July 10, 2011

Two English trains, one Eurostar train under the channel, one subway, and another train in France…

We left Henley and traveled back to London on Brit Rail, changing trains at Twyford, to Paddington Station. There, we hopped onto the underground to St. Pancras station to catch the Eurostar train to Paris.

For an American used to driving, I relished going from train, to subway to train. The journey from London to Paris on the Eurostar, the under the English Channel train, took two hours and 15 minutes, traveling at 186 miles per hour. Try doing that in a car! I didn’t even notice the time that we were under the channel–it went by fast and before we knew it we were looking out the train window at golden wheat fields and reading French road signs.

Once in Paris, we followed signs to the metro underground to connect to Gare St Lazare to catch the train to Normandy. My father spent four months during World War II in Normandy, and fifty years after the war, I found a French orphan Gilbert, who Dad tried to adopt and bring home to America in 1944.

I wrote about the experience of connecting with Gilbert in a story that appeared in Reader’s Digest, June 2009, called “Finding Gilbert”. Gilbert did become a part of my family, fifty years later, and we enjoyed the connection for fourteen years before he died in 2008.

This trip, Landon and I were traveling to Normandy to visit Gilbert’s widow Huguette for a few days.

The “Finding Gilbert“ story is now included in the anthology, Best Women’s Travel Writing 2011.

In Normandy, Huguette did pick us up in a car and drove us around for the two days we were there. We visited the American cemetery, a piece of American soil where almost 10,000 young soldiers are buried, casualties of the Normandy Invasion. Huguette cooked for us, delicious fresh French food, and we relaxed into being ‘en famille’ in France.

My father inspired me to learn French from his stories about using his high school French to communicate with Gilbert during the war. I went on to study it with a passion, never dreaming that I would then use it to tell Gilbert that my father never forgot him, even at the end of his life.

I relished having the chance to use my French—Huguette and her family speak no English. Even after three and a half years, it comes back and I’m grateful for the connection that language provides between worlds and cultures, just as it did between Gilbert and my father.

Diane Covington 2011

After our refreshing stay at Chateau de Berne, we followed the winding road down toward the coast, past vineyards and pine trees, with dramatic views around every bend.

We stopped at Thoronet Abbey a well-preserved 11th century abbey set in a pine forest. The acoustics in the chapel are said to be the second best in the world and our guide sang some sweet notes for us to experience the music echoing off the high walls.

Then on to Saint Tropez, and a stop at the renowned Chateau de la Messardière Hotel for lunch.  As we sipped local chilled rose wine with our sumptuous courses, we admired the view of the Bay of Saint Tropez sparkling through the pines and gardens of their extensive grounds (http://messardiere.com).

Though Saint Tropez is now famous for all the celebrities who frequent it, many with giant yachts, it is still a quaint fishing village at heart.  After lunch, we wandered along the colorful alleyways, appreciating the peace of ‘off season’ September, yet basking in the warm sun reminiscent of summer.

The distance from Saint Tropez to Sainte Maxime, on the other side of the bay, is short, but in summer can take an hour or more.  In September, luckily, it was shorter than that, but when we spotted our hotel, Le Beauvallon, sitting atop a knoll with a wide lawn sloping down to the sea, we were excited to call it our next home.

This ‘Belle Époque’ Hotel, built in 1914, has the elegance and grace of those earlier days, contrasted with a glamorous up-to-date décor.  Over 15 acres of landscaped gardens create a sense of space and tranquility.

From the balcony of our luxurious room, we breathed in the fresh sea air and watched sailboats gliding by, as the sky turned pink behind the clouds with the setting sun.  Later, the lights of Saint Tropez looked like jewels in a treasure chest across the bay.

The romantic dining room, with damask linens and candlelight complemented the Mediterranean/International menu and fine local wines.

Breakfast on the terrace the next morning, a swim in the pool and a stroll along the sand at the beach club, followed by some relaxation under an umbrella on a chaise lounge-this is the life!  And in the late September, the sea is still warm enough for a refreshing plunge.

This is the kind of hotel where you want to settle in and stay for weeks.  But even our short stay refreshed mind, body and spirit, making us ready for the next adventure just around the bend in Provence.

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For more information about this area of ‘Undiscovered Provence’, check out these websites:
www.tourismevar.com
www.var-prestige.com