British cultural weekend: beer, Pimms 'n curry

Well it’s been a while since me and Mathilde have been to the UK – so when we got the invitation to Emmanuelle’s 40th birthday celebration, we confirmed without hesitation, and got our Easyjet tickets booked. We figured we should take the occasion to spend some time in London, so decided to book a hotel there for a couple of nights. Amazingly enough, one of the cheaper options we found was a 4 stars hotel located next to St. James Park – the Jolly St. Ermins hotel.

Our flight departed sunny nice on Friday morning, and landed in London Gatwick on schedule (there’s a first time for everything…) – from where we took the train down to Victoria, which is conveniently just a 5-minute walk from our hotel. We were pleasantly surprised to find the sun shining upon arrival (and even more amazingly - it was to keep shining all weekend!). After dropping off our bags at the hotel (which I think qualifies as the best English hotel I’ve stayed in), we set off to enjoy sunny London. After a tasty ‘n healthy lunch at Pret-a-Manger (an English eating establishment I actually miss, believe it or not!), we set off to walk around the local area, taking in Buckingham palace, as well as Green park and St James Park (where we didn’t see any squirrels, much to Mathilde’s disappointment). After a relaxed couple of hours strolling around, we headed to Costa café for a coffee (and cake, of course!); where we were joined by Philippe and Aniko, who had just arrived. From there we headed down to the local pub for our first (but certainly not last) pints of the weekend.

For the evening, we headed down to Clapham Junction to the Falcon pub for my colleague Stu’s leaving do. After 10 years at the company, he had decided to move on. A lot of colleagues turned up (including a few I hadn’t seen for a while), including of course Sinhung (you can usually count on him when there’s drinking to be done – although he’s getting a bit rusty at old age), who was on top form as always… All in all, a typical “colleagues pub night out”, with pints, pub food (I had a burger), office gossip, and all the rest of it. I had great fun – not sure how entertained Mathilde was listening to a bunch of engineers talking shop though ;-) We were quite nackered, not having slept much the night before, so headed back to the hotel before the end of the proceedings – anyway we knew we had to save some energy for the following two days as well, so we figured it was best not to do an all-nighter…

We got up early on Saturday, and had a very relaxed picnic breakfast in St James’ Park (and even saw some squirrels this time!). Our brekkie was interrupted by the annual changing of the (Buckingham Palace) guard – which I rushed down to see (and photograph, naturally!). All very pompous, of course, and those guards do look a bit silly in those red suits and tall black headgear. But I suppose that’s the way it should be – this being London and all that (I guess that’s one of the things I love about London, it’s at the same time a very modern, cosmopolitan and open-minded city, but at the same time clings to its traditions and peculiarities in a rather charming way). Having taken in this spectacle, we made our way towards the centre (which wasn’t that easy, considering a lot of roads were shut to the public due to the ceremonies), taking in Whitehall and Trafalgar square on the way. From there we walked past Piccadilly Circus, up Regents Street and onto Carnaby Street. We finished off our tour by visiting Liberty, one of the most famous department stores in London (which I’d not actually been to). As department stores go, it’s a pretty cool place to wander about – I think I prefer it to the more famous Selfridges and Harrods’s.

We then rushed down to Leicester square, where we were meeting up with the old gang (Chie, Jeff, Philippe, Aniko and Sinhung) for a dim sum. A couple of new gang members also came along – a Hungarian friend of Aniko’s (who actually used to work at the same factory in Pecs where I worked the summer of 1997 – now is the world small or what?) as well as David and Samy (who have both recently joined my team). The dim sum is another “UK tradition” (within double quotes since it’s of course more of a Chinese tradition) I really miss – and the dim sum we had was as tasty and filling as in the good old days…

Having filled our stomachs to their brims, it was time to tick the next “English thing to do” off the list – Pimms by the Thames. We ended up drinking the Pimms in South Bank - a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon. Nick joined us as well at this point – straight from the airport (having flown back from Spain) with rucksack ‘n all, as well as KoChung. After a couple of hours spent chatting away, and downing the over-priced Pimms (of course, this is London, after all!), it was time to say bye-bye to some of our friends, and head back to the hotel for a quick shower before the evening’s activities (Nick, Sinhung and KoChung kindly waited for us in the local pub).

We started off the evening in All Bar One in Leicester Square, where we met up with Adrian and some friends of his (including Pirish, an English friend of his who actually lives in Nice) – we also finally had the honour of meeting his girlfriend Yda. After a couple of beers over there we made our way to yet another old haunt of ours, the Delhi Brasserie. Of course one must have at least one curry during any visit to the UK – it’s nearly as mandatory as a visit to the pub. Unfortunately, we were a bit disappointed with the curry this time – or maybe it was just the bill… By the time we finished the meal, it was nearly midnight, so past pub closing time. So time to head back to the hotel, then, for a snooze….

On Sunday, it was time for the big event – Emmanuelle’s birthday. After another relaxed breakfast in St James’ Park, we checked out of the hotel, and took the train down to Guildford, where the festivities were taking place. And she had certainly chosen a worthy venue for the occasion – Loseley Park (one of the most famous country houses in Surrey). As per our plan, we met up with Phil at the train station, and sped down to Loseley Park in a taxi.

The party was great – big thanks to Manu for organising such a brilliant event. The food, drink and entertainment was tip-top (especially the entertainment bit, for those that got to see me dancing…), of course. But the greatest thing was meeting up with a lot of people we’d not seen for ages… Great fun catching up with everybody again. Great also seeing Sandrine’s big belly (that would be due to the baby, not over-eating), meeting Rosie’s little boy and of course seeing my dear god-son Florian again (although he was a bit shy again…). The greatest bit of entertainment was provided by Big Australian Nick (I say Big since I feel absolutely tiny next to him – and that doesn’t happen very often) – who, being a kind spirit, tried to get a Frisbee down from a tree by throwing his huge shoe at it. And yes, you guessed it, the shoe ended up stuck in the tree next to the Frisbee. Thankfully, the French staff showed Gallic creativity and daring and managed to get the shoe down from the tree, using two tables stapled one upon the other, and a ladder on top.

After the party, we headed down to Guildford for dinner (as if though we hadn’t eaten enough already…) at Wagamama’s, and then off to the pub of course (the King’s Head). Bruce joined us there with his lovely girlfriend – which was great since I’ve not seen him for absolute ages.... A couple of pints later (the last ones for this visit) we retired back to Phil’s place for some well-deserved rest.

Monday was spent in the office for my part, whereas Mathilde had another day out in London. Where she also got our camera back from the hotel, where the more scatter-brained of us (guess whom?) had left it on Sunday… All in all – a great weekend then! And with the great weather we had – I almost found myself missing life in England at times ;-)

Learning how to cook...

Dear reader, if you’ve been reading my blog regularly, you’ve probably noted that I’ve been trying out my cooking skills quite a lot recently – stretched them to the limit, and beyond, even. Obviously my darling Mathilde has noted it – so she kindly got me a cooking lesson as a birthday lesson (perhaps partly motivated by a sense of self-preservation? :-) ).

Today was the grand day for my lesson. So off I set after work to Nice Nord, where the course was talking place. I was a bit nervous about the whole thing, since I pictured myself making a fool of myself in front of a bunch of semi-professional chefs. So I was somewhat relieved when I heard that there were only to be two students apart from me – and even more relieved when one of the others didn’t turn up! So it was just me, a Vietnamese lady, and our teacher, then.

We started off by preparing the dessert (that was the first thing I learnt on the day – one should apparently normally start with the dessert) – “Fraisier a ma facon”. Basically it’s composed of strawberries, some mint leaves, a biscuit – complemented by a creamy concoctation made up of mascarpone, eggs, and sugar. Very simple, right? Well, it was actually – especially considering our teacher did most of the actual work whilst we watched and learnt.

The main course we prepared was called “Pave de poisson en coque d’herbes, oignons nouveaux et puree” (bit of a mouthful, that…). We started off by preparing the onions, potatoes and other veg in our teacher’s high-tech oven, which can steam vegetables in a few short minutes. Most impressive. A good 20 minutes later, the deliciously creamy puree (or actually it was an "espuma de puree") was ready, as well as the saumon. That’s probably the most important learning of the course – how to prepare a fish in a frying pan. After meticulously presenting the dish on a plate (our teacher actually told us she reckons the presentation is the most important aspect of a meal – I beg to differ on this point as I think taste is rather important too…) we were ready for “la degustation”.

Mathilde joined us for the meal – which was nice, especially since my Vietnamese co-student left us quite quickly. So, what’s the verdict, then? I would say pretty much a sans-faute. The fish was perfectly cooked, the espuma de puree creamy and tasty and the vegetables that went with it just right (and the presentation was tip-top, of course!). And the deset was a true delight, yummie! (I even got to finish some left-overs!)

So all in all, a very pleasant evening then! And I learnt a thing or two – hopefully some of it sticks… ;-)

A few day in Genova

My parents had given me and Janne a very nice birthday present this year – a weekend in Genova. Well, actually, due to some scheduling issues, we ended up taking the weekend in the middle of the week…

So off we set on Wednesday evening, down the A8, towards Italy. Traffic was kind to us until we approached Genova, but in the end, we arrived well in time for dinner. The first impression of Genova isn’t very positive, since its sprawling suburbs are a bit of an eyesore… Genova is one of the biggest cities of Italy, with a population of over 700,000, and is one of the countries major ports also. It has a glorious past, having once rivalled Venice – but has lost some of its splendour, it must be said, in recent years…

Anyway, having checked in at our hotel (superbly located just on the edge of the old town), we rushed down to meet the Turtiainen clan for dinner. My parents had selected a place just around the corner called Le Rune for the occasion. After a perfectly acceptable, if not mouth-watering, meal, we headed back to the hotel. After a digestif at the bar, it was time to hit the bed.

We got up bright ‘n early in the morning, and after a tasty breakfast at the hotel (a bit more nourishing than the average Italian breakfast – which is perhaps a bit light for my taste…), we headed out for a quick walk in the old town. We instantly took a liking to it – it really has an authentic feel to it. It feels a bit like the old town of Nice, without the tourists (there are even a few dodgy characters about). It’s also very spread out – I read somewhere that it’s “the biggest old town in Europe” (wonder how they determine which bits are “old” and which bits “new”?). After the quick visit, we joined the Turtiainen clan for a walk down Via Garibaldi – the palazzi-lined street bordering the old town. It’s a grand street, and houses some of Genova’s most important museums. After a quick look at the famous Palazzio Reale, we headed down to Genova’s defining feature, its port. To be honest, the first impression is not the most positive – unfortunately a 4-lane flyover cleaves through the port – an eyesore if there ever was one… there are a few sights in the port though – an aquarium, the ship used as a set for Roman Polanski’s film “Pirates” as well as Palazzio San Giorgio (which apparently housed the first bank in the world).

Having checked out the port, me and Mathilde found ourselves a lovely little bar on the outskirts of the old town, where we had a very tasty and good-value lunch, surrounded by locals…Almost made us feel Italians ;-). We then headed back into the winding streets of the old town, and continued our exploration. Our walk took us past various churches, the imposing Catedrale di San Lorenzo, and even the house of Christopher Columbus (who was born in Genova – apparently his house is the most visited in the world, hmm….). All in all, we really loved the old town – it’s dirty, noisy, crowded. But the place really is buzzing with life – sometimes it almost feels like the medinas we visited in Tunisia recently. Genova definitely feels a bit misplaced in the orderly Northern Italy; somehow it would feel more at home in the more chaotic south. We met up with my family again for dinner at Trattoria da Maria – a real gem of a restaurant. It feels a bit like a family-run canteen, or something. The menu is hand-written (only in Italian, of course), the prices are very reasonable (12 euros for a menu, if I recall correctly), and the service is impressively quick (especially considering the size of the place). After the meal the youngsters went for a couple of drinks in a bar near the hotel. We even met and chatted away with some locals (well, they were from Piedmont – close enough…)!

On Friday the plan was to do a bit of a road trip. So off we set, having stuffed our bellies full at the breakfast buffet again. Or first stop was at Camogli, a fishing village just a few kilometres from Genova. It is a lovely place – with its waterfront covered with multi-coloured houses, and its beautiful port (and surprisingly enough, there actually seems to be a few fishermen left). It reminded us a lot of the equally villages at Cinque Terre (which isn’t far away). We spent a very relaxed morning there, strolling along its narrow streets, and relaxing in the port. Of course we felt obliged to try the local speciality – the camogliesi (sweet local pastries), and of course a home-made gelato was called for as well (which was good, but not as good as the divine ice cream we had in Genova the day before).

Our next stop was Rapallo, a typical Ligurian resort, which reminded me a bit of San Remo. Apparently Jean Sibelius (who is, as I’m sure you know, a famous Finnish composer) composed his 2nd symphony here. After a stroll along the waterfront (taking in the castle), we hit the beach and went for a swim.

Our final destination for the day was Portofino – which one could call the St-Tropez of Italy, I suppose (Portofino is the most exclusive coastal resort in Italy, apparently). The drive up to the narrow road (we were happy we didn’t visit the place during the weekend – the fact that there were screens showing the estimated time to queue every few km probably means the place gets rather busy from time to time…) up to the tiny village is very scenic. Having parked our car in the un-reasonably priced car park (5 euros/hour – that’s bloody ridiculous!), we headed down to the harbour, where we had unreasonably priced cappuccinos (5 euros – that’s more like on the Cote d’Azur price than in Italy – and that was in the cheapest joint we found). In spite of the rip-off prices, it has to be said that Portofino is a very pretty village, and the setting couldn’t be much prettier – sitting as it is in its bay, surrounded by dramatic cliffs. All in all, Portofino is well worth a visit, but I was happy we visited it on a Friday in May rather than a Saturday in July (considering how hard it was to find a parking spot as it was).

We finished our last evening on our Italian road trip with a nice meal in Tristan & Isolde in the old town of Genova, another place my parents had discovered during their last visit to Genova. A nice enough place, a bit similar to Trattoria da Maria – a bit classier, and a bit pricier. Great way to end a great trip!

On Saturday, my parents and Janne & Katja had to speed up to France, since Janne & Katja had a flight to catch. But since we had all day to get back, we decided to take the opportunity to make some stops on the way. Our first stop was Savona, a place we’ve driven past many times, and often thought to visit. It’s a nice enough town, good for a short stop. Once upon a time it was actually quite a significant city, rivalling Genova in importance, but those days are long gone. Still, it has a pleasant old town, which we strolled around. We finished our walk with a drink at a nice square in the old town – and were treated to some very tasty snacks to go with it (a great tradition in Italy – a bit like the tapas they bring with drinks in some parts of Spain).

Our next stop was the small village of Noli. The reason we decided to stop there is that our guide-book mentioned it had been an independent republic for 600 years (I mean there cannot be many former republics smaller than Noli on this planet – Noli has a population of 2900). And we were not disappointed – Noli is a very cute village, and has managed to preserve its historic centre better than most places on the Ligurian coast. There’s even a quite impressive castle overlooking the village (a testament to Noli’s glorious past…). We had a typically tasty lunch in a small trattoria (perhaps not surprisingly, it seems that some of the best food in Liguria can be found in hidden-away trattorias in small, little-known villages).

Our next stop was Alassio, a resort town about half-way between Savona and the French border. After a refreshing swim in the sea (on the only public beach we could find amongst the private beaches which are all too frequent in northern Italy), we headed out to find the main tourist attraction in Alassio – The Wall. On the way to the wall, we took the opportunity to buy some Baci (means kisses in Italian; chocolate cream-covered biscuits – not to be confused by the more famous Baci from Perugia). The Wall – Il Muretto di Alassio – is covered with autographs from visiting celebrities – a bit like the handprints in Cannes in front of the Palace des Festivales. Most of the celebrities were Italian, so didn’t recognise a lot of the names – but I did spot Hemingway’s and Dario Fo’s signatures.

So that brought an end to our road trip in Liguria – the next stop was Cagnes-sur-Mer. As always, we had a great time – Italy is really growing on me more and more by each visit. We’ll be back!

More photos here.

Cannes film festival

After a relatively quiet long weekend we just spent, things were looking to get busy again with the visit of my brother Janne and his girlfriend Katja, who were coming over this weekend.

We kicked things off in style with a lunch at La Reserve with Janne, Katja and the folks. La Reserve is the new dining establishment of the Riviera’s most famous (only?) Finnish chef, Mr. Jouni Törmänen. I visited his original Nice venue, simply known as “Jouni”, a couple of years ago, with my parents. The original place really was great (it well deserved its Michelin star) – but was somewhat “hidden away” near the port of Nice (which really isn’t very conveniently located). The new place, La Reserve, is even further away from the town centre than the old place, but has a great location, overlooking both Cap de Nice and the port. La Reserve is actually divided into two parts; the top floor houses the fancy star-endowed restaurant, whereas the bottom floor is occupied by the “cheap and cheerful” brasserie, where one can have a three-course lunch for an altogether reasonable price of 30 euros. We decided to go for the brasserie ;-).

So what’s the verdict then? I certainly have no complaints about the quality of the food – although it has to be said that it’s not quite at the same standard as the full-blown affair we had at Jouni’s. The thing that mostly sets the brasserie apart from the old place (and the upstairs restaurant at La Reserve, I guess) is probably the service – sometimes you get the impression the waiters haven’t quite completed their training… What’s best about La Reserve, though, is location, location – the views over the port and Cap de Nice are simply stunning. So all in all, a very nice way to start off a family reunion ;-)


The Cannes film festival had kicked off just a couple of days before, so a couple of films were naturally on the agenda. The Cannes film festival actually has several parallel festivals – the most important one being of course the “Selection official” – and naturally it’s impossible to get tickets for those screenings for us mere mortals (I guess we just don’t know the right people). Thankfully, Mathilde could get some cheap tickets for “la Quinzaine des Réalisateurs” – one of the less glamorous festivals at Cannes - through her school. Normally the films of the “quinzaine” are not very well known – mostly coming from up and coming directors, rather than established auteurs. This year, however, the latest film from none other than Francis Ford Coppola was part of the quinzaine… Unfortunately, though, we were not able to attend that one, due to the inconvenient screening times.

On Saturday, after a coffee & cake session at our place in Cagnes (the folks brought the cake, we served up the coffee), we headed off to Cannes, where we decided to chance upon “Go get some Rosemary”, from quinzaine stalwart directing brothers Ben and Joshua Safdie (I say “chance upon”, since as I mentioned before, the films at the quinzaine are not very well known – which means the quality is a bit uneven. The film we saw last year – Monsieur Morimoto, was downright crap). This film was certainly better than Monsieur Morimoto, but although the original story about an irresponsible father’s adventures in New York with his kids had a quite quirky charm, the film just didn't quite work for me. After the film, we rushed through Cannes, dodging paparazzi and celebrities (well, more like wanna-be’s, actually…) on the Croisette to make it for our table booking at 10PM (it might’ve been a good idea to book a restaurant a bit closer by…) at our favourite Cannes restaurant – Le Bistrot Gourmand. After a typically tasty dinner, we rushed back to catch the last train back to Cagnes….

On Sunday, we decided to see “Eastern Plays” by Kamen Kalev (again, no particular reason for choosing this particular film, other than that it seemed interesting based on the short summary I read about it). This movie we liked much better than Saturday’s effort. “Eastern Plays” is a touching Bulgarian movie about racism, brotherly love and growing up in Eastern Europe (I wonder if I could get a job writing cheesy one line summaries for the quinzaine next year?). The bitter-sweet story was made all the more poignant by the fact that the main actor of the film, Christo Christov, died just after completion of the film.

All in all, then, Cannes was a mixed bag for us. One good film and one so-so film – an improvement over last year, then ;-) We didn’t see anybody famous this year – but then again we didn’t really put in a lot of effort on the celebrity-spotting this year (come to think of it though – we didn’t see anybody famous in Cannes during the last two years either – I’m starting to suspect you need to be famous to actually see anybody famous at Cannes). I slightly regret not having a go at seeing the Coppola film – apparently the grand master himself made an appearance at the opening screening – and apparently the film was very good as well (which would make a nice change – considering the quality of Coppola’s last few films…)

Sainte-Agnes and Mother's Day in Cannes

I love May in France – it’s the month of long weekends. There’s Labour Day (the 1st of May), there’s Liberation day (8th of May), a Ascencion (21st of May) and Pentecote (OK, that one’s actually in the beginning of June). And this year we are particularly lucky, in that the 1st and 8th of May both happen to be Fridays. So, that makes this a long weekend, then. We decided to take it easy this time, after all the driving and travelling we’ve done for the last couple of weeks…

Friday looked to be another gorgeous day on the Riviera, so we figured we should at least go for a hike, though. We picked one in the Menton hinterland this time – near Sainte-Agnes, to be precise (a supposedly pretty village we’ve not visited so far). So down we drove the A8. Ominous clouds showed up around Nice, and things got progressively worse as we approached the Italian border. Around our motorway exit, we started having second thoughts (since the weather looked a lot clearer on the coast than up towards the mountains (as things usually are on the Cote d’Azur). But we decided to chance it, got off the motorway, and took the windy roads up to Sainte-Agnes. Unfortunately our worst fears were confirmed; by the time we arrived, the village was pretty much covered in mist. Well, we figured we might as well visit the place since we were there… So up we climed to the ruined castle of Saine-Agnes – which actually made for a decent hike in itself… There wasn’t much to see, apart from a garden, but the ruins are certainly atmospheric, especially surrounded as they were by the heavy mists… I suppose on a good day, the views would’ve been astounding – as things were it was quite though, seeing the occasional mountain-top reveal itself as the mist occasionally got out of the way. And the views over the village were quite nice. Having checked out the castle ruins, we had a quick walk around the village, which was a typically pretty Provencal perched village – well worth a visit.

I had a recollection that nearby Castillon was a village worth visiting, so we decided to check that out since we were in the neighbourhood. Well, turns out it wasn’t, really… Actually Castillon was mostly destroyed by some World War II bombardments, and had been reconstructed after the war. Actually, the reconstructed village is kind of like a hybrid between a provencal village and a 1960’s concrete suburb. Not very pretty, basically… We tried in vain to locate the ruins of the old village – but never managed to find it… I suppose the fact that there were no signposts means it’s not worth visiting… We finished off the afternoon by a brief visit to Menton, where we enjoyed a very tasty icecream by the sea… The sun even came out :-)

Saturday was pretty eventless – other than the fact that we went to the beach for the first time this year, after a session of roller skating by the seaside. I even took a dip in the sea – it was actually a fair bit warmer than expected.

Sunday was Finnish mother’s day – so my parents had booked one of our favourite restaurants in Cannes for the occasion. We decided to head into Cannes a bit early, to have a walk around. Thankfully, the forecasted rain did not materialize, although the sky was pretty cloudy. We walked around the Croisette and the Palais des Festivales for a bit to start off, mostly to check out the festival preparations which were already in full swing (the Cannes film festival starts next week). We then made our way up to the famous Cannes fruit & veg market – Marche Fourville. It’s where the best local restaurants (including the one we were going to) get their ingredients – and boy there sure is plenty to choose from… Eventually it was time to go to the restaurant – the Bistrot Gourmand, where we had a really excellent meal. It’s really one of my favourite restaurants on the Cote, unpretentious (and remember, this is Cannes ;-), cozy, and with great service. And of course what’s most important – the food is delicious. Kind of haut cuisine, but not over the top. And excellent value for money (less than 20 euros for a 3-course lunch, that’s a real bargain around here…). And in the best of company, of course ;-)

Back home via Paris and the Alps!

After a few restful days in Angers, it was time to hit the road again. The next stop on the way was beautiful Paris. The main reason for going to Paris was Annabelle's and Bruno's party in Montmartre in the evening, but since there were some people to see before that, we pretty much drove non-stop all the way down to Bagnolet, where we had a rendez-vous with Milene – and of course her and Kamel’s young newly-born son, Nael. Paula also managed to make it. Great to see both of them again, and to finally meet young Nael! (and let's not forget about the tasty cakes Milene served us ;-)

From Bagnolet we sped on to Pantin, where we were going to stay the night, at CoCo’s place. Great to see her, chatty and CoCo-ish as always – preparing for her holiday in Bali (she was flying out the next day). Since the sun was out, we quickly got ourselves ready for the party (which in my case took about 2 minutes – the time to put on a clean shirt basically ;-), and headed out to visit Paris. We decided to have an aperitif before going to the party, so CoCo took us down to the Canal d’Ourcq, a great area with nice bars and restaurants. After a nice hour or so sipping beer by the canal in the sunshine (we once again noted the low average age of the people around us – a bit of a contrast to the Cote d’Azur), we decided it was time to head to the party. A little bit like a late start to the Wappu celebrations (although not quite the same as 1st of May in Kaivopuisto).

Annabelle and Bruno have managed to find what many would consider a dream flat – located pretty much slam-bang in the middle of Montmartre. Doesn’t get much better location-wise than that... The party was great, although we didn’t know all that many people there (apart from Annabelle and Bruno there were Aude and Magaye). The theme of the party was the colour green (impressive how many great “green dishes” our hosts managed to come up with). I had a couple of Cuba libres too many, I reckon, so the way back to CoCo’s flat was all a bit of a haze... Thanks to Annabelle and Bruno for a great party!

Since CoCo had to get up early for her flight to Bali, it meant an early start for us too. So we jumped into the car and headed for our next destination – La Roche sur Foron. La Roche is located in the midst of some of the most stunning Alpine scenery in France, near Annecy in Haut-Savoie. The reason we were making a stop at La Roche was to pay a surprise visit to Flore & Christian (and the younger family members, Melody and Lilian, of course...), who moved there some time ago. We drove pretty much non-stop all the way to La Roche, so arrived in the afternoon. This was also a great opportunity to make acquaintance with the newly arrived family member, Melody, and check out their house. And what a great house it is – rustic and very typical for the area, yet modern, and with a nice, big garden as well as a rather large balcony (with some pretty amazing views over the surrounding landscapes...). Not bad, not bad at all...

After catching up on the latest news, we had a nice walk around town. La Roche is one of the better preserved towns in the French Alps – having managed to keep the historic centre pretty intact and unspoilt. After our quick visit to town, we made our way back to the house - after all that walking our stomachs were grumbling... Christian had prepared a proper Savoyard dinner for us – accompanied by some great local wines of course. So as one says in French: “on s’est bien régalé”. Having chatted some more over a nice digestif (some local stuff, naturally), we were ready for bed. After a good night’s sleep, it was time to say bye-bye, and carry on – last day of the road trip ahead.

After some deliberation, we decided to drive back through Italy, taking the Mont Blanc tunnel and going through Val d’Aosta. It’s apparently not only the quickest, but also most scenic, way back. The drive to the Val d’Aosta is truly a spectacular one, snaking through Alpine valleys, with quite magnificent views over the Alps (including, of course, Mont Blanc). The tunnel, which put as back a hefty 30 Euros or so, is an impressive 11.6 km long. On the other side, we arrived in the chic Italian ski resort of Courmayeur. We quickly drove on, and decided to stop in Aosta, which is the capital of the Val d’Aosta region. Aosta is a pretty interesting town, with a rich history, stretching back all the way to Roman times (unfortunately we didn’t have time to visit any of the Roman monuments). It’s also a bilingual town, like the Val d’Aosta region (both French and Italian are official languages). After a walk around the pleasant town centre, and a tasty pizza slice for lunch, we carried on.

Our journey then took us past Turin, down to the Ligurian coast, and back home to Cagnes from there, hugging the dramatic coastline (and feeling sorry for the poor Italians stuck in traffic going the other way on the motorway). So that put an end to our 10-day road trip through France. So how was the trip, then, in the end? We spent a lot of time behind the steering wheel, and the weather was not always what we had hoped for. But what's more important, we met up with many friends, ate and drank well (as one usually does in this country), and discovered many new interesting places. So all in all, we had a great holiday!