Hiking around Vence

We’ve been a bit lazy when it comes to hiking lately... Apart from the hikes we did in Corsica about a month ago, we’ve pretty much done none at all for over half a year. So this Sunday, we decided it was time to get out them dusty hiking boots and get walkin’....

The weather didn’t look all that promising, with a pretty cloudy sky, but we decided to go ahead anyway. We chose a walk near Vence this time, a pretty easy one which takes in the Baou des Noirs and the Baou des Blancs. Baou is a provençal word meaning "rocky spur". The walk started from a small parking on the road heading up the the Col de Vence. The walk up to the Baou des Blancs wasn’t exactly steep, but it was pretty good exercise nonetheless (with our lack of practice ‘n all…). Up on the Baou, we were greated to some nice views over Vence and its surroundings (well, would’ve been, without the haze and clouds…). We also inspected the ruins with interest… Apparently these baous were good places to fortify against invaders during the middle ages, so these places have occasionally been inhabited.

After contemplating the surroundings for a while, we carried across a limestome plateau towards the Baou des Noirs, located towards the East. This Baou is a little bit more impressive than the “white one”, offering very nice views towards Saint-Jeannet. From there, we could actually see all the other three Baous in the area (the Baou des Blancs, which we’d just been to, as well as Le Baou de Saint-Jeannet and Le Baou de La Gaude, which we’ve already hiked up on earlier occasions). The sky had cleared up a bit by now, which helped… After enjoying the view for a while, we retraced our way back to the parking (stopping to devour our picnic lunch).

Since it was still pretty early, we decided to make have a walk around Vence, since it’s on the way back home. I’d only been to the old town once, and on that particular visit, it was raining (which meant the place was pretty much dead). Today was a different story, the place was very busy indeed for a Sunday afternoon – no doubt due to the fact that today is French Mother’s Day. Old Vence is actually very nice, in some ways nicer than the nearby, and more famous St-Paul-de-Vence. Like St-Paul, it’s touristy for sure, but slightly less so. Vence is also a much bigger place, which also makes the old time feel more like a “real place” (there still seem to be a couple of bars where old geezers spend their time downing pastis – not just cutesy restaurants for tourists). After a rather disappointing coffee (since when have they served “cappuccino” with whipped cream on the Cote d’Azur – absolutely shocking!) and an icecream, we hit the road…

All in all, it brought an end to a very nice weekend indeed!

The first BBQ of the year, and dining in Antibes

Busy day ahead of us. First, a BBQ at Sandra’s and Stephane’s place; and then dinner in Antibes with my parents, to celebrate my dad’s birthday (geez, 66 years already, time sure flies!).

For the barbeque, I’d decided to continue my integration into local culture by preparing a Tapenade (Mathilde undertook baking a cake). A tapenade is a very typical local dish, perfect for an aperitif, or why not a BBQ ? It’s basically a dark paste, composed of black olives, anjovis, olive oil and some capers. Sounds pretty simple, right? And actually, thankfully for me, it is! Basically just a case of putting all the ingredients into a mixer, and 5 minutes later you have your tapenade. So even a wannabe chef like me can’t fail here ;-).

The BBQ turned out, not surprisingly, into a bit of a CIV reunion (CIV is the school where Mathilde, and also Sandra and Stephane, teach). In addition to us, Antoine and Claire, Anne, Melanie and her husband (who was, apart from me, the only non-teacher) were present. And too many children to count (especially Antoine has been a busy man in that department). It was good fun, actually. I mean, all it takes for me to enjoy myself is good food and drink; both of which was available in abundancy! But I also found the political intrigue and gossip of CIV rather entertaining (my company is positively boring in comparison!).

Anyways, quite a few grilled sausages, lamb cutlets, meat skewers, and glasses of wine later (all enjoyed in glorious sunshing – the summer truly is here!), it was regretfully time to head back home, not to miss our appointment in Antibes.

My parents had booked a restaurant called Le Taverne du Safranier, a place we’ve wanted to go to for quite a while. It’s located in the area called, not surprisingly, Safranier. It’s quite a special little place, located on the periphery of the old town. It’s a “free community” of artists and free thinkers, apparently they even have their own mayor. Not sure how official that is, but anyway, it’s a lovely part of Antibes, with its cobble-stone streets and flower-covered houses. The restaurant is beautifully located on the “main square” of Safranier, with a large terrace (where we naturally sat down). Before the meal, we had time to spend a bit of time walking around Safranier, and enjoy the nice views from the city walls overlooking the sea...

After the meat-feast I’d had earlier in the day, I decided to have fish this time. Unfortunately, I wasn’t really able to appreciate the fish, due to my stomach still being somewhat bloated by the BBQ... But we passed a very pleasant evening nonetheless, and the wine was good!


After the meal, we decided to enjoy the warm evening and have a drink... We opted for the somewhat unimaginatively named Café de la Porte du Port, located (you guessed it), next to the main gate leading from the port into the old town. It’s where my parents go with the other expatriate Finns after their weekly petanque sessions. A Guinness later, it was time to catch our train, after saying our goodbyes to my parents (not only were we having an early birthday celebration for my dad, they were also going back to Finland where they spend their summers in a couple of days’ time...).

Long weekend in the Ardèche

A few weeks ago, our good friends Sandra and Stephane mentioned to us that they wanted to attend a conference with rather a lofty subject; democracy, in the Ardèche department (located just a 2 ½ hours drive from here). So we decided to make use of the opportunity and join them to explore this part of France we’ve never been to (the plan for us would be to concentrate on the exploration part, and not participate in the conference...).

So now was the time to finally go. We wanted to leave early Saturday morning (to avoid traffic jams, this being a long weekend in France), and managed to hit the road at about 9:30. The roads were pretty clear (apart from some traffic jams around Aix-en-Provence), and we arrived in Ardèche only about an hour late... However, this did pose a bit of a dilemma, since we hadn’t had lunch yet. So for Sandra and Stephane, it meant a touch choice: lunch or conference. They opted for the lunch option; so we ended up stopping in Bollène, not far from Orange. We found a nice little bistrot at the main square, where we enjoyed a rather tasty lunch in the glorious sunshine.

Our appetites sated, we continued towards the Ardèche. We decided to start our exploration by visiting what Ardèche is most famous for; its gorges. Our visit started at Vallon-Pont-d'Arc, located just at the threshold of the famous gorges. It’s a pleasant enough little historic town, with a rather picturesque town hall (the entrance hall with its staircase is particularly pleasing to the eye), and plenty of shops to keep the tourists happy.

After our brief visit of the town, we headed out of town to check out the main attraction, Pont d’Arc. This natural wonder is a natural bridge, 45 meters high and 65 meters wide, spanning the width of the Gorges des Ardèche. It’s truly a sight to see...







It’s a pretty popular place for kayaking, for kind of obvious reasons, so me and Stephane naturally decided to join the other children and have a go... It was all great fun, especially for people watching us, no doubt. It’s one of those sports that looks so easy when you know what you’re doing. We clearly didn’t – so ended up following the river in a rather unimpressive zigzagging manner (thankfully it’s a wide river!). Well, at least we didn’t make the canoe capsize, and managed to avoid accidents (in spite of some near-misses and, it must be admitted, a couple of minor collisions). But the main thing is we had a lot of fun, nobody got hurt, and it amounted to pretty good exercise for us too! After this bit of physical activity, we hit the road, following the gorges back towards the motorway, taking in the stunning views. The Ardèche gorges are perhaps less imposing than the Gorges du Verdon which are closer to where we live, but are nonetheless quite stunning (the limestone cliffs reach a height of 300 meters in some places).

After a couple of false turns (thankfully we’d brought the GPS), we eventually found our lodgings, located in the village of Maltaverne, in the neighboring Drôme department. We had made a good choice, I feel, the place had a real authentic Provencal feel to it. The lady put as at ease straight away, as we joined the other guests for a very cozy and rustic dinner. What I especially liked about the dinner was that pretty much everything we ate and drank was local produce (including the impressive selection of aperitifs we sampled).

After a good night’s sleep, and a filling breakfast, it was time to continue our exploration of the region. We decided to start off by visiting the nearby town of Grignan. It’s a typically picturesque Provencal town, with its ancient cobble-stoned town centre. The main tourist attraction its historic castle, dating back to the 12th century. It’s perhaps mostly famous for the fact that a certain Madame de Sévigné spent a couple of years of her life here. She’s mostly famous for her 30-years old correspondence with her daughter. Not sure about the letters, but the castle was a pretty interesting one to visit. After another short walk around the charming town, we decided it was time to head off again – as Sandra and Stephane had their conference to attend to again ;-).

So we crossed the motorway back into the Ardèche department, heading for the village of Saint-Pons, where the conference was taking place. Alas, lunch turned out to be a problem again, since we failed to find any place serving food on the way. Turned out the only option was the Mere Biquette, a place a few kilometers from the village. Once more, faced with a tough choice, Sandra and Stephane opted for the food option. The restaurant was a bit of a disappointment, in spite of a rather stunning location, sat in isolation in a picturesque valley. The problem was mostly the rather arrogant waiter, who seemed to find our presence rather inconvenient. On the plus side, we got to try some local cuisine. I had a maouch, a kind of Archechois haggis (I did prefer this over the Scottish variety, it must be said…).

From Saint-Pons, we headed onwards to Aubenas, which is one of the major towns of the Ardèche department. We started our visits by checking out the town hall, for which the town is quite famous for. It actually used to be a castle, built in the 14th century. Since then its façade has been spruced up over the centuries, and today it’s certainly a rather splendid building (it reminds me of some of the buildings we saw in Dijon, with its multi-coloured tiled rooftop). After our quick bout of sight-seeing, we decided we deserved a coffee and some crepes.

From Aubenas, we carried on towards the north, crossing the pretty spa town of Vals-les-Bains. Our next stop was Antraigues-sur-Volane, which is, according to our guidebook, the Saint-Tropez of the Ardèche. Quite a few celebrities have lived there over the years, including Lino Ventura (my favorite French-Italian gangster actor) and Jean Ferrat – a famous French singer who died just a few weeks ago (and who’s actually buried in this village).

The village is quite a beautiful little place, rather stunningly located in a lush valley, with its cobble-stone streets and cute houses. Kind of like Provence, really… After paying our respects at Mr. Ferrat’s grave, and a leisurely drink on the main village square, we carried on (we were getting hungry again!).

Since it was a Sunday evening (on the Pentecote weekend), we were a bit worried about finding a place to eat, so decided to try our luck in Privas. Since it’s one of the main towns of the Ardèche, we figured we’d definitely find some place open. Alas, ‘twas not easy. None of the places in our guidebook even existed anymore! We ended up dining in a rather humble bistrot. But it was a pleasant enough place, with better service than we had for lunch ;-). Our appetites sated, we headed back to our lodgings to catch a bit of sleep.

After another delicious breakfast, we paid our bills to our gracious hostess, and hit the road. We started the day by visiting Viviers, a town we’d passed through the other day, which had seemed like a nice place to visit. An interesting fact about Viviers – the cathedral it’s famous for is the smallest one in France. And a rather stunning building it is, overlooking the rest of the town, perched on its hilltop. The views from the hilltop were very nice indeed. Unfortunately we couldn’t visit the cathedral, as it was closed. But we nonetheless enjoyed our visit very much; strolling around the narrow streets, we nearly had the impression of going back in time.

From Viviers, we carried on to Alba-la-Romaine, yet another pretty little village, famous mostly for Roman-era archeological remains, including a theatre, which is still in use. The site is of the type which require rather a lot of imagination, since not a whole lot built by the Romans remains. And the theatre has been partly rebuilt, although some of the original stonework still remains.

Our next objective was once more food, with the additional objective to find a vineyard for some wine tasting. We found a very nice place indeed for lunch in another picturesque village called Valvigneres. It was just perfect – with a sunbathed terrace, tasty and generous local dishes. Washed down with some local wine. A perfect final meal for our trip. And we even found a vineyard in the nearby village of Intras, for a tasting session. After trying out a few different flavors, we settled on a couple of bottles of rose, and a few bottles of red. Nice way to end a great weekend!

From the stars of the Croisette to the fishermen of Marseille

Barely had we seen off the last visitors, when new ones where already here. This time it was the turn of my brother Janne and his girlfriend Katja to grace the Cote d’Azur with their presence. They were planning to do a bit of inter-railing, and started their journey here.

It so happens that the Cannes film festival was on as well, so a visit to gliz and glamour of the Croisette naturally imposed... Mathilde had managed to acquire some tickets to the Quinzaine des Realisateurs – the Director’s fortnight. It’s a bit less glamorous than the official selection, although it is also frequented by the odd celebrity (last year, Francis Ford Coppola presented his latest movie there, and this year Mick Jagger paid a visit). We opted for a Danish movie called Alting bliver godt igen (Everything Will Be Fine). Before the movie, we had a nice sandwich, enjoying the sunshine on the beach. The movie itself was pretty good, with a plot very similar to Scorsese’s Shutter Island, actually. But in a bit more everyday format. An entertaining one and a half hours, all in all. After the movie, we had to rush back to the train station to catch our train, so no time for celebrity-spotting, then…

On Wednesday, my brother and Katja were heading towards Provence, from where they were planning to carry on to Barcelona. So I decided to join them for the day to Marseille, which is conveniently on the way. The plan (rather ambitious, considering that 4 members of my family were involved ;-) was to leave from my flat at 9 o’clock. In the end, we left Cagnes at 9:30, pretty good going actually. Thankfully, the grey skies of the Alpes Maritimes turned to blue skies and sunshine by the time we arrived in Marseille.

Having parked, we made our way to the old port, which is naturally the focal point of Marseille. The plan was to have lunch, and then head for a boat trip to the Calanques. Keen to tick off yet another tourist cliché/must-do-experience, we decided to go for a Bouillabaisse, a true Marseilles culinary institution. Since we were in a bit of a hurry to catch our tour, we ended up having our Bouillabaisse in the 1st place serving it we found on the port. It was quite a chic place, and the prices were, shall we say, rather heavy on the wallet. But, we didn’t complain, since I think we were really treated to the real thing. Bouillabaisse is a kind of fish soup made of various fishes and shellfish, with plenty of spices. What makes it different from normal fish soup is the fact that it’s kind of served in two parts. First, you have the broth (without the fish meat) together with bread croutons, garlic and mayonnaise. And then you have the fish meat with potatoes and vegetables. It’s a veritable feast that I can whole-heartedly recommend to anybody. And a very filling meal as well – none of us even fancied a dessert…

Having filled our stomachs, it was time to visit “hit the sea”. Our boat tour took us out of the old port (giving us very nice views over the old port and of Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde, the famous church overlooking the port), past the equally reputable Chateau d’If (it is a prison fortress located on an island, made famous by Alexander Dumas’ The Count of Monte Christo). From there, we headed west towards Cassis, to discover the famous Calanques. The word Calanque has its origins in Corsican, and means inlet. Basically the calanques are a series of bays dotting the coastline between Marseille and Cassis, overlooked by some imposing cliffs. Our tour took in 12 in total, of very differing shapes and sizes. Some of them house very picturesque beaches, others house cozy looking restaurants. The last one in fact houses the pleasure port of Cassis.

All in all, it made for a very nice couple of hours on the boat, especially since the weather was perfect for this kind of trip. Although, it has to be said, the waves were quite menacing going back to Marseille. Good thing none of us were prone to sea-sickness. I did see a few people “re-decorate” the boat, and quite a few people ending up soaking wet, refusing to leave their prime spots on the deck. But people took it all with good humour.

The way back to Cagnes turned out to be a bit painful. After some all-too hurried goodbyes to Janne and Katja, wishing them luck for their inter-railing adventure, I ran back to the train station to catch my train, and did arrive at the station in time. But alas, for some reason the damn ticketing machine wouldn’t sell me a ticket for that particular train. So I ended up taking the next one, which was in, 2 hours…. Good thing I brought a good book, eh? ;-) Anyway, all in all, it had been a very nice day out with the family.

Visit from Lyon

I didn’t have much time to rest after my week in England, since we had some visitors from Lyons over for the weekend. Karine is an old friend of Mathilde from Alencon, where she grew up. We paid her, Johan and little Lucas a visit a few months ago in Lyon during our last little road trip. So now it was time to return the favour....

We started off Saturday with a proper solid breakfast, consisting of freshly baked baguette, croissants and a beignet (kind of similar to a Finnish "munkki")... Our stomachs full, we headed out to explore beautiful Cagnes-sur-Mer. Since the weather looked promising, we decided to head for the seaside. Unfortunately, the sky became overcast pretty quickly, so we weren’t really able to enjoy “a day at the beach”. Nonetheless, perhaps feeling the need to impress, I decided to have a "refreshing" swim in the sea (this act of foolishness probably explains the cold I have right now?)... After a coffee at the Neptune, we decided to head back to the warm confines of our house, since the weather started to get yet more menacing, with howling winds and even some raindrops appearing...

For dinner, we pondered various options such as restaurant, ordering pizza. In the end Mathilde kindly baked us a delicious pizza. Which we washed down with some nice wine, finishing off with some of Mathilde’s nan’s delicious eau de vie (always a great success!).

On Sunday, we again pondered various options for lunch.... We decided on the pedestrian promenade by the beach in Saint-Laurent du Var in the end. We don’t go there very often, but it’s a pretty nice place to have a walk, and there are certainly plenty of options for a relaxed Sunday lunch. In the end, we ended up in a pretty nice Provencal restaurant, serving local cuisine for quite a reasonable price. The sun made a bit of a more impressive showing than on the day before, so all in all it was a very pleasant way to end Karine’s and Johan’s visit – and also to celebrate Karine’s birthday (which was today).

Back to Blighty

It was time again for my regular visit to the UK. As usual, I arrived at London Heathrow on Monday morning, ready for a week of hard work (and a beer or two, goes without saying). Much to my delight (and slight surprise), I was greeted by sunshine for a change.

After a hard day of work, I hopped on the train for London Waterloo, for my customary London night out. This time, Chie had booked a Cuban restaurant just next to Waterloo called Cubita. Most of the usual suspects were there; meaning Nick, Chie, Geoff and Sinhung. Rasmus, our colleague from Copenhagen, also came along, as well as a Danish friend of his who lives in London. The Cuban soiree was predictably good fun, with Mojitos, daiquiris and some great food spicing up the proceedings.

After the meal, we naturally headed down to the local pub, where we ended up participating in the pub quiz (it’s been a while since I did one of those...). We split into two teams, and having only one Briton per team (information / general knowledge that does not have a direct bearing on UK events or culture are next to useless in pub quizzes, hence teams made up of foreigners tend to get rather badly humiliated...), did predictably badly... (although in our defence it must be said we didn’t come last!). A train ride later, I was soundly a sleep on an inflatable mattress in Sinhung’s flat).

For Tuesday evening, my boss Steve had pencilled in a team curry & beer night. It was pretty appropriate since we had a big two-days training event for the whole team which ended on Tuesday – so it was kind of a nice conclusion to that. After a few pints in the Oatsheef in Fleet, we headed next doors for a curry (can’t remember the name of the place now...). It was all good fun, meeting new faces and catching up with old colleagues.

The next day, it was time to relocate to London after 2 peaceful nights spent in Fleet (after a productive day at the office, of course!). This time, the plan was to meet up with Ed. The original plan was to meet up where he works in Canary Warf, but due to the train schedules, it proved a bit too ambitious, so we ended up meeting up for dinner near Waterloo instead. After an “aperitif” (= a pint in the UK) at the good ole’ Fire Station (just next door’s to the train station), and some indecisive wandering around, we ended up in a rather classy fish restaurant called Livebait. Not the type of place I normally end up during my trips to the UK, but hey it made for a nice change. Samy, who works in my team, also joined us after a rather long day at the office. No complaints about the food at all, top marks all around – although it was a bit heavy on the wallet, it must be said... Ed then offered to drive me down to his flat in his new car. Having said Ed’s previous cars, I sort of half-jokingly asked if the Maserati parked in the street was his “new toy”, and imagine my surprise when it turned out it actually was! So, I got to experience my first ride in an Italian sports car, then.... Quite a classy little beast, it must be said. Nice flat he’s acquired as well in Peckham; where we discussed life, cinema, politics (a new government had just been formed, after all...) over a couple of glasses of wine - the usual.....

Getting to work from Peckham is a bit of a pain, it must be said (and not easy on the wallet either – the train prices are even more extortionate than they were when I lived there...). Bus to Waterloo, train to Farnborough, and then the shuttle bus to Southwood.... Oh well, at least I had a good book to read. After another day of blood, sweat ‘n tears at the office, it was time to head off to Guildford for the last night out of the week. I was already kind of looking forward to a quiet night out in the Stoke with Phil (him being the only one who was confirmed for going to the pub), until Simo gave me a ring, announcing his readiness for “a pint or two”. So there you go... Good to see Steve as well, it’s been ages.... A pity Simo couldn’t convince Zuzi, his dear lady friend, to come out. Anyways, great to catch up. Looks like both Simo and Steve are (like most people I used to know) on their way out of the UK – Simo to the Czech Republic and Steve to Hungary.... Soon there won’t be anybody in Guildford I can go to the pub with, what’s that all about then?

That pretty much brought an end to this visit to the UK. Well, Sinhung did manage to talk me into a pub lunch with the colleagues on Friday (well it’s not like he needed to twist my arm or anything...) at the Crab & Anchor. Well, the pub lunch was actually missing from the “English things to do every time I cross the channel” list.... I even had a Kangoroo steak, so I even ventured into unknown culinary territory...

Charlie Chaplin in Monaco

We don’t normally go to Monaco very often. But due to various reasons, we’ve been there for the last two weekends. And for this weekend we had tickets for a rather special event at Grimaldi forum for Saturday night. They were showing City Lights, a truly classic Charlie Chaplin film; one of the funniest films I’ve ever seen, with the Monaco Philharmonic orchestra providing the soundtrack. Obviously, an event not to be missed.

My parents were back in France together with Tutta, so we got them tickets as well. Due to the schedule, dinner in Monaco before or after the concert-cum-cinema was out of the question, hence we decided to invite the gang over for an aperitif/light dinner to our place. Shopping turned out to be a bit of a challenge, since today was “Victory day” (hence most shops were closed)), but we managed in the end.... A few drinks, and with relatively filled stomachs, we hit the road for Monaco in my parents trusty Scenic.

The event itself was brilliant. The movie really is a true comedy gem, I can’t remember the last time I laughed so hard in a movie... And the live music kind of added an extra dimension to the proceedings. Truly a worthwhile event, I hope they do more of those in the future...

Monaco Historic Grand Prix

Monaco is of course first and foremost known for its Formula 1 Grand Prix. I went to the race a couple of years ago; but haven’t gone since, since I think paying 70 euros for sitting on a muddy slope watching cars (from very far away) go by, without having any idea about who’s winning the race is taking the pi** a bit. And I’m not willing to pay in the neighbourhood of 300 euros for a “proper ticket” either.

This year, however, I was seriously considering getting a ticket for the historic grand prix, though, which takes place a couple of weeks before the real grand prix, figuring it might be a reasonably priced, nice day out. But in the end I decided not to go for it… However, Mathilde actually spotted a notice on the web with somebody giving out two free tickets for the grand prix. After quite a few ifs and buts (we weren’t first in the line for the tickets), we eventually got our paws on them! So after a quick detour to La Gaude Sunday morning, we were set to go.

We arrived about 10:30, having just missed the first race (there were seven races in total, with cars from different eras). What followed was a pretty nice day out, actually. I saw five races altogether (Mathilde had enough after four), with Formula 1 cars dating all the way back to the 1930’s, all the way until the early 70’s… it was pretty interesting watching how the cars have evolved over the years. A bit scary watching the guys race in the really old cars, not a lot of protection there for the driver in case of an accident…

All in all, it was quite a pleasant event, with a very different atmosphere from the actual formula 1 race. Here, the audience was a bit of a mixture of families with young kids, old motor sports enthusiasts, and the “odd curious” bystander like me and Mathilde. All pretty laid back… The races themselves were actually quite exciting, with a lot more overtaking than in “real” formula 1! And the races were actually pretty serious, there were even a couple of accidents (one pretty bad-looking one, where one of the victims got pissed off enough to get out of his car and punch the other guy!). Didn’t know any of the race drivers, but there were a few ex-formula 1 drivers, a formula 3 champion and I think a son or nephew of the legendary, late, Jim Clark.

All in all, then, it was a pretty good day out, and a lot lighter on the wallet than the real race ;-).