doha-busting haircut for summer (much to the delight of the Aixoise who cross roads to come and pat him… much to Liz’s dismay – and Bonnie’s when she douses him with hand sanitiser). 

We are down to the last handful of social events and goodbyes. 

The focus is shifting to work (where Liz has been stuck for the last few weeks) and the flight home (where the Qatar staff will be in hazmat suits) and the subsequent quarantine in Melbourne (Liz’s new obsession is the quarantine Facebook group, in particular the ‘what am I eating today’ section). 

We have said goodbyes. And again. We will miss this place and the people in it terribly. We are grateful to have had the opportunity to experience it and them. 

The time in quarantine will allow us to reflect, to take stock, and to plan for the next chapter. 

But first, the last few days, a weekend in Lyon with Fred and Noemie and the long journey back home.

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