Party Time...

While Terri isn’t a big fan of public speaking, she did an amazing job with her speech about Chris. He also gave an incredible speech about how great it was to have so many friends from different phases of his life there to celebrate with.

Unfortunately, Max wasn’t able to be there since he was starting a job in San Francisco that Monday. Lauren had a busy summer, but she was there with her friend Charlotte. Here they are posing in Chris’ classic Corvette.

The party continued in the main house, where it was hard for folks to walk away from the World Cup game.

Once the game was over, folks hit the dance floor.

Lauren and Charlotte got a bit crazy...

...while Chris and Terri looked on.

Chris’ 60th...

Chris’ party started with appetizers on the terrace of the guest house above the main house. The weather and the views were fantastic.

Terri looked beautiful and clearly enjoyed her role of hostess. I was so touched that we were invited to this incredible celebration.

Jimmy and I were both able to play photographer as we had two good cameras since we had bought a smaller camera for my trip to Nepal. Jimmy used the balcony of the guest house to take these group shots.

Sentier du Liittoral Coastline Path...

After the game, Jimmy and I set off to walk part of the Sentier du Littoral Coastline Path. The trail started along the coast near the fort.

The first bit meandered through a neighborhood...

...and then past a massive cemetery. Some of the gravestones had very elaborate ceramic wreathes on them.

The majority of the trail was along a boardwalk between the beach and mansions. Just past the yacht club and harbor, there was what looked like a graveyard for boats but perhaps it was just because the water level was very low.

The path then headed a bit inland. I loved how the sun shone on this massive tree.

In an area with lots of mansions, this one definitely stood out.

Jimmy convinced me to trespass onto a dock so he could take this photo.

We were in a race against time to make it back to St. Tropez before it got too dark to find our way back.

We made it back in time to see the ending of another World Cup game.

World Cup in St. Tropez...

Another new feature the hotel added was a free shuttle into the center of St. Tropez. Amy joined us for a ride into town so we could watch the French play in a World Cup game.

The cafés were quite packed with fans.

Luckily Jimmy managed to scrounge up some chairs.

It was very cool to be in France while their team won. Hopefully some of these folks had more luck than me in catching photos of the celebration.

What a View!

The following day we caught an early flight to Nice. Five years after we stayed in St. Tropez at the Kube Hotel, we were back again as Terri and Chris’ guests to celebrate Chris’ 60th birthday. The view from our room was spectacular. 

This pool was part of an addition since our last visit. We enjoyed a long soak in it that afternoon. 

The sculptures around the pools were pretty kooky...

...but the views from the pools were awesome. 

Beautiful Moroccan Design...

Since I was last there, Terri had renovated the building up the hill into a Moroccan oasis. The spa looked very inviting with spectacular views of the Mediterranean, but we never got around to using it.

Her carpenter performed miracles of integrating Moroccan doors into functional closets.

Between photos that she’d taken on her visit to Morocco to beautiful lamps and hardware, there was a lot of Terri’s personal touches on this house and I loved everything about it.

Sadly, this is the only photo of just the two of us. What a wonderful week with a great friend!

When I arrived home I was shocked to see candles lit and rose petals tossed around. Jimmy wasn’t just happy to have me home: he had woken up thinking it was our anniversary which in fact wasn’t until six days later.

Recycled into Art...

Since I was last in their house, there were several new pieces of art that I really liked. These four are especially cool as they were all made of recycled materials. This hammerhead shark was made from a Formula One race car.

This lion was made from tires...

...and so was this zebra.

And this rainbow Apple symbol was painted on top of floppy discs.

A Family Competition...

It was interesting to see how Chris and Lauren interact as it’s quite different than how Jimmy is with our girls. There was lots of roughhousing as when they tried holding each other under water.

Despite not running much himself any longer, Chris challenged Lauren to a race as a way to goad her into training harder for an upcoming race in Switzerland.  

He is undoubtedly the most competitive person that I know and she clearly takes after him. She made all of us choose sides, so I chose Team Chris even though I thought she’d likely win.

They started off together with Charlotte riding along as Lauren’s coach.

I must confess that I was surprised when Chris came in first.

Lauren was a good sport about it.

That evening we went into St. Tropez for dinner...

...at a sidewalk Asian Fusion restaurant.

As we waited for our taxi, Lauren confirmed that she’s still strong enough to lift her dad. She’s also able to wrap him around her little finger as he really enjoys taking her shopping.

Let’s Get Wet...

 

Once both boats were anchored, folks started jumping in the water.

Although I never actually swam, even I couldn’t resist cooling off in the inviting water and Terri grabbed my camera so I’d have proof.

The whole gang gathered on the Diversion for lunch.

After some more swimming, the men took Grace back and all the kids gathered on our boat for some more cruising around and enjoying the sunshine. Terri’s nephew did a fine job when he had the chance to be skipper for awhile.

Here’s yet another view of St. Tropez.

I can’t take credit for this lovely photo of Grace back at the dock in Port Grimaud, but I couldn’t resist including it.