A walk by the Loire

What with all the Christmas meals we’ve had, we figured it was about time to do something vagely sporty, so we decided to go for a walk. Francoise had picked a nice, decent-length (6 hours) walk through some typical Angevine countryside, starting in the village of Saint-Martin-du-Fouilloux, about a 20 minutes drive west of Angers.

We’d certainly picked the right day for the walk - as all the days of the gone week had been either cloudy or windy. Today, we were blessed with both blue skies and no wind well, not much anyway). But it has to be said, the sun doesn’t warm up the winter days quite as much as they do down here in the South of France – it still most definitely felt like winter.

Anyway, the walk took us from Saint-Martin-du-Fouilloux (a typical, rather charming, Angevine village), down towards the Loire river, through some very typical rural landscapes. We even came across a fair few farms and sheep (who were strangely curious, by sheep standards, and actually approached us – probably in the hopes of getting some food). And of course we passed by a proper Chateau (there are quite a few of those in the region – this being the Pays de Loire region after all – with the Loire valley and its glorious castles not too far away) – unfortunaly it was a private one, so we couldn’t visit.

Our brisk pace brought us down to the midoiint of our walk – which was the Loire River, a bit ahead of schedule. What a great day to walk along that magnificent river it was, with the sunrays reflected in the still waters, a few abandonded barks lying on the shores, and the odd heron taking flight as we approached (those binoculars we got from Santa Claus came in handy).

Eventually we reached another pictureseque Angevine village, La Possonière, where we had our picnic lunch, by the tiny port. It was all very filling, with some sandwiches, pate, cheese, fruits, piparis - all washed down by a couple of bottles of beer. After our lunch stop we did a quick tour of the village and then carried on, heading back to Saint-Martin-du-Fouilloux.

All in all, it was a very nice way to spend a beautiful winter day, and a nice change from the walks we do here in the South of France. The landscapes are perhaps slightly less impressive, but it makes a nice change to see some real countryside, rather than villas and swimming pools.

The rest of our stay in Angers was quite uneventful. Mathilde’s oncle Jacques came over for lunch with his wife, and we also took the opportunity to visit Delphine and Christoph and their little ones, in their nice house near the centre of Angers (where we were treated to some absolutely delicious, home-made Madeleines – yummie…).

And then it was time to head towards Brittany, to celebrate the arrival of 2009…

Christmas in Angers

Our journey from Paris to Angers on the TGV was a quick and uneventful one, and Francoise was kind enough to pick us up at the station and take us back to the house near the Lac de Maine – and had a pot au feu (a hearthy stew of beef and veg) waiting for us – which really hit the spot (not that I was exactly starving after the rather robust lunch and afternoon crepes we’d had in Paris).

After then the typical holiday season social roulette continued, where we had left off in Paris. On Monday we borrowed Francoise trusty Laguna, and set off to visit Mathilde’s granddad and grandma. First off was Grandpa Robert, who lives in the tiny Sarthoise (Sarthe being the departmenet north-east of Maine-et-Loire, where Angers is located) village of Saint-Denis d’Orques. He was on good form as usual, and entertained us with photos from their recent trips to Andalucia and Marocco (I hope I will be as adventurous as him when I’m his age…). We then drove on to see Grandmother Ida in Evron, in the Mayenne (that being the department just north of Maine-et-Loire – where Mathilde’s dad comes from). We decided to have lunch before the visit – which proved to be a rather difficult mission as Evron doesn’t seem to be a very happening place (at least on Mondays). We eventually found a cozy creperie (which was busy – not surprising since it appeared to be the only open restaurant…). The visit went well – Ida was on pretty good form as well (although I get the impression Ida struggles a bit with my French – must be my Finnish accent or something…).

On Tuesday, Stephane, our good friend from our years in Guildford (who seems to feature in most blog entries involving pubs in England…), who comes from the Sarthe, had kindly agreed to come over to visit us in Angers. It was nearly what one could call an emotional moment for me – as Stephane has decided to leave the safe confines of Surrey University to work in San Diego (now that must’ve been a tough choice – Guildford, Surrey, vs. San Diego, California) – which means it’s going to be quite tough for him to appear in future blog entries involving English pubs. Oh well, life goes on. Anyway, after sorting out a place to sleep for Stephane, we jumped on the bus and headed downtown for an aperitif with CoCo (this being all she had time for, busy as she always is). We then proceeded to have dinner – and ended up in a rather special restaurant. Located in an old church, the theme was medieval – with pretty authentic looking décor – there was even an option to rent a medieval costume (free for kids). The food was a bit pricey, but pretty good (I had quails for starters and goose as a main dish – pretty unusual stuff). And the quantities weren’t exactly of “medieval feast proportions” – more like French haut cuisine. Still, we enjoyed the meal. From there we headed down to the legendary (apparently?) Angers bar “Central Bar”, where we met up with Nathalie and Sandra (friends of Mathilde from her years in the north of France) for some more drinks. Sandra was kind enough to drop us off at the house – where we finished off the evening in style (or lack of?) with some Calva and palm wine (another speciality of Francoise’s – great stuff).

And then, Christmas Eve was upon us! Me and Mathilde were charged with preparing the dinner – and we decided (to my slight discomfort – accentuated by the raging hangover) to prepare something Finnish. After some frantic surfing on the internet for recipies, we decided upon salmon soup as a main course and some “piparis” (kind of like gingerbread cookies) for desert. Thankfully the xmas eve dinner was a very private affair –only 4 of us. We found nearly all the ingredients, and did manage to put together a pretty decent meal (everybody finished their plates and nobody got food poisoning, at least). Although it has to be said we struggled a bit with the gingerbread pasty – must’ve been the recipy. Unfortunately in France santa claus brings the pressies on the morning of the 25th (in Finland we get them on the eve of the 24th – practical for ol’ Santa I guess to drop them off in his own country first ;-) – so had to wait a bit for them.

The morning of xmas day was spent preparing the big Christmas lunch – this time Francoise’s children Marc and Nathalie were joining with their families (I was assigned to oyster-opening duty with Herve). Before lunch, for something more, though – PRESSIES! I was rather happy with my presents which included some binoculars (good to spy on the neighbours with), a book on Leonardo DaVinci, and a DVD collection on the history of cinema by Jean-Luc Godard (can’t go wrong with that!) and of course several bottles of wine. The food was absolutely delicious, of course, starting off with oysters, followed by some great pate, beef tongue and other delicacies. After a few hours of well-needed rest (French Christmas meals are rather filling), Muriel arrived with Paul, Lucas and Alix. After “the second coming of Santa Claus”, we were treated to yet another delicious meal (more oystes – I’m really getting the hang of it). Of course with Paul, Lucas and Alix around, no point hoping for any rest – so the rest of the evening was spent playing with various toys I felt a bit old for (maybe except for Alix’ Nintendo DS).

The next day continued pretty much the same, playing with the kids. Good fun, but rather tiring, I must say (especially the Twister Mat game which is basically a mat with spots of different colours – where you need to place your hands and feet. You would’ve thought it would be easy for me with my long limbs – think again, I didn’t win once!). We were sorry to see Muriel take off with the kids – the house felt so empty after that ;-).

In the evening we headed down to the local Irish pub in town - less than imaginatively named James Joyce (then again, when do Irish pubs have original names?), where we met up with Aude and Magaye for a couple of well-deserved (I thought so, anyway…) pints of Guinness. And more christmas presents were exchanged ;-). What with all the hustle and bustle of the last couple of days, we called it a night pretty early on, this time...

Saturday we spent digesting all the xmas food we had eaten, mostly. In the afternoon Dorine and Aldo came over for coffee and piparis. Aldo is Peruvian, and was an excellent guide for us when we visited Arequipa in Peru a few years ago – he lives in Paris now with Dorine. It was good to catch up with them, since it’s been a couple of years since the last time we got together. They seem to be enjoying their life in Paris - hopefully we can hear more about it once we get together for a proper meet-up in the near future, either in Paris or the South.

On Sunday Francoise’s children came over for lunch again (this time also Xavier and his girlfriend Aude) – so yet more delicious food was eaten (including foie gras – yummie…). We also ate the buche de Noel that I had prepared (OK, with “some” assistance from Francoise and Mathilde) – the traditional French Christmas desert (basically composed of eggs, sugar, butter, chocolate and flour – simple yet delicious). In the afternoon we were joined by Nathalie and Patrick and their children – including my dear godson Florian. We took them down to the Lac de Maine where we checked out the local playground (and endured the freezing wind…). Florian impressed us all by repetedly beating us all in sprint contests – he must’ve won at least 10 gold medals throughout the day. Tired as we were once we got back to the house, we rewarded ourselves with some piparis and hot chocolate.

A Very Busy Day in Paris

Christmas approaching! This time we had decided to spend it together in Angers (the rest of the Turtiainen clan having decided to go on a cruise to the Red Sea – not a bad option either). Isabelle had kindly invited us to spend New Year’s Eve at her parent’s place in Brittany near Nantes, which fit in nicely with our plans. After exploring various options, we decided to take the train in the end – ending up with the following itinerary: Antibes-Paris-Angers-Nantes-Antibes.

The first leg of the journey took us from Antibes to Paris, on the night train (in my opinion a great way to travel – as long as you manage to sleep on the train, of course). Things didn’t start off very well, as we realised there were no trains from Cagnes-sur-Mer to Antibes (due to a strike, what else?). Fortunately, Hannu, who was returning from his shopping trip, was able to drive us down to Antibes. Other than that, our trip was eventless, and we arrived in Gare d’Austerliz in Paris on schedule, bright ‘n early in the morning.

We had a very busy social schedule for the day, so without further ado, sped down to Gare Montparnasse (from where our train for Angers was departing later on), where we left our luggage in a locker. We then jumped on the metro again, and headed down to Pantin, at the outskirts of Paris, for our scheduled breakfast at CoCo’s place. We spent a couple of very pleasant hours catching up on the latest news and inspecting her typically cozy Parisian apartment (which she had recently bought), munching down croissants and fresh baguette.

From there we jumped on the metro again, and headed for our lunchtime rendez-vous, with Sarah and Bruno, near Bastille. We were actually a bit early, so had time to check out the local market hall with all the tasty Christmas food on display – nice for working up an appetite. Sarah and Bruno had, as always, picked a top eatery – this time a small and cozy epicerie called “Les Crocs”. The food was very good indeed – I had a nice plate of charcuterie followed by a very nice (and big!) home-cooked sausage and mashed potatoes. Simple, copious and very tasty – just the way I like my food ;-).

Our appetites sated, we sped down to Republique, where we were meeting Milene, a good friend of Mathilde’s from her mad ERASMUS days in Perugia. We only had time for a quick drink with her – but it was good to be able to catch up with her as well, short and sweet though it was.

Time was pressing, so back we got on the metro, and headed back down to Gare Montparnasse, where we were meeting Muriel and Mathilde’s lovely niece and whirlwind nephews (we only spent about 2 hours with them but that didn’t stop them from making short work of my leather jacket ;-). Good thing we didn’t have desert at lunch – as we headed down for a very tasty crepe indeed at the Creperie Josselin – a real Parisian institution, apparently.

We then headed back to the train station – where I still had time for one last pint before catching the train – with Emmanuel, and old mate of mine from my student days in Edinburgh. It had been nearly 10 years since our Scottish odyssey, and hadn’t met since, so emotions ran amok. Well, I’m exaggerating a bit – but it was great to hear the latest anyway. With promises of more beer and catching up next time we were in Paris, we rushed off to catch the train for Angers...

Chateau de Cagnes-sur-Mer

We’ve lived in Cagnes-sur-Mer for nearly a year and a half now, and I still haven’t (unlike Mathilde) visited the main tourist attraction – the castle. So since this Sunday started off very rainy, offering no promise for any outdoor activities, we figured today would be a good a day as any to pay the old castle a visit. We had also learnt on the web that a local Finnish artist (so me and Hannu are not the only Finns living in Cagnes-sur-Mer, after all! Yihaa!) was having an exhibition in the castle.

So off we went, climbing up the steep hill to Haut-de-Cagnes, which is dominated by the chateau. As we approached, my heart filled with pride, as I saw the Finnish flag hoisted next to the French one at the top of the impressive structure (we’re a very patriotic lot, us Finns). Before visiting the castle, we took the opportunity to visit the church, which I had not visited so far either (no wonder, given how well hidden the entrance is). It was a typical Provencal chuch, with Baroque interiors, although some of the paintings were pretty unusual (like the one with John the Baptist’s head on a plate).

We then proceeded up the stairs to the chateau, and paid the 3 euro entrance fee. The ground floor houses a small local history museum, which seems to concentrate on olives – which have of course always been very important to the region (I learnt, for example, that olive oil used to be a very important source of fat, since dairy products had to be imported to the region – this being more a region for sheep and goats than cows). Another interesting detail – apparently the castle was founded by one Rainier Grimaldi (the castle is called Chateau Grimaldi). So the name Rainier made me wonder whether the Grimaldis of Cagnes are related to the Grimaldis of Monaco. Hmm, now there’s something to ponder upon...

The second and third floors housed the art collection of the chateau – which contains works of art from numerous famous artists (not so unusual perhaps, given that quite a few of them have spent time on the French Riviera). We were treated to a most impressive collection of portraits of one Suzy Solidor – there were paintings of here from probably 20 different artists (which included the likes of Cocteau, Van Dongen, Picabia, Lempika)! Must’ve been somebody pretty famous, I suppose…? And as for Johanna Oras' (yes, that would be the Finnish lady) exhibition? Well, I must admit, despite all my patriotism, I struggled somewhat to be impressed by her paintings. The theme of the exhibitions was teddy bears. Mostly the art consisted of thematic studies with a “teddy bear twist” (“Still life” was, er, a normal still life type of painting but with a teddy bear added to the mix), or famous people in “teddy bear form” (the lady & lord of the castle as teddy bears, Picasso as teddy bear, Jean Renoir as teddy bear, Mika Hakkinen as teddy bear, you get the picture). I guess it’s an original idea, but it just didn’t do much for me. Well, modern art isn’t always my cup of tea anyway…

We finished off our visit at the roof of the castle, where we were treated to some great views over Cagnes-sur-Mer, and the surrounding areas. We could even see our flat from there ;-) And of course we got to see the Finnish flag all close up – Mathilde had to restrain me from climbing up the flag pole (an impressive feat, considering our size difference).

Winter has come to the Cote d'Azur

Winter has come to the Cote d’Azur, finally. Well, to be fair, the nearby mountains have already been snow-covered for a couple of weeks. Isola 2000 (the biggest ski resort in the area) opened last weekend, followed by the other resorts (Auron, Valberg and Greolieres) this weekend. Since the weather was back to normal (sun shining, blue skies), we figured it would be nice to do something winter-related.

So on Saturday, we decided to head for Greolieres (which according to our good friend Ollie is the prettiest village in France – must be a coincidence that he comes from there) – it being the ski resort nearest to us. After some deliberation, we decided to rent raquettes and go for some hiking in the snow, instead of doing downhill skiing. And what a glorious day we picked for it – the air was crips, the sky was blue, and the sun was shining. Just perfect for a hike through the snow-covered alpine landscapes. So off we set, after a healthy and nutritious meal ("Chicken et frites"for me, "steak hache and frites" for Mathilde).

The hike took us through a nice forest, along the ski slopes, towards le Plan des Baumettes, a valley surrounded by some decent-sized alpine peaks. From there we got to the toughest part of the hike – a rather steep hike up to la Croix de Verse (at the lofty altitude of 1706 meters). Once we got up there, we were hit by what is probably the strongest wind I’ve ever experienced, honest! I though I was going to be blown off the mountain for a minute, there! But the views were certainly worh our efforts, the distant and imposing peaks of Mercantour beckoning in the distance, and Jerusalem, a slightly higher peak just to the west of us. But we did not linger, due to the brisky wind, and made our way back down the cliff.

The walk back to Greolieres was just as delightful, although the sun was starting to set. We even found a snowman on the way back… A nice vin chaud in the first bar in sight brought an end to a pretty much perfect hike! Days like this makes me feel really lucky about living where I do – being able to enjoy the warm and sunny winter days on the coast, while at the same time being a 1-hour drive from some great snow-covered mountains….