The Search

Sarah's dad was French and a scuba diving instructor to boot. Sarah's mum is German and was an Au-pair working near Cannes in southern France. As I mentioned previously, Sarah has never met her father. She says that it just seemed normal growing up with only a Mum as that was all she knew. However, seeing others with fathers would raise questions about what it would be like. Her mother took her to the village where he lived about 10 years ago but they just travelled past. So she didn't have an address but did have visual memory of what the houses looked liked. She had no idea whether her father was still there or had moved on. She just had a name, a photo that is 20 years old and memory of the street.

We got up early and left at about 8am. We travelled south from Laragne towards Cannes along the windy roads that run through the southern french villages. The rain came just as we left Laragne. By the time we hit Grasse, it was coming down hard, very hard. We had experienced before that the car doesn't hold the water out very well in heavy rain. The windscreen also fogs easily. This time around, the sunroof also started leaking on both the driver's side and passenger's side. I was happily in the back but managed to capture some of the mayhem that was happening.



We arrived in Mougins, just on the outskirts of Cannes. It was still pelting down. We started driving around to see if anything jogged Sarah's memory. This wasn't just a small village but a medium sized town. We stopped into a tourism information centre to get a map. While we were there we asked the lady behind the desk to look up how many Fontaines lived in Mougins. There were only 5. This gave us some focus and also a sense of belief we might actually find something. I noticed that Sarah had started to quiet down. She had never really expected to find anything. But now we had positive leads. As we ticked off the houses, you could see her mind was racing. What if the next house was it and he was there.

None of the houses that the current Fontaines lived in actually yielded anything. We guessed the search had ended. Sarah wanted to just follow her nose and have a look around. She could sense we were close. Then as we were driving along, she darted quickly down the street on the right. She had found it. Sam and I waited outside the next door neighbours house as she entered. She was in the there for about 20mins. Sam and I were probably just as nervous waiting, sitting down with our backs to the wall, not knowing what to expect.

Sarah emerged. She hadn't found anything more. The old couple that lived there had been there for 50 years but couldn't remember any details now. However, Sarah said the old lady was touched by the story and was going to start asking a few questions. She now has Sarah's email address if they uncover anything. The mystery continues. Only time will tell if anything will eventuate out of our little adventure. At least Sarah will know she has tried.

We continued on to Cannes. We just had to check out the boats owned by the super-rich that lined the harbour.

And check out how the beach compared to those in Australia.

After doing our mandatory 2 hour stop-over, we headed country again to the next flying site - St Andre. As we approached, we past some of the most scenic lakes yet.