Books, cinema and rugby...

We thought we'd get seriously cultural today, so we drove down to Mouans-Sartoux near Mougins, where there was a book festival. It took as a good while to get there, as everybody else on the Riviera seemed to be going to the festival - which kind of surprised me.



Anyway, we eventually made it, and set about exploring the village for a bit. It was a very picturesque little village (as always), with possibly more flower arrangements in the streets than I've seen in any village here so far (which is saying a lot, this being Provence!). After the quick tour, we headed to the festival. The first stop was the BD (Bande Dessinee) tent. BD's - French Comics, have become a bit of a passion of mine (great way to learn French ;-). I ended up buying an album from a young debutant artist - he even drew a little dedication picture in it. I'm sure I can sell it for 1000's of euros a few years from now when he becomes famous ;-).



After a quick lunch with Myriam & Fabien and some of their friends, who had also shown up for the festival, we headed for the main venue to meet the "proper writers". Needless to say, I was a bit lost, as I'd never heard of any of the writers (except one bloke who is a teaching colleague of Mathilde's). But no matter - I spent all my time in the DVD section.


After this, we headed down to Nice, where the plan was to watch a film and then watch France play (and probably lose) against the All Blacks (New Zeeland, the kings of rugby). After walking around Nice for a bit - perfect day for it with a clear blue sky, we went to see A Very British Gangster. I can thoroughly recommend this film to y'all - very interesting. Kind of funny as well, watching these stinking rich Mancunian hardmen eat their fish and chips (as if though there was nothing better to eat in the world) in their lovely local neighbourhood (reminded me of Rita, Sue and Bob too) - as if they couldn't imagine a nicer place to live. Almost charming :-).

After a great meal in an Afghan restaurant (the owner of whom apparently used to live in Helsinki), we tried to find a pub to watch the rugby. It was of course Mission Impossible, so I ended up speeding down the A8 back to Cagnes so that we could watch the second half at least. We made it, and saw France sensationally beat New Zeeland by 20-18. Since England also amazingly beat Australia, next Saturday's semi-final (yes, between "les bleus" and the English) will be something not to be missed...