Western Honshu

After our fantastic visit to Hakone, it was time to carry on towards the west of Japan; to Hiroshima. So we jumped on the Shinkansen from Odawara to Osaka; where we were meeting up with Chie and Geoff (friends of ours from London, who were joining us for the remainder of our stay) and taking another train to Hiroshima.

We had time for a quick lunch at the Osaka train station – again I feel obliged to comment about how good value for money eating out in Japan can be. This time, we had Japanese fast food. The concept is quite interesting – you select your dish at a sort of vending machine (thankfully there are pictures for the dishes, our Kanji/hiragana/katakana skills not being quite up to the job for reading menus just yet…), pay and out comes a ticket. You give it to the waitress and 5 minutes later you have your meal. Quick, efficient, good value for money – and very Japanese.

This being Japan, Chie and Geoff were both on time, we met up as planned, and got on our Shinkansen to Hiroshima, which was naturally on time as well. A few hours later, we arrived in Hiroshima. After checking in at our hotel (conveniently located near the train station), we quickly set off for a spot of sightseeing (we only had half a day in Hiroshima, due to our tight schedule). A tram ride later, we arrived at the A-Dome, located near the Hiroshima memorial park. A-Dome serves as a poignant reminder of the terrible event for which Hiroshima is known; which took place on August 6, 1945. A-Dome is what remains of the Hiroshima Prefectural Products Exhibition Hall, located just below where the atomic bomb detonated (it survived relatively intact since it was nearly directly underneath the point of impact).

We then carried on to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and the adjacent Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. The museum was a very sad place to visit; but a good reminder of the madness mankind is capable of (considering the devastation this one bomb caused, it’s hard to imagine what destruction the much more powerful nuclear weapons of today would cause, if ever used…). I think it’s the kind of place everybody should visit at least once in their lives, just so the lessons of what happened here are never forgotten. Visiting this place made me feel similar as when I went to the Auschwitz concentration camp near Cracow, a few years ago…

Thankfully, Hiroshima has recovered quite well from that terrible event; it is now a thriving and lively city with a population of over 1 million people. For obvious reasons, there aren’t many historical monuments to visit, but we had a nice walk around the place anyway, before having dinner. Chie had very kindly booked as a place where we could sample the traditional cuisine of Hiroshima. The concept was great, the food is cooked in front of you on a hot metal plate. We tried quite a few different dishes, for example Okonomiyaki (a sort of savory pancake) as well as oysters – both Hiroshima specialties. Afterwards we headed out to check out Nagerakawa – the seedy night life district. We resisted the strip joints and hostess bars, and ended up in a pretty nice “European-style” bar, where we had a few drinks, catching up on the latest gossip from the UK.

The next day, after a filling buffet breakfast (with the choice of Japanese & western fare), it was time to head on to Miyajima island (first taking a local train, then a ferry to the island); the other major sight in the area. Miyajima Island is mostly known for Itsukushima Shrine, and especially its red-painted Torii (gate), actually partly covered in water during high-tide (giving making it look like it floats on water, almost). It’s one of THE iconic images of Japan (apparently, it’s one of the “Three views of Japan”). Well, the torii most certainly is very beautiful, and the shrine itself is very interesting as well, with its pier-like construction (the shrine itself is also partly enclosed by water during high-tide). Having checked out the shrine (and acquainted ourselves with the local deer, who were trying to scrounge a meal off us gullible tourists), we walked up to Daishō-in, a Buddhist temple located on the slopes of Mt. Misen (the holy mountain of Miyajima). I really liked this particular temple, with its amusing statues, idyllic location and nice views over the island. And it wasn’t overrun by tourists…

After this short but very fascinating visit, it was time to get back on the train and start our trek back eastwards, towards Kyoto. The next stop on our tour was Kurashiki, a historic city located near Okayama. Kurashiki is famous for hosting the 1st western art museum in Japan (with works from painters like Monet, Renoir, El Greco…), as well as the historical Bikan district (famous for its 17th century wooden warehouses). Unfortunately it was nearly dark when we arrived, so we were really in a hurry to do our sightseeing, again. So we quickly checked into our lodgings (another Ryokan), very nicely located right in the centre of the Bikan district. After a welcome tea, we still had some time to check out the town. The Bikan district is very pictersque indeed, with the traditional white-painted wooden warehouse buildings and the canal going through the area (giving it a feel almost similar to Venice). It’s very different from anything we’ve seen so far – the Japanese cities we’ve seen so far have had very few historic buildings remaining, apart from temples and shrines (a lot of it is due to World War II bombings and the earthquakes that plague the country).

After our pleasant evening stroll, we made our way back to the Ryokan for our Kaiseki dinner. Like last time; the meal was absolutely delicious (I have to admit I didn’t eat the fish eyes that were on the menu). Geoff, with his English palate, had some difficulties with some of the dishes, but struggled bravely through the meal ;-). Unfortunately; there was no onsen in this Ryokan, but it was still a delightful place to stay (and less painful on the wallet!).

The next day, we continued our journey, the next destination being Himeji. This was one of the places in Japan I was really keen to see. The main reason for this is that the most famous and well-preserved castle in Japan is located there – and I’m a big fan of medieval castles. Himeji certainly didn’t disappoint. We were lucky enough to even get a private guide; and a very knowledgeable one at that – and what’s best it was all free! (the guy is actually a retired business man with an interest in history, and is now a volunteer guide). The three hour-tour of the castle was extremely fascinating; all the imagery from Kurosawa’s movies (some of which were shot here) all came back to me. And our excellent guide brought it all very much alive for us, with his knowledgeable explanations about the architecture & history of the castle, mixing facts with interesting anecdotes. So all in all, a great visit (we felt obliged to give a rather healthy tip to our brilliant guide)!

The other well-known tourist sight near Himeji is Engyō-ji, a Buddhist temple located on Mt. Shosha. It’s gotten some recent fame due to the fact that some scenes from the Last Samurai were filmed here. I was again very impressed by the fact that this quite inaccessible temple can be reached by public transport (first we took the local bus, then a cable car) – only in Japan… The temple itself was very nice, peacefully surrounded by lush forest, and peaceful due to the lack of tourists! Unfortunately we didn’t really have the time to visit all the buildings – the temple area is actually quite spread out. But at least we got to see the buildings where the film was shot ;-).

Very pleased with another very busy, yet fulfilling day off sight-seeing, we carried on to Kobe by train, where we stopped for dinner. There was really only one option for food tonight – Kobe beef! The Kobe beef is actually a registered trademark, apparently, and any meat called Kobe beef must fulfill a list of strict criteria (it must be bread locally to Kobe, and slaughtered locally, also). Apparently the cattle is fed (in addition to very high-quality grain) beer and massaged daily with warm sake (??)… Anyways, thanks to our trusty Lonely Planet guide, we managed to locate and dine in a proper Kobe beef restaurant. As often in Japan, the dinner was quite an experience, with the chef cooking the delicious meat in front of us (and an Australian couple). And oh boy was the beef delicious, I’d be tempted to say it’s the best meat I ever had in my life. The dinner was quite heavy on the wallet, but I say it was worth every penny!

Very satisfied after a very filling meat, it was time to catch our train to Kyoto, for the last leg of our fabulous journey…

Hakone and Fuji-san

The next destination on our journey was Hakone – so no more Tokyo for us this time (from Hakone we were planning to head towards the south of Japan). So we said our goodbyes and thanks to Satoko, and headed down to catch our train (Andy, who had taken a couple of days off work, joined us to Hakone). The journey to Hakone allowed us to experience the famous Shinkansen (Japanese bullet train) for the first time. It whisked us down to Odawara in a mere 40 minutes or so. From there, we purchased a Hakone day pass, and took the local train towards Hakone.

Hakone makes a very good day trip from Tokyo, for a couple of reasons. The main one is that Hakone offers great views over Fuji-san (Mt. Fuji). The other reason is that it’s a great place for onsens (more about that later). Getting around Hakone is kind of interesting as well, thanks to the large variety of modes of transport one has to use to “do the tour”: train, mountain train, cable car, pirate ship and bus. We started off by taking the mountain train from Hakone town up to Miyanoshita, where we got off to check into Taiseikan, our Ryokan (Ryokan is a traditional Japanese inn). Having dropped off our luggage, we got back on the train and continued onwards, changing for a cable car which took us yet higher up, to Owakudani. At Owakudani it was time to try the famous Hakone black eggs, which are cooked at the sulphurous boiling hot water at Owakudani. Apparently having one of these eggs adds 7 years to one’s life expectancy – not bad value for money considering one can have 5 eggs for 500 yen (about 4 euros). I had two, myself.

The other cool thing about Owakudani is that it’s a great place from which to view Mt. Fuji. In spite of some clouds dotting the sky, we got a pretty good look at the majestic and iconic dome. Apparently we were quite lucky, since quite frequently; Fuji-san only reveals itself early in the morning, when the skies are clear….

We then took another cable car, this time heading down to Togendai, by Lake Ashinoko. The thing to do here is to cross the lake on a pirate ship, to Hakone-machi. All good fun, if just a tad tacky ;-) We quickly crossed Hakone-machi town to the main sight in town, a reconstructed checkpoint from the Edo period (that’s the period when the Tokugawa’s clan united and ruled Japan, from 1603 to 1867). In those days Hakone was in a very strategic position, being located on the Tokaido road which, which connected Tokyo and Kyoto.

Having done enough tourism for one day, we said our emotional goodbyes to Andy (who was heading back to Tokyo). It was great to meet up after all these years; hopefully we’ll meet again in the not-too-distant future, in Japan or elsewhere. Andy, if you read this, a big thanks to you and Satoko for putting us up and showing us around this wonderful country! We then jumped on the bus which took us back to Miyanoshita, where our Ryokan was located.

The Ryokan was actually in the valley below the village, so we had to take the Ryokan’s private cable car to access it. A scenic walk through the lovely garden and past the river running through the valley took us to the hotel. Being a traditional inn, we had to take our shoes off at the reception and put slippers on. A lady (dressed in a kimono, naturally) escorted us to our charming room; very traditionally Japanese (shame about the telly, it nearly spoilt the image). She then ran us through the rituals and rules of the traditional Ryokan, and showed us how to put our kimonos on.

Before the evening meal, we had the opportunity to try out another Japanese must-experience; an Onsen. Onsens are Japanese hot spring baths, which are a result of the volcanic activity present all over (or under, rather) Japan. It’s one of the favorite pastimes of Japanese people (like our friend Matsuoka, for example). Normally onsens are divided into sections for men and women, but our Ryokan had a private onsen, which just the two of us could use. I really loved the experience; it reminded me a little bit about the Finnish sauna. A very relaxing experience after a busy day…

The meal was extraordinary; no other way to describe it. Ryokans serve Kaiseki; which is Japanese haute cuisine, prepared according to very strict rules and traditions (all using in-season, locally produced fresh ingredients). It’s made up of a collection of small plates containing various delicacies – mostly fish (a lot of it of the raw variety – so a Kaiseki meal is not perhaps for everybody…). A Kaiseki meal is almost like a work of art; Michelin restaurants in Europe could learn a lot about presentation from the Japanese… I didn’t know what the ingredients were in half of the dishes I ate, but pretty much all of it was delicious! Matsuoka (who had booked the hotel for us) also made the meal that little bit special by having pre-ordered a wine bottle for us. So thank you Matsuoka, if you read this. Your attention is most appreciated!

I finished off the evening with a visit to the public onsen, where I had a nice chat with a “salaryman” and his son – he had traveled around quite a lot (not sure I agree with his analysis about London though – he says the highlight of his visit was “fish and chips”).

After another amazing meal for breakfast (a bit similar to the dinner, except with fewer dishes), it was sadly time to leave the Ryokan. I have to say it was a very special experience indeed, if not light on the wallet… After a peaceful walk around the area surrounding the Ryokan, it was time to take the cable car back up to the village, and take the train back to Odawara, from where we were catching the Shinkansen to our next destination; Hiroshima…

Temples, shrines and neon lights

After two rather busy days in Tokyo, it was time to leave the urban jungle and explore the Japanese countryside a bit… Our first destination was Nikko, where Matsuoka had kindly offered to show us around (he had a day off since it was the Emperor’s birthday). Joining us for the trip was also Andy, and the son of a friend of Matsuoka’s (some Japanese history and English lessons in store for the young lad…).

After a brisk walk from the hotel, we caught the train from Asakusa to our destination; Nikko. Nikko is one of the holiest places in Japan, with an impressive collection of temples and shrines in a very nice setting. The place dates back all the way to the 8th century, when it became an important Buddhist teaching centre. Its importance faded during the coming centuries, but once more became famous (or notorious?) when the mausoleum of Ieyasu Tokugawa was built here. Tokugawa was a great, but unscrupulous (he apparently had his wife and son killed for political reasons) warlord, who united Japan and started a dynasty that was to rule Japan for two and a half centuries.

The place is certainly impressive. An energetic half-hour walk took us to the temple area, which is very nicely located on an idyllic forested hill; which thanks to the chilly weather was snow-covered (made it all very photogenic – many opportunities to try out my new camera ;-). Having admired the three golden Buddha statues at the historic Rinno-ji temple (it’s over 1200 years old), we made our way to the most famous sight at Nikko – Toshu-gu – the mausoleum of Ieyasu Tokugawa. After an hour or so of gaping at the temple buildings (my favourite sight, apart from the mausoleum itself, were the monkey carvings at the “holy stables”), one more magnificent than the other, we continued our tour.

Our next stop was Taiyuin-jinja, which is the mausoleum of Ieyasu’s grandson, Iemitsu Tokugawa. This collection of temples was perhaps somewhat less imposing than that of Toshu-gu, but on the other hand it feels like a more peaceful and intimate place, located as it is on a small hill-top, surrounded by a lush, snow-covered forest. I had the impression there were also fewer tourists here, perhaps some people were discouraged by the walk up to the temple.

By now we felt we’d had our share of temples & shrines for the day, and decided to have a nourishing lunch of hot noodle soup. We then headed back into Nikko town, very content with our visit. The plan was to try out one of the local onsens (onsens are “hot springs spas”; which cover the Japanese volcanic islands). Unfortunately the taxi driver took us to a normal spa, not the “real thing”, so Matsuoka (who takes his onsens very seriously decided it would be better head back into town instead for some cake & coffee in a cosy-looking café by the train station (we fully supported his decision here).

Our stomachs well-filled, we jumped on the train back to Tokyo (which left on time, as always seems to be the case in Japan…). After arriving in Asakusa, we crossed Tokyo on the metro, to Roppongi, where we had dinner booked for 7. The restaurant Andy and Satoko had kindly booked for us is a rather famous place; called Gonpachi. The place is VERY special for a movie fanatic like myself, since apparently Quentin Tarantino used the restaurant as inspiration for the famous fight scene at “the House of Blue Leaves” in Kill Bill: Vol I. Much to my shame, it took me a while to actually come up with the Movie Connection, when asked on the spot… Anyways, in addition to the movie connection; the food, beer and sake was also excellent, so one can safely say we had a brilliant time there!

After the meal, Matsuoka, his friend’s son and Satoko left us at this point (Satoko actually went back to the office to do some more work – I can’t recall having ever committed an act of such devotion to my employer…). We continued our “Roppongi by night” tour with Andy by a visit to the top of the 54-floor Mori Tower at the Roppongi hills property complex, from where we were greeted by some amazing views over Tokyo (I also had my first experience with the amazingly high-tech Japanese toilets, which come fully equipped with seat heating, sound system, and even a water jet for “cleaning up afterwards”). After checking out the impressive Christmas lights at the Midtown shopping centre, we ended up at “the sports bar” (ousted there by an Australian tout who insisted the place “would change our lives”) for a last drink, before catching the train to Denenchofu, a leafy suburb where Andy and Satoko live.

The next day, more temples were on the cards; the plan was to head to Kamakura this time. Again, getting to Kamakura was a breeze thanks to the amazing Japanese rail network (still trying to catch at least one train leaving even one minute too late, no luck so far…).

Kamakura was the capital of Japan between 1185 and 1335, so it has played a very important role in the history of Japan. Temples and shrines is once more what it’s all about – there are 65 and 19 respectively of them here. We started off by Engaku-ji, a Buddhist temple located near the train station. It’s a nice enough place; surrounded by nature, and relatively unfrequented by tourists (compared to Nikko). After a quick noodle soup lunch (we were once again surprised about how cheaply you can eat for in Japan…), we carried on our exploration of Kamakura. Our tour took us along a footpath towards one of the main attractions of Kamakura, the Big Buddha. Along the way, there are a couple of interesting temples and shrines to visit – I especially liked the place where you “launder your money”. Basically you wash your money (notes) in the holy water, and then let it dry on its own. Apparently this money will bring you good luck. We shall see… ;-)

After this brisk bit of exercise, we finally arrived at the Daibutsu, or Big Buddha. It is very impressive bronze statue indeed, measuring 13 meters and weighing no less than 93 tons. The Buddha was originally housed in a temple, but the temple building was washed away by a tsunami in the 15th century. Having gaped at the Buddha for a while, we made our way to downtown Kamakura, to visit the most important shintoist shrine in town, Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū (a bit of a mouthful, that…). Being a rather busy and “urban temple”, it’s quite different from the smaller and more peaceful temples and shrines we’d visited earlier.

That was enough temples and shrines for one day, we figured (one can quite easily get temple overdose in Japan, wonderful though they may be), so decided to head further south to Yokohama. Yokohama is actually the second biggest city in Japan after Tokyo, with a population of nearly 4 million. It’s not a very touristy place, since most of the city was devastated by allied bombings during World War 2. But we liked it. It’s certainly a very lively place; with loads of people out and about, and plenty of bars and restaurants. What’s nice about Japan is that the cities are really lively during the evenings/nights, unlike a lot of European cities. The neon lights bring the skyscraper-dotted modern Japanese cities a certain aesthetic as well…

The main draw of Yokohama is its Chinatown, the biggest of its kind in Japan (being a port city, Yokohama is a pretty cosmopolitan city, with a large population of Chinese). We spent a good hour walking around there, looking for a suitable restaurant. We eventually found a simple, reasonably priced place, where we dined. Content, with filled stomachs, we headed back to catch the train to Denenchofu (and yep, all the trains were on time again).

Arrival in Tokyo

So finally, the long-awaited departure date for our trip to Japan was here. For once, we had planned a rather detailed itinerary for our trip, assisted by our dear friends we were meeting up with in the land of the rising sun.

I had even planned out a brilliant strategy for minimising the impact of jet lag, which involved sleeping as little as possible before the flight (so that we would sleep towards the end of the flight, and hence wake up fresh and rested upon arriving in Japan in the morning.

Things didn’t start very well, as we found out our flight to Frankfurt (from where we had a connecting flight to Tokyo) was cancelled (due to the snowfall that seems to have brought most of Europe to a standstill). Well, at least that let us sleep for a couple of hours more (hmm, just what we wanted to avoid, right?). We eventually got under way, and arrived in Frankfurt not too much delayed. Still, thankfully our connecting flight was also delayed, otherwise we’d have missed it for sure. The flight itself was all right, although of course my “minimise jet lag strategy” failed miserably due to the fact that hardly got any sleep on the flight. In the end, we arrived at Narita airport about 2 hours late. And found out our luggage was not on the flight, unfortunately… (thankfully we got it later that evening though)

Filled with excitement, we jumped on the fast train from the airport to Ueno station in Tokyo, from where a short walk took us to our hotel. Finding ones way in Tokyo is not that straight forward, since only the main street names are written in Latin letters (and in spite of my Japanese lessons before the trip, I have to admit my Japanese reading skills still left rather a lot to be desired…). Anyway, we eventually made it, and checked into our small but very functional (and surprisingly reasonably priced) room.

After a quick shower we decided to hit the road and do a bit of sightseeing. After a nourishing bowl of noodles for lunch, we walked down to nearby Asakusa, which is what could be considered “the old part of Tokyo”, apparently. It is a sort of calm place, with no skyscrapers in sight, so a “soft start” to a Tokyo tour, I suppose. We immediately headed for the main sight in Asakusa; which is the Senso-ji temple. Our walk took us up the Nakamise-dori, which is apparently a street which houses plenty of traditional artisans (we must’ve missed those amongst all the tourist shops…). Senso-ji itself was pretty interesting, even though it has quite a modern feel to it (it has been reconstructed several times in its history, the last time being in 1950).

From there, we headed back past our hotel to Ueno park, one of the most well-known places in Tokyo for experiencing Hanami (the Cherry blossom season), and also sadly known for its homeless people (which have recently become a reality in Japan, also). We did have a nice walk around the park, in spite of the fact that it got dark pretty quickly.

We then headed back to Ueno station for our rendez-vous with Matsuoka-san, who was our designated guide for the evening. Matsuoka is a good friend who worked for a few months with me in Southwood; whom we also met up with a couple of years ago in the French Alps. He took us down to central Tokyo and and showed us the Imperial Palace (which actually cannot be visited) as well as an impressive ligtht show of lanterns (perhaps in the honour of the emperor’s birthday, which was two days later?).

After this quick bit of sightseeing, we sped back to Asakusa where we were supposed to meet a friend of his in a traditional Yakitori bar. Yakitori means “grilled chicken” in Japanese, it’s basically a bar where they serve various forms of meats on skewers. It was a very nice place, traditionally Japanese in a non-fussy way (we had to take our shoes off, and were dining sat on a tatami mat). Plenty of sake and beer was had during the very pleasant evening. A great start to our Japan trip, all in all, then!

The next morning we got up bright ‘n early (after a good night’s sleep – so perhaps my cunning strategy did help after all?), in order to be able to visit the famous Tsukiji fish market (need to get there early, the action is all finished by about 9 AM). Unfortunately we missed the famous tuna market (which is now closed to tourists), but the place was still very fascinating. I must say I’ve never seen so many different types of fish in one place before (not surprising considering it’s the biggest fish market in the world), and the pace of the place is rather impressive as well. We finished off our visit with a sushi breakfast just outside the market, an absolute culinary delight (although I was a bit sceptical about having raw fish for brekkie).

From Tsukiji, we headed onwards to nearby Ginza, a part of Tokyo known for its big depatos (department stores). Visiting a Japanese department store is quite an experience, expecially the food departments were most impressive (I suppose Harrods’s puts up a good fight, but sorry Stockmann, there’s a bit of catching up to do). The constant declarations of ”irasshaimase” (a phrase used by all employees to welcome customers) are almost overwhelming in the beginning, but one gets used to it quickly.

After checking out the Alsatian Christmas market at the Tokyo International Forum, we headed towards the Imperial Palace district again. Only the gardens can be visited, and I suppose they aren’t at their best this time of the year, but the stroll amongst the greenery made a nice change from the urban jungle the rest of Tokyo can feel like. We ended up at the Yasukuni-jinja, a somewhat controversial memorial to the 2.4 million Japanese dead in combat since 1853. The controversy apparently comes from the fact that the monument honours certain Japanese commanders known for various atrocities and war crimes. It’s also a popular place with Japanese ultra-nationalists – I think we even saw a mini-bus load of them.

We had a rendez-vous with my friend Andy and his girlfriend Satoko in Shibyua in the evening, so we decided to head back towards the hotel to freshen up at this point (after a very reasonably priced lunch – or how does 3 euros for a generous bowl of noodle soup sound?); with a short stop at Akihabara first. Akihabara is the place in Tokyo to go for electronics – a place any self-respecting geek/nerd (such as myself) simply must visit. I had a purpose for the visit as well – I wanted to purchase a new camera. A bit of shopping, comparisons, internet browsing, I came away with a Cannon DS450 SLR camera (not the latest model, but should do the trick for an aspiring amateur photographer such as myself).

We made it to Shibuya nearly on time, for our rendez-vous by the Hachiko dog statue (the story of which pretty much matches that of Greyfriar’s Bobby in Edinburgh, funnily enough). Shibyua is mostly known for its famous pedestrian crossing, where an ocean of humanity crosses the 4-lane road when the traffic lights turn green. A nearly overwhelming experience, honest.

Andy is an old friend I used to share a flat with during my studies in Edinburgh, who relocated to Japan a couple of years ago with his Japanese girlfriend Satoko. Great to see him again, must’ve been 7 or 8 years since the last time we met? Anyways, we struggled a bit to find a place to dine, so ended up in a karaoke bar in the end. Oh well, another Japanese experience ticked off the list, then ;-) It was great fun, and at least I only had to humiliate myself in front of three other people (in Japan, Karaoke is done in private rooms, typically, unlike in Europe).

It was then time to head back to catch some well-needed sleep before our trip to Nikko the next day.

A bit of theatre and Christmas drinks

The weekend kicked off with a theatre play in Mouans-Sartoux, a village located near Valbonne, where Mathilde works. We had been invited to this festive event by Myriam, who was actually playing one of the main roles in the play! We actually recognised a fair few faces; mostly belonging to people we’d met at Myriam’s recent birthday party. The play, a modern take on the classic Cinderella story (the play was called “Cindy”), was an absolute hoot. I guess it was more accessible to a “barely fluent” French speaker such as myself, than the last play we saw in Grasse. I loved every minute of it, and I can honestly say Myriam was brilliant in her role. So if you read this, Myriam, thanks for a very pleasant evening!

Saturday started, as always for me these days, with a sailing session (the last one of this year, though). My trusty partner Hannu was in Paris, so I teamed up with one of the ladies of the group instead. The results were rather positive actually, as our boat seemed to move with an unforeseen rapidity. I suppose the reduction in total weight may have had something to do with it – well having said that we experienced the strongest winds so far, as well. Since the weather was also perfect (blue skies, sunshine, you get the picture), it was pretty much a perfect way to spend a Saturday morning…

For the evening, the plan was to meet up with Youcef and Ismael, as well as some others, for Christmas drinks in Nice. We did take advantage of the occasion to squeeze in a bit of last-minute Christmas shopping before, though. The centre of Nice was surprisingly peaceful, actually, considering it’s just two weeks before Christmas. Perhaps people are still keeping a tight belt, what with the crisis ‘n all…

The venue for the night’s festivities was Bar Karr, naturally located on Rue Alphonse Karr, near the pedestrian part of Nice. It was a nice enough bar, with a modern and trendy look (and prices to match). Not the sort of place we go to very often, so it made a nice change for us, actually. We were soon joined by Ismael (who’d been working like mad, as usual), as well as his lovely Irish lady Sarah, whom we finally had the honour to meet. Funnily enough, she did her studies at DIT Mountjoy Square in Dublin, where I also spent 5 months “studying” (=drinking Guinness). Ah, the fond memories I have of that place…


We were also joined by another Irish lady, as well as Ismael’s boss: Naim (a Londoner, who actually used to work both at Guildford and Farnborough – it’s a small world indeed). And eventually Youcef showed up as well… All in all, it was a great evening. Good fun catching up with everybody, and meeting a few new faces. And the bill didn’t even turn out to be too bad, in the end (especially considering I had a nice plate of foie gras for dinner – all in honour of Christmas, of course).

A rainy and grey Sunday with rather little activity on our part, brought and end to a great weekend – the last one before our upcoming trip to Japan!

Christmas spirit on the Cote d'Azur

Christmas is approaching… Not very obvious here in the warm south, on Saturday morning the sun was shining as usual, as I headed for my weekly sailing session. We had a really great day of sailing, in perfect conditions. As I said before, the sun was shining, which is always a nice thing. But additionally, the winds were more favourable than on previous weeks. As Marie (our patient instructor) had said, this should favour myself and Hannu, due to our, hrmm, body mass. And true enough, we even overtook some boats this time, probably a first one for us… So a great session then, altogether. Sadly, the winds subsided around 11, and we returned to port quite early…

Having unrigged (?) our boats, it was time for the sailing club Christmas lunch. My contribution was slightly more impressive than during our picnic a few weeks back (which isn’t really saying that much). In addition to my reindeer pate straight from Lapland, I had some quality salmon from Casino, as well as a Corsican bottle of white wine. Oh, and a baguette. Still, it felt less than impressive compared to the marinated BBQ meat, home-made pate, salads, tiramisus, etc. the other ones had prepared. Still, I enjoyed it, eating for 2 persons at least! Unfortunately the reindeer pate wasn’t a great success (actually it looked and tasted a bit like normal Finnish “maksamakkara”, so who can blame ‘em?), and neither was the white wine. But everybody had a good time; and we all got to know each others that little bit better. But with the sun shining and everybody in t-shirts (or maybe it was just me?) the xmas spirits seemed somehow far away. It was more like a BBQ during the Finnish summer, actually…

After some last minute (is there any other kind?) xmas shopping, I sped back home to prepare a dinner for my parents (a kind of farewell dinner, as they were heading back to Finland for xmas a few days later), who were coming over. For starters, I prepared some Mozzarella & Parma ham balls (which I had already prepared, with limited success, for my birthday party this year), whilst Mathilde concentrated on the lasagne. Predictably, the mozzarella & Parma ham balls turned out into a bit of a disaster, again (the Parma ham just wouldn’t stick to the mozzarella, dammit), whereas the lasagne was a stunning success. The fondant au chocolate, which I prepared the paste for, was a bit more successful (I suppose since it was one of those half-ready deserts which just required mixing a powder with eggs & melted butter). Except that it wasn’t really fondant, more like a muffin. But at least the taste was all right ;-) The meal itself was nice; with my parents entertaining us with their latest escapades (including their wine tasting trip to Provence). As often, we got the impression they have a busier social life than us ;-).

The next day, it was time for the 11th traditional Cagnes-sur-Mer Christmas swim, which I had foolishly promised myself to participate in. So there I was, at 10:45, wearing nothing but my swimming trunks and a Christmas hat at the beach at Cros de Cagnes (in fact, just by the sailing club where I’d had lunch just the day before), surrounded other fools (most of them considerably older than me). After various safety demonstrations (there were like 5 or 6 rescue boats, canoes and 6 rescue dogs for f**k’s sake) and speeches, we finally got underway. Much to my surprise, the water didn’t feel too cold at all (I heard it was 16.5 degrees Celsius). So it was actually a very pleasant swim in the end, especially when the sun revealed itself towards the end. Afterwards, we were rewarded with hot drinks and biscuits. And by a diploma, eventually… The organisers insisted on calling everybody up one-by-one (or at least family-by-family), and in alphabetical order, unfortunately… And of course they mispronounced my name about as much as one could (it sounded like Jeeby Turmellata or something along those lines) – but worst of all – they called me a Swede!

Well, all in all, it was a good laugh!

Another week on my favourite (?) island

Barely had I had time to get back home from our rather hectic weekend in Spain, when it was already time to travel back to that rainy, misty island nation, which is so dear to my heart…

The flight to Heathrow was rather trouble-free, apart from the typical 40-minute delay (ominously enough, due to bad weather…). And true enough, I was greeted by big winds and rain upon arrival… But I had expected worse, after Facebook comments about gale-strength winds and flooding…

After a short-ish day of work, I headed out for a curry with (one of the obligatory experiences on a visit to the UK) some colleagues from my team; Steve, Tasha, Samy and Mohammed to be precise. Instead of a Fleet venue that we normally go for, we opted for the Zaffron in Farnborough this time. It was a decent enough curry, and it was nice to catch up on the latest gossip… Afterwards, Mohammed was kind enough to take me back to my hotel; perhaps the worst-value-for-money hotel I’ve stayed at in England (and that’s saying a lot!). Not sure what I paid 120 euros for, really (and that was the company price!); since the rooms are iffy, the location honestly nothing to write home about (I mean, it’s in North camp…). Perhaps it’s considered a historic building, or something?

Tuesday was quite a relaxed day at work, since I was attending a training course (although the breaks were rather busy)… I was planning to spend the next couple of nights at Guilford, at Frank’s place (who’s working in Southwood for a few months). Handily enough, that also meant I could hitch a free ride with him (rather than doing the normal “shuttle bus/train/walk across all of Guildford to Phil’s place” routine). After a quick beer at Frank’s place, and some catching up with him and his lady friend; Mathilde, it was time to hit the pub. We were meeting up with Manue, Phil, Safak and Klaus at the Drummond (change of venue instead of the normal Stoke or Guildford Tup), It was good catching up with everybody again, and to hear about the big changes that have taken place in Guildford (apparently the construction of the casino is on the cards again – not sure whether that’s such a good thing though…). A nice sirloin steak, and a couple of pints (local draft beer from the Hogsback brewery, of course) later, we decided to hit the road (since Frank wanted to leave at 7 to be at work bright ‘n early). Well, we got sidetracked; unfortunately, since we spotted a new bar on the way back (the Piano Bar). But, a drink later, accompanied by philosophical chatting, we eventually made it back.

We did, amazingly, manage to start off at 7 o’clock… Thankfully, Wednesday was my second day of training, so my brain faculties were not required to function optimally. Nonetheless, we decided to head back to Guildford at the humane time of 5PM, rather than the originally planned 7PM. This time, we opted for a quite night in, with a nice pasta dinner (not even accompanied by wine…).

This meant I was on top form for a proper day of hard work on Thursday. The plan for the evening was to meet up in London. After a bit of last-minute-ish planning, we even managed to come up with a simple but effective game plan, which involved meeting up at the Match bar near Oxford circus, and then have a meal in a nearby Turkish restaurant called Efes. Thanks to Sinhung’s help, I was even able to handle the pre-London logistics (check into the Holiday inn again, drop off my luggage, and still make it on time for the 5 o’clock train).

So I made it on time for the 6 o’clock rendezvous at the Match bar (having taken in the Oxford Street Xmas decoration), where Adrian was waiting, on time as always. We were later joined by Samy and Emilie. It was entertaining listening to Adrian’s stories about his hard life at university (apparently he’s even stopped drinking to better concentrate on his studies – I’m sure it’s only temporary). It was also great to see Emilie again (for the first time in about 5 years I think?); she’s a friend of Mathilde’s who used to live in the North of France, when we first met (so we used to meet quite frequently for dinner parties and the like); and now she lives in London. It’s a small world we live in, eh?

We were then also joined by Louis, Kate, Sinhung, Frank and Matilda, and headed down to the Turkish restaurant, for a meal of typically generous proportions (although somewhat less generous than for example the Grand Bazaar). Great fun, again, catching up with the old gang. I think it’s what I miss most from our life in England; the cosmopolitan social life London can offer… (I suppose one could say the Cote d’Azur is cosmopolitan as well, but most of the non-French living are pensioners, so it ain’t quite the same thing…). After a very filling meal and a great deal of merry-making, it was time to head back to Waterloo to catch the train back to good ol’ Farnborough; although we did of course have time to squeeze in one more beer at the “panoramic” train station bar (it offers unparalleled views over WH Smith, Burger King, and a lot of drunkards…). The trip back to Farnborough was rather entertaining as we were trying to figure out what the contents of Kate’s mysterious parcel were… I had the great idea of walking home from the train station to clear my head – so had quite a short night’s sleep…

All in all, a very nice visit to the old island, great to catch up with all the old friends again. And in the end, the weather wasn’t that bad either… ;-)

Franco-Hispanic wedding in Albacete

During her studies in Perugia, Mathilde made a great many friends, and the great thing is that this group of friends has kept contact over the years. Once a year or so, one of the girls conveniently get married, which is a great excuse to meet up ;-). Two years ago, Katerina and Alessandros tied the knot in northern Greece, last spring Paula and Peppe did the same in Madrid. And this weekend, it was the turn of Ines and Sebastien, in Albacete.

Since Albacete doesn’t have its own airport, the easiest option for us was to get a flight to Madrid, and drive there by rental car. So up we got, at an ungodly early Saturday morning, and headed down to the airport. We were a bit nervous about the flight, since our first and last names were mixed up (so Mathilde’s boarding card just said “L. Mathilde”), but thankfully everything went OK. Once in Madrid, we also struggled a bit to find the car rental agency (Peppecar – their office was not located together with the big international firms…). Thankfully, we found the office eventually, and eventually even managed to get the car (not the easiest task either since the guy spoke no English whatsoever; thankfully Mathilde’s Spanish is a lot better than mine ;-).

So, finally we were able to hit the road. We were again struck by how different Spain is compared to even the South of France. Such flat, arid and empty scenery; yet beautiful in its own way. The land of Don Quixote, indeed… Eventually, after just one erroneous exit from the motorway, we arrived, about 2 ½ hours later.

Just in time to join Katerina, Alessandros, Paula and Peppe for lunch, as it turned out :-) Paula, well-organised as always, had already found a couple of restaurant options for us. And had a nice surprise for all of us – looks like herself and Peppe will be mum & dad soon! The lunch was the kind I like, tasty, simple and very copious :-). There was everything from prawns, olives, Spanish ham to lamb chop. And all in very authentic surroundings. Not quite what we had in mind when we asked for a “light lunch”, but I minded perhaps less than some of the others ;-). The bill was rather steep, but I reckon it was worth every cent of it!

After a short siesta (we needed it!), it was time to shower and get ready for the big event. We had bus transport conveniently organised to the nearby village, where the church ceremony was taking place. On the bus, we caught up with the rest of the group (Maria & Aitor, Aurina, Ana, as well as Milene and Kamel). For some reason, we didn’t follow the rest of the wedding guests to the church, but rather had a bit of a “walking tour” of the town first. The difficulty with Spanish towns is that you can’t just ask “where is the church” - since there are inevitably at least three even in a small town. Turns out third time lucky, this time… Well, at least we were on time!

After the church ceremony, it was time to head back to Albacete for the wedding party – which was taking place in the Grand Hotel, no less… And as Spanish wedding parties always seem to be, this was just great. Delicious food, great drink, great company, dancing… All the usual ingredients for a successful wedding. Great to see that the Erasmus group chemistry is still great, and that the Erasmus Boyfriends (well, more like Erasmus husbands these days) get along great. I learnt much this weekend: about building motorways in Greece (not easy, apparently), the fact that one must NEVER, EVER eat Bolognese sauce with Spaghetti (which comes from Rome – Bolognese obviously coming from Bologna where the local pasta of choice is Tortellini) and the fact that I apparently look like Brad Pitt (they must’ve had too much to drink)??

We really had a great time, and were very reluctant to go back to the hotel, but figured we ought to eventually, since we had to get up relatively early for our drive back to Madrid. Vague promises were made about Baptisms in Naples, Easter in Rioja, a summer weekend in Finland… I really hope something can be worked out soon, since these reunions are such great fun…

A day of wine tasting

One of the big annual events in Cagnes-sur-Mer is the annual gastronomy fair, which takes place for a few days at the famous hippodrome. We’ve missed the last two editions of this glorious event, so I figured I’d give it a go this time. Conveniently, Hannu (a regular visitor), had a spare ticket I could use… So I decided to join them on their way to the fair Sunday evening.

The focus of the fair is definitely on wines. Never have I seen so many wine producers cramped in one place before in my life… The name of the game is (at least to a Finn such as myself): buy a glass for 1 Euro 50 cents, and taste as many wines as you can (and if possible, try to avoid buying a bottle at every stand, which is actually a bit difficult…). So true to this principle, we toured around the tent, trying wine, champagne, Armagnac and other beverages from the various regions in France (we ticket off at least Bourgogne, Languedoc, Anjou, Armagnac, Champagne, Bordeaux, Corsica and Provence…).

It was all kind of good fun, chatting away with the producers, and trying to pretend I actually know something about wines. Even Hannu’s kids seemed to be enjoying themselves, even though they obviously had to contend with soft drinks and water. Actually, the wines themselves aren’t that cheap, but one sort of feels obliged to buy at least one bottle at each stand one does tasting… But in the end, I managed to keep my spending in check (5 bottles for about 40 euros, that’s all right I reckon…).

So all in all, it was a pleasant enough way to spend a Sunday evening – especially since the weather wasn’t all that great. And I suppose might’ve even I learnt a thing or two about wines…

An adventurous lunch in Italy

We’ve been talking about having a lunch in Italy with our friends Stephane and Sandra for quite some time now (since we all love Italian cuisine, and Italy only being about 1 hour’s drive away, after all). So today we decided to finally go for it. Before heading off towards the land of pasta and pizza, however, I headed down to seaside to watch the Nice-Cannes marathon pass by. Two of my fellow Finns, Pete and Hannu, participated – and needed some cheering on obviously (unfortunately, I missed Hannu). Both of them made it to the goal, and did very well, if you ask me (making it to the goal is already “doing well” if you ask me…).

Sandra picked us up around 11AM in her Golf. After picking up Stephane and little Clelia, we hit the A8 towards Italy. Everything went smoothly, until we heard an ominous “clonk” sound. It signalled the fact that the driver side window fell down (apparently it was the third time it happen on their Golf)! After some deliberation we decided to carry on until our destination (Vallebona) driver-window-less. Half an hour or so later, we arrived, refreshed ;-).

Sandra & Steph had booked a nice restaurant called il Giardino for the occasion. I like the concept of the restaurant a lot – it’s sort of like an “eat-and-drink-as-much-as-you-can” buffet, but with waitresses bringing you the food (a bit more classy than a self-service buffet). And boy, did we eat… Things kicked off with eight antipasti (if memory serves me...). For primi piatti (starters) we were treated to three plates of pasta (gnocchi, followed by some ravioli and finally some pasta with pesto) - an absolute delight. And the secondi piatti were nothing to complain about either –four plates of meat with French fries. And all this food we washed down with a couple of bottles of local red wine (nothing fancy, but more than good enough for an unsophisticated northerner such as me…). The desert was perhaps less impressive than the preceding delicacies we’d had (still, I wasn’t complaining about the three pieces of cake on my plate), but to be honest there wasn’t much space in our stomachs left by the time the desert arrived… (still, I made an effort!). The meal finished off with some proper Italian coffee and a limoncello. This, if I may say so, is my kind of Sunday lunch :-) (and pretty good value for money at 30 euros each, too…).

Having stuffed ourselves to the brim, we decided to lighten our conscience a bit by taking a walk around the village. It was a pretty enough village, typical for this part of Italy. A bit less touristy perhaps than some of the other places around here, like Dolceacqua. The walk certainly did us some good, especially since there were plenty of steep streets to mount and descend :-)

The return journey turned out to be a bit of an adventure, as well. We hastily improvised a temporary cardboard replacement (acquired from the restaurant) for the disabled front window, which didn’t do wonders for the driver’s visibility to the left. So the drive back to the motorway was quite an exercise in teamwork (with me and Sandra trying to tell Stephane about what was happening on the left side of the car). Things went so well we thought we deserved a coffee in Ventimiglia for our efforts.

On the motorway, things got even more exciting, since our improvised cardboard window kept wanting to come off. But thanks to steady driving from Stephane, with heroic support from Sandra in the backseat to keep our improvised window in place (and just one stop at a service station to make “readjustments”), we eventually made it safe and sound back to Cagnes-sur-Mer…

So it had been quite an adventurous Sunday lunch, then ;-). And just to emphasize the amount of food we actually had – I didn’t have anything for dinner. Those of you who know me, realise THAT does not happen very often… (in fact, I wonder if I’ve ever missed dinner by design before?)

Sailing & Father's day's dinner

As you may have realised, dear reader, if you have been reading my blog, I’ve been doing a bit of sailing this fall. Me and Hannu decided to sign up for a 7-week basic catamaran sailing course. Today was our last session…

As often during these sessions, things started off just great with a bright blue sky and a frisky wind. And as always, much to our annoyance, we seemed to be going much slower than everbody else.

Marie, our no-nonsense instructor, assured as it had nothing to do with our (lack of) sailing skills, rather it was down to our considerable body mass; as she put it subtly: “vous êtes une équipe bien costaud” (English translation: “you need to lose weight”). In spite of this lack of speed, we had a nice morning session cruising back and forth between the ports of Saint-Laurent-du-Var and Cagnes-sur-Mer. It did get a bit chilly towards the end of the session, when the sun went into hiding behind the clouds (might be getting a bit late in the year to just wear a tee-shirt...).

After the sailing session and the unglamorous post-sailing routines (carrying the boats up from the beach, taking down the sails, undoing the rigging...), we got together for end-of-course picnic (bravely doing it outdoors inspite of the chilly weather). My contribution was somewhat meager (a bottle of cider, a bag of chips and some biscuits), but as always I made up for it by eating twice the amount anybody else did (just to be polite, of course)! That raspberry tiramisu was particularly delicious. It was good fun getting to know the other folks a bit more, especially since pretty much everybody in the group apart from me and Hannu is a local. I even enjoyed the sailing course enough to sign up for the next seven weeks (for level 2). Hopefully they'll give us bigger sails for the next lot of sessions, so we can hopefully get our speed up ;-)

For dinner, we’d been invited for an early Father's Day celebration at my parents’ place in Antibes. We were treated to a delicious fish dinner (together with my “favorite” veggie side dish of broccoli & cauliflower), accompanied by some quality Alsacian white wine. We were also brought up to date with the latest gossip amongst the local Finnish population, and heard an account of my dad's participation in a Nordic petanque competition (in spite of their best efforts, his team got beaten by a bunch of Swedes...)

Hiking in the Parc national du Mercantour

When I first moved to the Cote d’Azur, I was expecting a work of glamour, sun, beaches, the azur-blue sea and old people. And for sure, those things can be found in abundance. But one aspect of this region which we really love is the proximity of the mountains. One does not have to get far from the coastline in order to enjoy mountains of over 1000 meters.



But moreover, the Alps are just a bit more than one hour’s drive from Cagnes-sur-Mer. In fact, one of the 9 national parks of France, Mercantour, is located here. Me and Stephane, a colleague of Mathilde’s, have been talking about doing a hike over there for quite some time now. And this weekend, we finally decided to go for it – in spite of a none-too-promising weather forecast.

So off we set, bright ‘n early Sunday morning, driving up the Vallee de Vesubie, past St-Martin-Vesubie, all the way up to the parking from where we were planning to start our walk. The drive itself is pretty amazing, following the deep gorges of the Vesubie, the road taking us past some very picturesque villages indeed (especially St-Martin-Vesubie seems well worth a visit). The trek seemed rather challenging to me – with a steady ascent from an altitude of 1600 meters, up to the final destination; le Pas de Prefouns, at an altitude of 2615 meters.

On the weather-front, things looked very promising, with a blue sky and not a cloud in sight! We took up a brisk pace, and steadily progressed up through some stunning scenery, all the way to the Lac Nègre (which means “the black lake”). It’s quite a special little lake – it merits its name thanks to the dark-grey waters. At this point we were already at an altitude 2400 meter’s. We were also surrounded by snow, so at this point the going got a bit harder. Half an hour or so later of steady ascent, we arrived at the culminating point, Le Pas de Prefouns. Here we took a moment to contemplate the amazing views around us. Back from where we had come, we were greeted by the snow-covered landscape surrounding the lake. And the other way, we could see the mountainous scenery of Italian Piedmont. In fact, we were standing on the border between France and Italy (as drawn up in 1947).



In spite of the howling wind, we decided to stop for lunch here, whilst taking in the views. A ham sandwich, an apple, and a few cookies later, we were ready to carry on. So back we went, the way we had come, stopping to admire the lake again on the way back. A good three hours later, we were back at the car, happy and satisfied with our spectacular hike. All in all, we’d taken 7 hours to complete the 15 km hike, with an ascent of 1000 meters. Not too bad for two amateurs like us ;-). After a quick beer at a road-side bar, we drove back home… We were actually stuck in traffic for a lot of the way, reminds me of all those return journeys from the Mercantour ski stations (we were a bit surprised about the traffic jams, considering the time of year…).

All in all, a great way to spend a Sunday. A pity Mathilde, who was in Angers, couldn’t join us for this one. Well, next time! (perhaps with raquettes).