Off the Cliff...into the valley

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Our time at "The Refuge" was finished.  Marie, the owner of the Refuge, knew of a couple nearby down in the valley that had just remodeled a cottage on their homestead for their daughter.  However their daughter had left to visit Corsica and decided to stay on the Island.  So now they had a wonderful cottage but it was empty.  Marie put us in contact with Rene and Elisabeth Pantalucci.....the owners of the cottage.  They had decided to rent it out as a Gite and we were the first to stay there.

What a couple Rene and Elisabeth were!  They were Provencal....born and raised in Provence and spoke Provencal....a dialect of French spoken in the southeast part of France.  By this time I had become quite at ease with speaking French and could make a pretty good conversation but this was a totally new experience for me.  To me when Rene spoke....it seemed as though it was a different language.  It would be like a student who studied prim and proper Oxford English and attempted to speak to Louisiana Cajuns.  More about Rene and Elisabeth later.  The unique part about this cottage was the olive grove in the last image.  It was our own private grove!  Rene had planted the grove next to the cottage.  The trees were full of Provençal Olives...a treat each night at our meals.  Such a fundamental part of the Provencal Mediterranean diet.  Never in our wildest dreams did we think we would ever have our own Olive Grove....even if it were only for a week!

Dan