Bellevue

When a precious sketch, mottled and sullied with time, recently came into my hands, I knew just who to call. Caroline, known in Antibes as “l’encadreuse de Fersen,” could turn a forgotten relic into a masterpiece. She also teaches me, for a second time, about authentic, French ways.

Returning home from dinner late one night, French Lessons found our home worryingly dark. Somehow Bellevue’s electricity had been cut. An improvised gadget, a can-do spirit, and neighbourly ties eradicate our latest gremlin and cast light on the ongoing dilemma of local business owners.

We’re late, we’re late, for a very important date! The date? The first edition of French Lessons, version 2021, of course. We’re excités to say rebonjour – and have a good excuse for our tardiness: an all-consuming, slow-burn, pandemic passion.

As French Lessons wishes readers au revoir until Summer 2020, we share a few stories from this past season that didn’t make our feed.  Gossip, blackout, and glut: Did the springtime omen of nesting doves on Bellevue’s rooftop bring the sort of luck we needed?

. . . or shall we call this post “Fugue to the Figue”?  When we planted Bellevue’s figuier 13 years ago, we’d unwittingly reconnected our home with its past.  This year’s stupendous crop of figs yields its traditional, French delights – and new heartbreak.

When we creaked open Bellevue’s walnut door – officially launching French Lessons’ 2019 summer season – the house alarm worked.  So did the internet, the air-conditioning, and the lights.  What possibly could go wrong with this year’s homecoming to the sunny Côte d’Azur?

What’s a season of French Lessons without a look behind the scenes at home maintenance?  But far from being a tired subject, Bellevue and all her woes bring out the best stories – even if we always seem to find ourselves at the butt-end of the joke.

French Lessons is thrilled to embark on its 12^th season digging into real life in the French Riviera.  As we find our feet, it’s Christelle’s heels, the climatisation (as ever!), the parking, the coffee and a couple beachcombing locals that remind us:  We are back.

Flourishing figs and the radio’s startling stories. Our pooch’s newly elevated lifestyle, and the famous French bise. They’re all simple, run-of-the-mill pieces of a Côte d’Azur day. . . and yet. We’re summertime regulars, and these ten quirks still catch me out.

You’d think that by now, after nearly 12 years owning the same home in the South of France, we’d have our annual summer return down pat. Bellevue’s air-conditioner would blow steadily. The WIFI would stand at the ready, and the rosé would sit on ice. How silly we are.

French Lessons receives an unexpected gift: an out-of-the-blue email that introduces us to the earliest residents of our seaside home, Bellevue. After years of research and forged connections, often from unlikely places, we introduce readers to the family who may have been Bellevue’s first occupants.

Bellevue’s air-conditioning is again on the fritz, but this time the repairman doesn’t fire us. Instead, along with an ingenious and swifter-than-merited resolution, he offers French Lessons an unconventional glimpse into the inner workings of the European Union.