This morning we waved off Maija and the rest of the group as they left for the Nice airport. We took a taxi to Villefranche to meet our apartment owner Shelley Dobyns. She owns 10 apartments in this town and we have found out that everyone here knows and likes her.

Here is her website: www .rivieraexperience. com

We were to be in her newest apartment which is a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom unit but it wasn't ready yet. Luckily, her waterfront penthouse had a cancellation and we went there. It was no hardship!!! It is the only apt in Villefrance with a wrap around balcony and you could drop a fishing line into the water from the it. The apartment building is 600 years old, very hard to imagine. Shelley has equipped this apt beautifully. The dishes are lovely, lots of big wine glasses (very important!), champagne flutes, lots of serving dishes and pots and pans. In the living room there is a closet which has been turned into an office. The bathroom, although there is only one, is huge with lots of storage, and a washing machine. Even a music system which will take my ipod, with outdoor speakers for the balcony.

Around Villefranche you will see many fountains with taps and water constantly running from them . People fill their water jugs and the water is pure. No need to buy bottled water in this town. We have one of these fountains outside our bedroom window.

For lunch we walked to a little beach place called Chez Nizette which Shelley recommended. The thing about French lunches is that you are there for a minimum of an hour and a half. That's nice if you don't have anywhere to go but a problem if you do. Anyway we had a lovely lunch then headed down the beach to the stairs that go up to Cap Ferrat. We are heading to Beaulieu to find the SuperU market to buy some food for the apartment. With help from a local woman we found it after a 45 minute walk. We took the train back to Villefranche as the train station is only 500 metres from our apartment. Funny to go for groceries on a train!

Shelley dropped off a bottle of champagne and a bottle of rose to thank us for making the switch to this apartment. That was really sweet of her.

For dinner we went to another favourite of Shelleys, La Serre. We bought 2 pizzas and brought them back to the apartment and cracked open a bottle of red wine. Another great day.