Looking For Brave New World

When I was in college I took a science fiction literature class and read several negative futuristic books along the way as a part of my studies. Three of which have always stood out: George Orwell's 1984, Aldous Huxley's Brave New World and Ray Bradbury's The Sheep Look Up. These three novels are very powerful, but not the kind of novels that I could ever say I liked. I can only say that I found them haunting.


In the late 30's as the tensions leading to WW II were building many German writers, especially any with Jewish heritage, fled Germany and were drawn to our picturesque village in the south of France. Aldous Huxley was a British writer who had been a teacher in Great Britain for many years. His most famous student was Eric Arthur Blair, better known by his pen name George Orwell. Huxley was best known for his novel Brave New World. In the late 20's he was living in Tuscany, Italy. The Huxleys were very close to the author D.H. Lawrence, who wrote the classic novel Lady Chatterley's Lover. They actually helped type the manuscript submitted for this novel. Lawrence thought this area of France to be one of the most beautiful places he had ever been (and so do we). As the fascists were rising to power in Italy just as in Germany, Lawrence urged the Huxleys to move to the very village where we are staying. He had lived in the area for some time, but had contracted tuberculosis and was in poor health and had moved to a sanatorium in Vence. The Huxley’s visited him there on his death bed. After his death they took his advice and moved here.

I have known of Huxley's association with this old fishing village ever since we have been coming here. Since Huxley was a British author, the local French have seldom heard of him, much less know that he lived here. Kevin had read that he largely wrote Brave New World while sitting in a harbor side cafe here. Our favorite cafe, La Marine was rumored to be one of the cafes that he wrote in. While it was intriguing to think I could be sitting in the very cafe he had written in, it appears that is not the case. I did some research on Huxley and it turns out that he did all his writing at Villa Huxley and did not want any interruptions when he was working so that doesn't sound like someone who would write in a cafe. It was at Villa Huxley that he wrote Brave New World in just 4 months. After a little bit of digging I was able to find where Villa Huxley is, or I should say was. It turns out it is near a rocky point that we walk to most days. It has since been converted into a place for French naval students.

Tuesday morning for our walk, with map in hand, we went to look for the Villa Huxley and found it. Of course it has changed some since Huxley left it in 1937 and is now a naval school, but we found the very house. It did in fact, even have a small marker identifying it as Huxley's former home so I am sure we found the right house. It was evocative to stand and look at the house and know that Huxley penned his most famous novel there. Many, including me, find it surprising that he could write of such a dreary future while living in such a beautiful place. Since we have been coming here I have and still intend to re-read Brave New World. I have even thought how cool it would be to sit in a cafe in this very village and read that book, but I also don't want to think about such a dreary future while living in such a beautiful place. Needless to say it is not an uplifting read so it is difficult to ever find the right time to read it. Our walk ended up being a rather long walk, but it was very memorable one.

Sandy

Villa Huxley- Today

Huxley's View- I suspect it's changed a bit.

The Return - The new Apartment

OK, so I find that I can often experience two different emotions prior to travel.


Apprehension/anxiety at the thought of the unknown. More to the point, the fear that all will not be up to expectations. Alternatively, elation. The joy of anticipation. “Just can’t wait to be there”!

Last year was the former. This year , most definitely, the later.


The Return

First of all, the journey and the arrival.

I don’t know why, but, in all of the years that I have made this journey, I have never taken advantage of the TGV train station in Terminal 2 at Charles de Gaulle Airport. Actually , until a couple of years ago, I’m not sure I was even aware of it. Shame on me!

So...... direct nonstop flight from Charlotte to Paris CDG. Less is best. I mean, let’s face it, flying “steerage” for 8 hours in the cramped cabin of a “flying bus” is hardly my favorite aspect of travel. Oh for the travel romance of a bygonne era. Oh well, I probably couldn’t have afforded it anyway.

So....hop off the “flying bus”, breeze through customs (actually a wave and a yawn) and, hop onto the TGV at CDG-2. And... voila! At 200 mph, Marseille in 3.5 hours. “Milk-run connection to the village , and that was all so easy.

Why have I not done this before?

My Landlord who is the embodiment of “tres-sympa” was at the station to meet us. The whole journey couldn’t have been simpler.


The New Apartment

Now.... on to the really good part. This is our sixth year here in this grand old maison. We have known of this other apartment next to ours for several years, but it has not been available.

Our new landlords purchased the maison in late 2010 and renovated this apartment. Last year, the old landlords were living in this apartment while their new maison was being built.

In July of this year they moved to their new maison and, voila, we were able to move into the new apartment the 1st of September.

With very little time between the departure of the old landlords and our arrival, our new landlords sprang into action.

And, wow! What an amazing job they have done.

A new covered table on the terrace offers quite possibly the finest dining spot in the entire village.

The apartment echos much of the elegance of the 1930's vintage maison. Ten foot ceilings, terrazo floors, six foot windows in each of our grand rooms, each with an unbelievable view of the village and it’s harbor below.

The kitchen would easily satisfy any aspiring amateur (me) chef. Much attention has been given to it’s design and stock age. Madame, herself an accomplished “practitioner of the cusine”, has truly outdone herself . I mean, there’s even a little fresh herb garden by our front porch. I love it!!!

The whole place has been furnished in that “light”, elegant “IKEA” style that the Europeans do so well. I could not have done it better myself.

Well done! Well done indeed!

And.... they have even graciously agreed to allow us to store our recently acquired velos (bicycles) and a couple of boxes of personal possessions in the garage beneath our terrace.

Wow!!

This all so exceeds our expectations.

This is our home.

It.. feels.. like .. home!

Wow!!