Well isn't that Nice.

This year heading back to France was different. I was going to an airport that I have travelled through before, then to a train and a house I got to know quite well. I was even going to scoop up an old friend in the baggage claim along the way. While getting on the plane was less exciting this year, a not-so-quick 17 hours later, I was back in a familiar place surrounded by amazing people.

BUT there is one thing I forgot about this year: I am still so new to Europe! I am (for all intents and purposes) still a rookie with this company and I have so much to learn. Not to mention, until last year I had only been to Ireland one time...there is still so much to see! How could I forget something so obvious?

Not to mention, I knew I would be seeing so many friendly faces, but I completely forgot one of my favorite things about the Provence Villa: you will always, always, always meet someone new while you are here.

Enter Paolo (you can call him Paul from Canada if you want to).

Paolo picked us up in Avignon this year (since we missed our first train and therefore our planned ride was out mountain biking). From that moment on I'm pretty sure Paolo rued the day he met me. Devin and I yacked his ear off with jet lagged ramblings for at least an hour, probably more. But he just sat patiently. Smiling and nodding. Maybe he no speaka the english...

The next day was a lazy day around the house, shared by all, and by the time Monday rolled around we figured out pretty quick that we were going to be spending a lot of time together. Not always by choice. We were assigned to an awesome task: unload ALL the trailers, count everything inside, and then reload them. We also hosted a hiring event for new hire candidates which meant we went grocery shopping together, washed vans together, got diesel together, prepped the food together, made the coffee together, cleaned together and picked up baguettes together. Then the next day we drove to Avignon, picked up the candidates, brought them back to the warehouse, wrote on our clipboards in front of all the new candidates to freak them out (which was me last year), fed them, waited, drove them back to Avignon and then came back to clean some more...together. But sandwiches, the sandwiches I made alone...what happened there? Then Friday we were back to trailer un/loading.

With Paolo, comes his best friend Tony and his girlfriend Jill and they were staying at another house with Scotty O'Nair (who are ALL also Backroads leader extraordinaires). We went on bike rides and enjoyed wonderful meals...all together. Sprinkled that combo with a little flavor from the end of season maintenance crew, it was a fantastic week and just the right level of new and old to help me acclimatize to being back in France.

Saturday was the beginning of the end with another first: a mini-road trip to Nice. I've passed by several times, but never had the chance to wander through and actually see the city. Jill and Tony were flying out in the morning, so we loaded up some cruisers and hit the streets for a few hours before driving home. (All these photos are from our excursion with my NEW camera! Whoop whoop!)

So, in conclusion, I would just like to say: Paolo- thank you for all the laughs and sarcasm and good music. If I had to do that work by myself all week, I very well could have gone insane. Keep smiling and go get a hot shave. But don't smile while you get the shave. And Scotty-I'll be seeing YOU in Ireland in two shakes of a lambs tail. Not a bother now.