More Riviera skiing

Saturday was a pretty calm day. Didn’t get up all that early, seeing as I got back from the airport about 2AM the night before… In the afternoon, we went to Decathlon to purchase some ski and hiking gear, since the xmas sales were on. After our shopping spree we headed over to my parents’ for a late lunch – we were treated to a delicious prawn-avocado soup followed by about three deserts ;-).


On Sunday, the skies were blue, so we decided it was the perfect day to try out our newly acquired ski gear. This time we opted upon Valberg, which is a bit closer to Nice than the other main ski resorts (Auron and Isola 2000). As last time, we hired our gear the night before at the sport shop 'round the corner, and off we went bright early in the morning in Sami’s racy Audi A3.

Racy Sami’s A3 may be, but nonetheless we were overtaken by none other than Mikko Hirvonen and Daniel Sordo (or at least by their cars!). For the uninitiated, they are world championship rally drivers, competing for Ford and Citroen respectively. The occasion was the Monte Carlo rally, which was taking place in the region (unfortunately Mikko the Flying Finn came second after a seemingly unbeatable Sebastian Loeb).

Unlike last time, we managed to hit the slopes before 10, so we got quite a nit of skiing done. And a glorious day for skiing it was, with good snow (although there was a bit less of it than in Auron last time), in glorious sunshine. There are fewer runs here than in Auron, and they tend to be shorter, but still it was great. The biggest pain in the a** (quite literarily) was the teleski going up to the highest slope – but the red run from there was worth it. Pete joined us in the afternoon for a few runs as well…

Another week in England

My work called for another week to be spent in luvely England. So off I flew, Monday night, to the land of Ale and Fish and Chips… After an eventless flight, I got taxied over to Sinhung’s place, which is just down the road from the office. Much philosophising was done over a bottle of wine…



After a hard day’s work on Tuesday, Adrian picked me up at the office, and off we went to Richmond. We then began the challenging yet rewarding task of visiting as many local pubs as our tight schedule allowed. Having completed this task we headed downriver for a well-deserved meal at the Gaucho Grill. And what a meal it was – I think I possibly had the best steak ever (at least the best one I can recall – and my memory is unusually good when it comes to food ;-). So should you ever head down to Richmond, and fancy a juicy piece of Argentinean meat (no innuendo intended) – Gaucho Grill is the place to go.



My odyssey across the towns of Surrey and Hampshire continued with a night spent in Guildford on Wednesday. After a pasta dinner at Phil’s place, off I went to the pub yet again. Instead of the usual venues (the Guildford Tup/Stoke), I decided some originality was called for, so I ended up meeting the crowd (Manue, Jeff, Nick – and Maxim also joined us later) in the Star this time. After some quite pints there we made the fatal mistake of going to Flares. The place might be heavin’ during the weekends, but it certainly was not when we were there…



On Thursday we had our team meal in Fleet – we actually ended up in Il Castillo again (had a meal there during my last trip as well). After a very nice meal, I was lifted back to Ancell’s farm, where I was forced to have a lonely pint in the local pub while I waited for Sinhung to get back home.

The trip back was somewhat less painful than last time, which is not to say that it was painless. The inbound plane from Madrid was delayed and delayed, and at some point it seemed that the flight to Nice would not take off. But fortunately it did, eventually, after a delay of “merely” 3 hours.… So I was home at 2 AM (rather than 5AM, like the last time…).

Le Circuit des Macarons

In spite of the fact that the weather was not all that great today, we decided that a bit of exercise was called for, so went for a walk. We chose “le Circuit des Macarons", a shortish circular hike in the “Parc departemental de la Brague” near Sofia-Antipolis, where Mathilde works.



The views were less spectacular than they normally are around here, as this walk goes through a forest along the Brague River. Still, it was a pleasant enough stroll, and a bit of a change from the walks we normally do – a nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon. It would have been even more pleasant had I not accidentally put one of my legs in the river as I was being a bit overly ambitious in my photo-taking… ;-)

Finnish Moving Operation

After a few years located very conveniently right in the centre of Nice, overlooking Place Massena, Mikko (introduced to friends and strangers by Marianne as "le bidule bleu") finally took the dramatic decision to move in with Marianne, who lives in the foothills of Nice. So naturally, he summoned his fellow Finns to help move his furniture and “other stuff” (guitars, sound system, DVD’s and other entertainment equipment – which actually probably takes more space than his furniture ;-). So I got up 7:30 in the morning (on a Saturday, argh!), had my brekkie, and jumped on the train to Nice. In spite of my efforts, I was the last one to arrive, and Marianne’s dad’s van was already half-loaded by the time I arrived.



The move was executed with typical Finnish efficiency and organisation (the moves I’m planning and executing seem to be an exception to this rule though?) – we only took about three hours in the end. I have to say that even though the new place is somewhat less centrally located, I wouldn’t complain… The most charming house is located in the foothills of Nice, with a great view over the sea and Nice. And what’s best, they’re planning to install a proper Finnish sauna and Jacuzzi. Marianne's parents also live next door - and they have a swimming pool... ;-). We were amply awarded for our efforts with a “light lunch”, which consisted of (among other things) pizza, pissaladiere (a local speciality – a kind of anchovies and onion pie), and tasty wine from the Var.



Mathilde later joined me in Nice, where we spent a very nice day indeed, with great weather. After walking around in the old town and hanging out on the beach, we visited the museum of photography. It’s located just a couple of blocks away from where we used live in Nice, so we figured it was about time to pay a visit (especially since it’s free!). It’s a pretty cool museum, located in an old theatre. They had an exhibition on Bernard Plossu – it was pretty interesting. In the evening we went to see a film by Sean Penn called “Into the wild”, which I can thoroughly recommend. Finally we met up with Sami for dinner, followed by a pint of Leffe on Place Magenta.

Skiing in Auron

After the great skiing experience we had for New Year in Megeve, we were well up for another session. And since Sami, the man from Karunki, had bought a new ski helmet, it just had to happen today. There had also been plenty of snowfall in the alps during the previous few days, so conditions seemed perfect.



However, there had been so much snowfall, that Isola 2000 (the biggest ski resort within day-tripping distance from Nice) was closed. What this translated to, of course, was plenty of people other than us going to Auron, our selected destination (Auron being the 2nd biggest ski resort in our 'hood, and not far from Isola). Which in turn meant plenty of traffic on the roads… When we eventually arrived at the road climbing up to Auron, we were told by a friendly policeman that there was no more parking space, so we had to head to St. Etienne instead, which is just down the road and has a lift leading up to the slopes as well.



Once we arrived in St. Etienne, we found out that the ski lift going up was not in operation, and was only due to open at 2PM ! So we took off our ski boots, and put them back in the car. Just as we were about to leave, we found out that the ski lift had opened though, so back the gear came out of the boot, and up the slopes we went. Except for poor Sami, who had left his ski pants in Finland so needed new ones! Since there was no ski-pants selling shop in St-Etienne, he decided to and head into Auron, defying the lack of parking (after all, who parks legally in France anyway?).








Me and Mathilde managed to get a couple of runs in before our stomachs started grumbling to such a degree that lunch was called for. Sami eventually showed up, proudly wearing his new pants AND jacket along with his helmet. The Karumo family also finally arrived (basically, they left 3 hours after us but got to do about as much skiing ;-).






In the afternoon, we did managed to do a couple of hours of quality skiing, with fresh snow and even the odd spot of clear, blue sky. And we had some great views over the Alps from Las Donnas at 2474 meters' altitude. So can’t really complain!

A week in England

So, time to visit the misty isle yet again for the week. This being January, it wasn’t a prospect I was looking forward weather-wise. So imagine my surprise as I got out of the plane at London Heathrow, and found myself enjoying a clear, crispy winter day. Of course, this was to quickly turn (in fact, during my taxi trip from the airport) into the usual rainy, grey weather that dominates in England this time of the year. OK, so maybe I’m exaggerating a bit ;-)



Anyway, no big deal, as this was a trip for business, rather than pleasure. Although I can happily report that I did indeed manage to squeeze in a bit of pleasure as well, as of course frequent visits to the pub are mandatory during any kind of trip to England.

Monday night I met up with Stephane and Phil at the Stoke in Guildford (which was my local when I lived in Guildford). The plan was to merely have a pizza and a quick pint and then head to the cinema – obviously I never made it to the cinema and had more than the quick pint instead ;-).



Tuesday evening followed a similar formula, although this time in Fleet. After a couple of pints with some colleagues in the Heron on the Lake (two of whom were drinking coke, to my disgust, as a result of some misguided new year’s resolutions!), we headed to Fleet town centre for a jolly good Italian in Il Castello.


On Wednesday evening, it was time to head to that other regular Guildford venue, the Guildford Tup, where I met the old Guildford gang (Stephane, Maxim, Sandrine, Russel and Martha), who filled me in on all the latest gossip.


Thursday night was more ambitious, as we headed all the way out to London. The plan was to meet up at Ye Olde Chesire Cheese, which is one of the oldest, and most charming, pubs in London. There has been a pub on its premises at Fleet street (right in the financial district of London) since 1538 (the current building dates back to 1667 – as the original pub was destroyed during the great fire of London). It’s gotta be one of my favourites pubs in London – its main qualities being that it’s cozy, intimate, and
sells cheap beer (actually the pub is operated by the Samuel Smith brewery – and only sells Sam Smith beer and no big-name soft drinks/hard liqueur. Commendable!).





After a few beers there, Ed (our local representative, who actually works across the street from the pub) took us to a nice curry house next doors. After a filling Indian, it was time to head back to Waterloo to catch the last train back…. (Although we did have time to squeeze a quick pint at the Fire Station).

The journey back to France was, shall we say, not as smooth as it could have been. After a delayed departure of about 1 ½ hours, we finally managed to take off. However, during our flight Nice airport was shut down due to bad weather, so we were forced to change course for Marseille. But because of too much head wind, we were eventually forced to turn back and ended up landing in Lyon. We were then given the choice of either flying back to London, or taking a taxi to Nice! Not much of a choice really, as there was no certainty of Nice airport opening the next day… So after much faffing about, we finally got underway, in a downpour of rain. To cut a long story (ride?) short, I arrived in Nice airport about 6 hours later! So having left the office at about 13:30 Friday afternoon, I finally arrived 05:00 Saturday morning – 14 ½ hours later. The joys of business travel, eh ;-)

Walk to Needle point

After a weekend of relative inactivity (apart from a film, a nice meal and a couple of beers on Saturday), we decided to finally get our act together and do something. Since the weather was great, as it often is, we decided to go for a walk. This time we chose a coastal hike from La Napoule to the Pointe de l’Aiguille in the Massif d’Esterel.



La Napoule is a pleasant enough-seeming beach resort near Cannes, which is famous for its castle. The walk took us by the Port La Rague (which is a bit unusual as far as Cote d’Azur ports are concerned, in that there were hardly any over-the-top, show-off yachts on display!). We carried on beneath the impressive Massif d’Esterel (a big red volcanic rock massif, which dominates the views between Cannes and Frejus/St. Raphael), through Theoule-sur-Mer (another pleasant little coastal town, although it has a bit of a posh and stuffy feel to it) and on to La pointe de l’Aiguille (which means “Needle point”).




Having enjoyed the great view from Needle point (towards Cannes and beyond all the way to the snow-covered Alps), back we treaded the way we came, briefly stopping in Theoule to grab sandwiches for lunch.




In the afternoon, we had some Galette des Rois – which is one of my favourite Christmas traditions in France (close tie with Foie gras on Christmas eve – can you sport the trend here?). It’s a very tasty pie made of marzipan and loads of butter (that’s pretty much it!), with a figurine hidden inside. The one who finds the figurine becomes king for the day (as the galette des Rois is a celebration of Epiphany), and is supposed to get the next galette (so I guess if you take this rule literally you may end up eating quite a lot of marzipan and butter!).

New year in Megeve

Deciding what to do for New Year was a big dilemma for us, as always (where to go, whom to invite, etc.). Fortunately, Flore & Christian solved it for us by kindly inviting us and a bunch of other mates to spend it with them in Megeve, in the French Alps.



So off we flew to Geneva, with Fly Baboo, a Swiss low-cost airline that I would definitely recommend to anybody flying to Switzerland, in spite of our 1 ½ hour delay! (Their meal concept is quite original – the light snack is served on cocktail sticks). From there, Christian drove us as well as Chie & Jeff (who had spent the day in Geneva) down to Megeve (after a quick visit at his parents place in Annemasse). We were later joined by Isabelle, Nick and Flore, who had all taken the train from Paris.



We had three absolutely fabulous days of skiing – a lot better than last time (although that time our nocturnal activities would’ve probably prohibited any serious skiing even if the weather had allowed for it…). At the end of it all, I even felt some improvement in my technique (I actually felt like I was skiing rather than just tumbling down the hill with skis on my feet). Blue skies, great snow, just superb, all in all. And of course this was accompanied by great food, drink and friends…



We were treated to two of the local specialities: Tartiflette (which is, according to that most reliable internet resource Wikipedia, not actually a traditional dish but rather an invention by the Reblochon trade union – Reblochon cheese being one of the main ingredients) and Fondue (which is apparently originally Swiss - doh).






New Year’s eve was a somewhat less energetic affair than last year – a day of skiing does that to you at my age ;-). We started the celebrations in the central square of Megeve, where they very kindly served free Vin Chaud (fortified with Grand Marinier). Then we continued in the flat, struggling on ‘til about 1h30 in the morning, dancing to 80’s music, drinking what was left of the wine and champagne and chatting away… Too bad Sinhung couldn’t join us –we fondly remember his inflated balloons from last time around ;-)



Tuesday was a sad day indeed, as we had to head back to our respective homes… A big thanks to Flore and Christian for their hospitality and a great break!