A not very White Christmas

So time for another distinctly non-white Christmas in Finland (I'm starting to have problems remembering the last white one...). The journey to Helsinki was a right pain – as they usually seem to be with Luftw… Lufthansa. Let’s just say that the delays in Frankfurt gave me the opportunity to familiarize myself with all the bars in terminal. Well, to cut a long story short, I eventually arrived at my parents’ flat at about 5 o’clock in the morning.



After an all-too-short night, my brother Janne and Katja picked me up, and off we went to Turku. After some express shopping from me (still hadn’t bought most of my Christmas pressies, I have to admit to my shame…), we met up with my parents and had a delicious (and actually very authentic) Italian meal at the Trattoria di Roma.





On Sunday, we celebrated my mum’s birthday. The whole gang was there – including both of my brothers with better halves and families as well as my grandma (still going strong in her 90s). The meal was, as always, delicious, and was followed by a Christmas sauna. Christmas eve involved the usual activities (eating and drinking like a pig and waiting for the xmas pressies like a little kid…). I got my fair share of pressies, including a chocolate monopoly (my family sure knows me…), a Nintendo DS (Mathilde sure knows me…) and a couple of DVD’s.



After waking at about noon, and having had a light-ish brunch (well, not light at all, actually, considering I had xmas dinner leftovers…), it was time to head back to Helsinki, where the plan was to have some xmas beers with some of my mates. We ended up in that bastion of Finnish-ness known as Zetor For those of you who don’t know this Helsinki institution, let’s just say it’s not the trendiest place in town (let me put it like this, there are even 2 tractors in there) – so we fit right in. We had a good time, with some beer-fuelled healthy debating, and of course catching up on “the good old days” ;-)

The flight the next day was very painful indeed – as I had only about 2 hours’ sleep before it. I’m getting too old for this s**t.

Christmas spirits on the Cote d'Azur!

Chockie cooking in Biot :-)


The famous 13 christmas deserts of Provence.


Santa, in commando action.



Christmas market in Cagnes-sur-Mer (looks SOOO authentic)


Too much vin chaud?

Roman stones and nice windows

Christmas is nearly here, which (at least for me) means a lot of eating, so we figured we had no excuse to skip our customary Sunday walk. This time we opted for a walk that combines history with some nice scenery, near Le Rouret, on the road towards Grasse.



I say history, because the walk leads to a Roman camp, which according to our guide book dates back to the 8th century B.C. (which sounds a bit strange – I thought the Romans started they’re empire-building later than that – but hey the guide is published by the Conseil General des Alpes-Maritimes so it must be true). Well, I have to say, the Roman camp isn’t all that impressive anymore, the words “pile of rocks” comes to mind. What I mean is, unless there was a sign on the spot saying “Roman camp”, I would’ve thought the pile of rocks was just, well, a pile of rocks. But the views from the spot were amazing, with a panorama over the Gorge du Loup and the picturesque villages Bar-sur-Loup and Gourdon. And it was, as it usually is, a glorious day (if a bit nippy), so no complaints from us!



After the refreshing walk, we headed down to Biot, which is a very pretty perched village next to Antibes. We had seen some flyers advertising an original kind of Advent calendar that the locals had put up there, so we decided it was worth a look. Basically, some artists and school children had put some colourful decoration on some of the window shutters in the old town. It was all very nice - they sure know how to make their villages look cute in this part of the world.

A Russian cathedral and christmas beers

In the morning, we headed to check out the Cagnes-sur-Mer Christmas market. To be honest, it wasn’t all that impressive. They had put up some decoration that was supposed to evoke Antarctica or something, but I don’t think it was entirely successful… (well, I guess trying to imitate Antarctica on the Cote d’Azur is bound to feel a bit fake…).



In the afternoon, we headed to Nice. We decided to visit the finest example of the Russian heritage (which is quite noticeable in Nice), the St. Nicholas Cathedral. The Russians have had a strong presence in Nice since the 19th century, when a lot of them came here (many apparently suffering from tuberculosis, hoping to be cured by the favourable climate). St. Nicholas cathedral is considered (at least by the French ;-) to be the most important Russian-style orthodox cathedral outside Russia (I personally consider the Uspenski cathedral in Helsinki its equal – more atmospheric, but less ornamental). Well, it has to be admitted it’s a very beautiful building, both on the inside and the outside.



After this bit of sightseeing, we walked down to the sea by Rue Garibaldi, taking in a part of Nice we are not very familiar with. Having seen the beautiful sunset from the Promanade des Anglais, off we went to the cinema. We saw “La graine et le mulet", by a Tunisian chap called Abdel Kechiche. It’s a story of an old immigrant worker who is laid off after 35-years of service, and decides to open a restaurant on a boat. Of course numerous obstacles follow… I have to say it’s the best movie I’ve seen for a while, with some really great acting from mostly amateurs, and a great ending (let’s just say they manage to avoid a tacky feel-good ending that you could just imagine in the Hollywood remake, if there ever is one…). The coolest thing was that the main actor was also at the cinema – he comes from Nice apparently (as does the director – he originally wanted to shoot the film in Nice with his dad playing the main role but unfortunately his dad died before he could start filming…).



After a delicious and "light" dinner (duck cassoulet and a cake which can best be described as "purely chocolate"), we met up with Mikko, Marianne and Sami, and had a giraffe of beer at Checkpoint to celebrate the approaching Christmas… (if you don’t know what giraffe means in this context, I’m sure the photo explains it ;-)

More Haut-de-Cagnes...

Just wanted to put a few more photos from the old town of Cagnes, Haut-de-Cagnes here. It really is very pretty, we like it more and more each time we walk around there. We also notice the nordic influence here more and more - it seems that every second house is inhabited by a Swede...



One of the local residents.




Playing petanque by the castle.


Told you about the Swedish influence ;-)

Rollerblading and a Proper French Dinner

This turned out to be another calm and relatively uneventful Saturday. This was at least partly because we were having my parents over for dinner tonight. As they are going back to Finland for a few weeks in a couple of days, we decided to prepare a very French meal for them indeed, a Boeuf Bourginion (which takes quite a long time to prepare, when done properly).



Since the sky was blue, as it usually is this time of the year, we decided it would be a good idea to do something active though, so we ended up going roller-skating in the afternoon.



We decided to head east along the sea to Le Cros de Cagnes, which is a small fishing village (or rather, was, these days it’s well and truly part of Cagnes-sur-Mer) between Cagnes-sur-Mer and St. Laurant du Var. Having taken in the boats in the port, we headed back.


I then headed west for a bit - where you get a nice view over Marina Baie des Anges, an architecturally interesting (which I guess means you’ll either love it or hate it…) apartment complex in Villeneuve-Loubet. You also get a good view of the Hippodrome of Cagnes-sur-Mer (one of the most famous ones in France), and of the old town (Haut de Cagnes).




The dinner was great (although maybe next time I’ll buy some meat which doesn’t say “Prix Choc” on the packaging…), especially the chocolate cake we had for desert (with a shot of Mathilde’s nan’s Calvados to finish off the affair!).

Le circuit des Blaquieres

As it was another gloriously sunny and clear day, we decided to go for a walk, as we often do on Sundays when the weather allows for it. We chose a walk near Vence (which is just a stone’s throw and a bit from Cagnes), “Le Circuit des Blaquieres”. It was a very nice one, typical of the walks around Vence, with its arid, karstic scenery (had to look up in Wikipedia what “karstic” means ;-). A lot people out and about today, much more than usually… During the surprisingly strenuous walk (must be getting out of practice), we also scaled the impressive heights of Baou des Noirs (at the height of, er, 677 meters) as well as Baou des Blancs (at a yet less impressive altitude of 673 meters)





In the evening, I had a very nice paella dinner at my parents’ – we were also joined by a couple from that great metropolis of Pargas, Finland (although living in Stockholm now). They had actually sailed all the way through France to the Cote d’Azur from Stockholm, quite a trek! (I think it had taken them quite a few weeks to get here). A very pleasant evening, with great food, wine and conversation.

Nissa la Bella

The last weekends have been rather hectic, with visits to Egypt, Milan and the UK. So we decided it was time to take it easy for a change. So after a leisurely morning at the flat, we jumped on the train and headed down to Nice. The plan was to catch a film, have dinner and then meet up with the Mikko, Sami and Pete for some poker.



We took the opportunity to walk around Nice a bit in the afternoon, walking around in the old town we love so much. We had time to catch the sunset by the beach as well, a very pretty sight it was. On the way to the cinema, we decided to finally visit Palais Lascaris (I say finally, because it’s free!).



Apparently, it’s a typical example of the baroque architecture that dominates much of old Nice (most of the churches in the ‘hood at least are definitely very baroque…). I have to say I found it a bit disappointing. I mean, it’s interesting, kind of, but they could definitely do with a bit of funding. The place looks kind of ran-down. That will all change soon, perhaps, as they are apparently planning to house the 2nd-most important collection of musical instruments in France here!



The movie was a documentary set in India, about the children of prostitutes in Calcutta, who want to become photographers. Great stuff, and actually almost uplifting stuff considering the subject manner (I mean, compared to Kaurismäki, for example ;-). After the film we had dinner in Gesu, a real Nice institution (if Provencal cuisine tickles your taste buds). We had a very nice time – the food was good and the service was entertaining (with one of the waiters coming up with phrases like “s’il vous plait, sit down ici, monsieur”).



Unfortunately, the poker evening was cancelled due to two participants being incapacitated due to some Pastis-powered movie watching (I shall mention no names…). So we had a drink in Wayne's bar instead and took the train back to Cagnes.