We arranged with our hosts Ken & Catey to meet them at their home exchange on a predetermined day. Ken’s detailed instructions to the green gate of the property said that the house would be difficult to find with two different addresses and postal codes. I thought, no problem, after being here a month and having done hundreds of roundabouts we could probably find just about anything by now. We decided to avoid the Autostrada and take country roads to Grasse, the destination. After a beautiful drive through farmland and vineyards we arrived at the green gate. But there was no response when we rang the bell. Maybe we are at the wrong green gate??? After a few minutes a Frenchman in a utility van comes down the drive. We show him our instructions and he agrees to open the gate, even though we have no common language between us, viola. As we drive up the small, steep, snake like drive he backs the van up directly behind us, blocking our way out. He follows us to the walkway and asks in sign language to wait by the front door. Apparently the name that we gave him is misunderstood. There is an alarm on the house and we are quasi-hostages on the property with no way out for the moment. He makes a call to Susy, his English speaking stepdaughter and hands the phone to me. I explain the details, she translates to David, and he is satisfied we are not just well dressed American home intruders, Viola.

He disables the alarm and lets us in to an empty house, releasing us from his custody. Where are our hosts though? We have learned that the first thing you should do in a home exchange is read the instructions, even if you’re not the exchanger. The wifi code is always there. We pickup an email from Ken letting us know when they will return to the house, Viola. Even though we have European sim cards we are not getting consistent cell service outside of wifi enviornments. I send him back a quick response letting him know not to rush, that we not only found the house but figured out a way in. I’m glad we’re all good friends.
It turns out that David is the very protective gardener and handyman. He checks on us at breakfast time the next day to make sure all is as expected. We thank him for trusting us as best we could.