Life is Good in St Tropez

This is a pretty exciting morning as we are heading to St Tropez for the day. As the sun doesn't even think about going down until after 9:00 pm, we have been staying up later than usual and the blackout shades certainly help sleeping in. This morning I wake up early and head out for my morning run (which was impossible the other day due to the Bandol market blocking my path with shopping opportunities). How can a day not be amazing when these are your morning views. It is so beautiful here.

Bandol from a distance

Running along the beach is a great way to start the day

What time did these guys get up to start their fishing???

I think the pink boat would be London's preference

Almost home

When my run ended we all got ready and headed over to St Tropez. No one informed us of the mountainous route to get there. It was quite an adventure - a beautiful adventure but those crazy, narrow and steep mountain roads still make me crazy nervous. Once we arrived in St Tropez we knew the day would be off to a good start when there was a carousel conveniently located in the parking lot. Ha! What are the chances???

Starting the day off right with a carousel ride!

Now it was time to get our bearings and find the greatness that is St Tropez.

My vacation scenery....Steve 5 paces in front of me maneuvering the stroller through the streets.

Aaaaahhhhhhhh, is this for real? Did we actually just 'stumble' onto the Chanel store in St Tropez. And let me add that this isn't just any Chanel store, it is actually a Chanel Villa in the middle of town. My breath was taken away and I was frozen for a few minutes staring at the greatness of this place (and I was only just outside!!)

Steve found his way to the door as I was trying to document the amazingness of this villa with photographs (which is highly frowned upon and I was asked to stop taking pictures). But I find it funny that Steve was the one rushing to get into Chanel. Hmmmm, I am not sure this has happened before. If I wasn't in such awe of what a beautiful property this was, I would have thought of grabbing my cell phone and acting like I was on a call. At least I could have snuck some photos of the inside of the villa as well as the pool and cabana house. I was in HEAVEN. Just to make things more amazing, the collection they were presenting was none other than the Paris-Dallas Metiers d'Art show that we attended in December. Ahhhhhhhh.....Dy-iing!

It was so beautiful, I couldn't even think of making a purchase. It was like being in a museum or exhibit of the most beautiful property with the most amazing Texas-inspired fashion of the moment. I was truly awe-struck. I can only imagine how many celebrities have walked through here and the kind of momentous fashion events have taken place here! And to think we have just arrived in St Tropez.....oh my!

We continue around the corner and walk into the Port of St Tropez. We are all taking in the people watching (of all sorts) as well as the scenery.

Port of St Tropez

Laid Back...With Her Mind on Her Massively Huge Yacht!!! (I wish)

I hope the artist know that they are going to have a rough sale with the distractions of the ridiculous yachts in the background.

The St Tropez Hermes Store at the top of the Port smiling down on all those yachts.

We have never seen so much ice cream, so many tourists and such HUGE boats as in St Tropez. The amount of crew members on each 'vessel' was blowing my mind. I kept waiting to see someone famous coming on or off of these yachts. Beyonce, Jay-Z....where are you? And then it started, the crew members of one of our favorite boats in port, the 'Paramour' started making way for the 'fortunate ones' to board. Ummmmm...wait a minute.....my visions of grandeur and celebrity were completely blown when we saw the couple.....who is that and what are they wearing??? Oh wait, it's someone's great-grandparents and I have to believe they forewent any clothing budget in order to afford this yachting adventure. I don't even need high-end designer, I just need to see some style. There wasn't even a hint of Euro-style brightly colored, popped collar anything....just a floral shirt and some ill-fitting capris. Really??? My bubble of St Tropez 'People/US Weekly' images was completely blown. I expected some version of glamour boarding these yachts. Please give me the chance and I will make it happen! ;-> Seriously, good for this couple for having the vacation of a lifetime. I just think they could have packed better.

I didn't mean to catch the 'fortunate ones' boarding but you can see the 'Madame' of the yacht boarding to the left of the crew member.

Now it was time to find a place for lunch. We happened upon the most beautiful restaurant L'Opera overlooking the Port. It was amazing and exactly what I would have pictured in St Tropez. The entire restaurant was in white - table linens, chairs, servers, fixtures. It was beautiful and we sat outside to watch it all go by. This was turning out to be a glorious day. Seriously this restaurant makes me want to have an all white decor party at some point. Lunch was absolutely amazing and we had the most lovely server who was actually from Bandol. He provided us with not only an amazing lunch experience but also some wonderful advice and recommendations for our Bandol visit, including his uncle's restaurant.

Lunchtime

My chill Little Princess

London took advantage of her time to take some photos

Lunchtime Smooooch

Not such a bad view for lunch

The only debate at lunch is which one we would set our dreams on

Pretty

London photography - Quite good actually

Hmmmmm, which one???

I am certain she was looking up yachting vacations on my phone and not playing a princess game

Once our lovely lunch concluded it was time to be serious.....which one of these monster yachts was our favorite? We definitely had different opinions on which was the best but I think this is a fine area of compromise in a marriage. ;->

One of Steve's choices

Steve's other choice

My All Time Favorite - The Yalla Yalla - with it's own website

This will do....

I think the way I was gawking at the yachts scared Steve a bit and he thought he would re-direct my attention back to the lovely Chanel store (which was quite a bargain in comparison). We made it in two minutes before they closed for their 2 hour afternoon break. With a Chanel bag in tote and no one to stop us from taking a few more photos outside the villa we were ready to head back to St Tropez. Seriously we need to plan our day trips better in regard to the shops closing from 1-3pm. I must say on behalf of all of us, we had quite an amazing day in St Tropez!

Is this lavender finally blooming???

Back in Bandol means back to the beach before our evening stroll.

I don't think those heels will work at the beach

Another day, Another Mermaid

A self-digging mermaid!

What evening in Bandol is complete without a walk along the boardwalk with the night time market and carousel ride.

Biker Chic with Dad

Someone found a new French friend on the carousel

Taking up our server Geoffrey at lunch, we headed past the tourist/boardwalk restaurants in Bandol to the alleys that had the best kept gastronomic secrets in this town. Tonight we check 'Le Clocher' off our list for dinner.