St Tropez Leggie Blondes and Short Dogs

A few feet away is a monument to General Charles de Gaulle, 1890 to 1970. I found another plaque in the harbour stating French gratitude for rebuilding much of the city by the allied countries after the war. 

As I walk the narrow alleys, I see glimpses of the sea between churches and rows of multicoloured seats from various cafés. This is the magic of this city. Like most of Europe however, sadly the churches I want to visit are closed. A pit stop is needed in the July heat and I find a bar. The service takes a while to kick in, with a disinterested and heavily-tattooed lady, maybe of the ex-wrestling circuit 

St. Tropez is a city on the south coast of France and its history starts around 599 BC. The towns name was derived from Saint Torpes, a martyred early Christian. In the 1920s, the seaside town was the playground for the rich and famous. Our normal visiting practice is to roll up to the Hotel Paris and enter pretending to be staying guests, tip the bellboy well, and let him take the car to park. It works again and the added bonus this time is we meet Mike Tyson, the undisputed youngest world heavyweight champion boxer at the age of twenty. We hit the bar but not with Mike , have a few drinks, and walk to the town. Contemplating the need for a few hours of shopping with Jezzabel and the team, I suggest we split up. I head for the old town whilst the others set off to the shopping area. As I walk the streets of this place of the rich and famous, it’s not just the amount and size of the yachts that blows my mind. The abnormal number of long-legged, good-looking blonde women becomes very apparent. As I walk the narrow alleys, I see glimpses of the sea between churches and rows of multicoloured seats from various cafés. This is the magic of this city. Like most of Europe however, sadly the churches I want to visit are closed. A pit stop is needed in the July heat and I find a bar. The service takes a while to kick in, with a disinterested and heavily-tattooed lady, maybe of the ex-wrestling circuit. My experience of service in France has always been of extremes. E.g., high but more often low. Twenty years of going to the famous Carlton on the Croisette waterfront in Cannes, the bar and restaurant have such poor service, yet I have enjoyed amazing services in chic boutique restaurants on my regular holidays in Provence. The French, it has to be said, understand food like nobody else, but on service they can be temperamental. As I tour the harbour, the yachts come and go like trains at a major terminal, docking with ease and then pulling out again seamlessly when their rich occupants have had enough shopping or fantastic local cuisine. As I walk about, I become conscious of how many small pedigree-looking dogs are being walked about the town. Are they off the boats I ponder? Who would walk dogs in a hectic town crowded with people in this heat, with nowhere for them to do their poo-poo? It dawns on me that the dogs, generally short in stature, are fashion accessories. They all look so perfect; I’m sure some have had Botox like their owners.
The Whinging Pome’s Random Rule No. 120: “Always walk a town if you can. There is always a surprise.”

Saint Tropez doesn’t disappoint as I stroll round the not-so-popular back streets and come across a few plaques next to an old building that looks like a theatre. One is a tribute to the 3rd Infantry Division of the USA who liberated St. Tropez on the 15th of August 1944. “Rock on the Marine,” the plaque denotes. Next to it is a list of sixteen soldiers’ names who lost their lives that day of liberation.Some 17,000 allied lives would be lost in the campaign in Southern France, beating back the Germans and the Vichy French. A few feet away is a monument to General Charles de Gaulle, 1890 to 1970. I found another plaque in the harbour stating French gratitude for rebuilding much of the city by the allied countries after the war. It’s departing time and I need to meet up with the crowd I came with to this amazing town. Hence, Hotel Paris it is, but I’m early. Just opposite the hotel, there is a movie cinema museum, linked to films and people in St. Tropez. A small entrance fee and I’m in. The highlights are the movies ‘God Created Women’ with Bridgette Bardot and ‘Troops of St. Tropez’, a comedy featuring other famous people like Tony Curtis. I’m out in fifteen minutes. The town has a lot of glamour and I note that Mrs. Trump, Bono, Puff Daddy, and Denzel Washington have all dropped in recently. I’m not sure if any of them brought in their dogs or yachts. Charles de Gaulle said in short the , “The better I get to know men, the more I love dogs.”