Le train des Merveilles

After seeing off our dear friends on Sunday, Nick still graced us with our presence for a couple of days. I decided to take Monday off to show him some of the sights. After some deliberation, we decided upon taking the Train des Merveilles.

The Train des Merveilles is a touristic train organized by SNCF (the national train company in France), which runs from Nice, down the Roya valley all the way to Tende, on the Italian border. It’s a very scenic train ride indeed, taking in stunning mountain scenery as the train makes its way along the riverbed. We already took the train two years ago with Ollie and Rafa, but it’s a train journey well worth making more than once.

Planning the day is quite important, since there are quite few trains along this particular train line. Due to the train schedules, we decided to get off at Saint-Dalmas (instead of going all the way to Tende), and then take the train back to Breil-sur-Roya, and do a hike there. Getting off at Saint-Dalmas turned out to be a bit of a mistake, since there is actually nothing to see there – maybe apart from the rather impressive train station, built during the Mussolini years before world war II (the reason such an impressive train station can be found in a small village like Saint-Dalmas is that it actually used to be border station on the Italian side until 1947 – when Tende and Saint-Dalmas became French). Thankfully we had only half an hour to wait for a train, which we spent drinking a coffee in a bar we found…

Another train ride later, we got off at Breil-sur-Roya. It’s one of the biggest communes on the train line, and quite a charming village at that. Not perhaps quite as pretty as Tende or Saorge (the places we visited on our last train ride here), but rather picturesque nonetheless, squatted at the bottom of the valley, with imposing mountains as a backdrop.

The plan was to do a hike here, but unfortunately the tourist office was closed for lunch. Thankfully we found a couple of helpful locals, who told us about a short-ish hike around a tower, overlooking the village. We set off straight away, since it was already after noon, and we wanted to have some food before catching our train back to Nice. It was a pretty nice walk, with a rather steep ascent up to the watch tower (which had been restored by the locals). We were greeted to some pretty awesome views over the valley and the village from there. Unfortunately the sky was a little bit overcast by now, so we decided to quickly carry on. An hour or so later we were back at the village.

Before having lunch, we had a quick look inside the Baroque parish church. It was surprisingly impressive on the inside, actually, considering the size of the village. But the building could definitely benefit from a bit of restoration. For lunch, we found a cozy little place at the main square, where we had a perfectly decent three-course meal for 12 Euros – pretty darn good value for money if you ask me… After a relaxing coffee, it was time to catch our train.

We actually had to make our way back via Ventimiglia on the Italian side (there are very few direct trains between Tende and Nice). So since we had to change trains there anyway, we decided to have a quick walk around the old town (after Nick took the opportunity to try to chat up some Japanese ladies). Ventimiglia is more known for its fake goods market and cheap booze, than historic monuments, but the old town is actually pretty charming itself (pretty much every Italian town we’ve been to seems to have a charming old town). We even visited the cathedral – which was pretty nice (although not quite of the same caliber as the churches we’d been overwhelmed by on our recent visit to Tuscany and Umbria).

And then it was time to hop on the train back to Nice! Good day, all in all… Although a bit sunnier weather would’ve been nice…

Reunion in the South of France!

We miss our dear friends from the UK a lot, and decided to try to organize a bit of a reunion weekend in the South of France. We ended up with a quite respectable turn-up, with Flore, Christian, Philippe, Aniko and Nick turning up.

Most of our guests turned up by Friday afternoon, whereas Nick’s trip here was, not to our great surprise, was quite an adventure. First, his flight on Thursday had been cancelled due to the strikes in France. Not to be deterred, Nick managed to get some train tickets for Friday instead (London-Paris-Marseille-Nice – quite a train marathon!). Naturally, this being Nick, he missed his train connection in Paris (he was just too fascinated by something in the Louvre and forgot about his train – Mona Lisa’s smile?). Which meant he arrived 11 o’clock instead of 9. Which annoyed me slightly, since it meant I (the designated driver) had to stay sober for two hours longer than planned ;-).


We had a very enjoyable Friday evening indeed, munching down a quickly improvised dinner, drinking entirely reasonable quantities of alcohol (especially me), catching up on the latest adventures of Philippe (which for once didn’t involve being chatted up by homosexuals), Flore and Christian (which mostly circled around the harsh realities of parenthood) and playing Playstation 2 (I managed to avoid the ultimate humiliation of playing Buzz’s Pop quiz, and only entered the fray when changed to Buzz’s movie quiz, which is definitely more my territory…). After a night of brilliant fun, and a few shots of Mathilde’s grannie’s lethal Calva, we collapsed in bed…

The next day, we had the ambitious plan to do a bit of hiking (Christian’s idea, not mine!). We figured the Cap d’Antibes would be an appropriate little hike for the occasion, especially since the sun was out and the sky was blue. After briskly crossing the old town of Antibes, and enjoying the nice views from the old city walls, we carried on towards Cap d’Antibes. It was pretty much the perfect day for this nice hike, with the bright autumn sun lighting up the turquoise-coloured, crystal-clear Mediterranean. Nick, always the smooth charmer, tried to chat up a lady who was fishing by the tip of the Cap (unfortunately, she was married).

Instead of the normal circular walk, we opted to walk all the way to Juan-les-Pins, and take the train back to Cagnes from there. Our timing was pretty good, since the sky was getting a bit cloudy just as we arrived in Juan-les-Pins. The plan was to stop for a drink there before catching our train, but decided not to in the end, after seeing the rather steep prices on the menus, and the snail-like service…

We really struggled to find a place for dinner, as pretty much all the restaurants in Haut-de-Cagnes were full. In the end, we got a table at Les Baux, a small place just opposite to the castle, where we’d not actually been before. It was a pretty decent little place actually, with good service and some pretty original dishes. This time, we were too nackered after dinner to do much back home, I guess we’re starting to get pretty old…

On Sunday, it was time to say our goodbyes (except to Nick, who was staying a couple of days longer). After dropping off Flore and Christian at the airport, I joined the rest of the gang in Nice, from where Philippe and Aniko were taking their train. Since we had a bit of time before they had to catch their train, we decided to have a nice walk around old Nice. For lunch, we headed for one of the “Nice institutions” near Place Garibaldi for some authentic Nice specialities (like Pissalaier, socca, tart aux blettes, that sort of thing). After some coffee and cake at the sinful Hagendass café in Rue Massena, it was time to say our goodbyes to Philippe and Aniko.

It was still quite early, so we decided to stop by at the Musee des Arts Asiatiques near the airport on the way back. It’s a actually a really cool little museum, one of the nicest one we’ve been to in the region. The building is quite remarkable, designed by the famous Japanese architect Kenzo Tange (most famous for the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum). It just radiates harmony and bliss, located as it is by the big pond at Parc Phoenix. The museum itself houses quite a small collection of art from various parts of Asia (it’s devided into sections for India, Japan, China and South-East Asia). But I think it manages to give quite a good, if superficial, overview of Asian art. There was also a very nice photography exhibition downstairs. We really should participate at one of the tea ceremonies they organize there, one day, as well.

That brought an end to a rather tiring, but brilliant, weekend!

A bit of culture and partying around Grasse

After scarcely any rest after my return from the land of Jutes, it was time to get active again, as this Saturday was the Journées européennes du patrimoine. It’s the day when rather a large number of public buildings and institutions open their doors to the public.

Since we were invited to a party near Grasse for the evening, we decided to go to Grasse for the day. After some quick investigation on the internet, we eventually decided to go Villa Fragonard. This is where the 18th century painter Jean-Honoré Fragonard found shelter after he lost his posh customers to the, er, Guillotine (dangerous times, the end of the 18th century in France…).

Today it houses a bunch of paintings from this apparently rather famous painter (I had naturally never heard of him). Supposedly he had quite a profound influence on the impressionists - personally I didn’t find his art particularly evocative. The nicest thing about the villa was the ornate staircase in the entry hall, if you ask me.... (we also later found out that the museum is open all year around, and can be visited for free!)

After the less-than-overwhelming museum visit, we spent the rest of the afternoon walking around Grasse. It’s true that we’ve been here before quite a few times, but we’ve never really had a proper stroll around the old town before. And we came to the conclusion that it’s pretty nice actually – and a lot more spread out than we’d realized. It’s touristy, sure, but the old town is big enough to have retained some of its authenticity. I suppose a lot of the tourists only make it to the Fragonard perfumery (yes, it was named after the painter) which Grasse is mostly famous for.

After our exploration of Grasse it was time to make our way to the party, which was taking place at Maité’s place, at a village just down the road from Grasse called Plascassier. Maité is a Spanish teacher colleague of Mathilde’s from CIV, and a really cool lady. The party turned out to be quite an international affair, with Marie’s Mexican boyfriend and a couple of Australian friends of Maitee joining the fun (I’m used to being the only foreigner in a lot of the soirees we are invited to here – apart from when my parents invite us over of course!). Which is great, since I kind of miss the cosmopolitan spirit of the South-east of England sometimes… (I suppose it’s what I miss the most from England, actually, apart from maybe the English sense of humor and the pubs!).

Apart from the usual activities (drinking, eating, socializing with nice people, drinking and eating some more), Jay Jay, Marie’s girlfriend also showed us some of pretty amazing whale pictures he’s taken during some of his “business trips” (he’s a marine biologist) with Marie’s “photographer’s wet dream toy” (the Canon EOS5D Mark II) and a rather impressive 100-400mm Canon lens. Good fun listening to the Australian chaps’ adventures cycling around Europe as well.

All in all, great party, then!

Another week in Copenhagen

It was time to head out to Copenhagen again, for work (and hopefully a bit of fun, too!). Unlike last time (when it took me about 18 hours to get from Nice to Copenhagen!), my trip was blissfully trouble-free. I met David, who was travelling in from the UK like last time, and we got a taxi straight to the hotel.

After a rather mundane day at the office, we naturally took the bus into town for dinner (the area where our hotel was located isn’t exactly a great area for going out). This time I had the foresight to check Tripadviser for good restaurants, and we decided to go into the most highly-ranked place which didn’t seem like an over-priced gourmet restaurant. Turns out it was kind of, hmm, French. The atmosphere was, ahem, a bit romantic for two blokes on a business trip, but hey, the food was good so who cares (the bill was quite Copenhagenish though – which is to say expensive).

For Tuesday night, I decided to go to Sweden! Yes, I kid you not. As you may or may not be aware, Malmö, the biggest city in southern Skåne, is just across the Öresund straits. We crossed Öresund last year by car by the impressive bridge that spans it, but this time I decided to take the train. The plan was to meet up with Helen, a Swedish lady I knew waaaay back, in 1997, when I was an exchange student in Dublin (jeez, has it really been that long?). I got back in contact with her through Facebook (how else?). Anyways, we spent a rather pleasant evening, having drinks and dinner at one of the squares in the old town of Malmö. A wee bit chilly to be sitting on the terrace, I must say, but hey I’m Finnish right – can’t show any weakness in front of a Swede ? ;-). I even managed to avoid the taxi fare by getting back in time, and getting the last bus back to the hotel.



One of my department’s other team is actually based in Copenhagen, so we decided to meet up with them for dinner after another ”hard day at the office”. Actually it was more of a case of me and David gate-crashing their team meal (their team leader was visiting from the UK, so…). All in the name of networking – I firmly believe that trust and cooperation is earned through the socially lubricating power of alcohol. In spite of this, Simon refused our request to have “beer menus”. But, nonetheless, we had a nice meal and got to know our colleagues that little bit better, so a nice evening out all in all. We decided to take the train back to the hotel this time – which proved more challenging than expected (David had trouble successfully buying a ticket – and apparently even got charged twice…).

Thursday turned out to be a rather productive day at the office, so we were quite happy hitting town in the evening. We were happy to get a text message from Simon, inviting us to dinner again, this time at Hardrock café. This time we were joined by one of our Chinese sub-contractors, who were kind enough to pick up the bill this time. Thankfully, considering Hardrock café prices… It turned out to be quite a good night out, thanks to / in spite of (I let you pick) the Abba karaoke that was taking place. Thankfully (especially for everybody else around me), I resisted the “insistent requests” to go and sing…

Friday wrapped up a nice week – as our Danish partners had their monthly “beer and table football Friday afternoon”. Which basically involved playing table football, eating chips and peanuts, and drinking beer. Nice way to end the working week, and start the weekend . All in all, it was quite a nice week out in Copenhagen, but I was happy to return to sunny Nice!

Weekend in the Cevennes

We’ve made a bit of a tradition of organizing surprise weekends for each others as birthday pressies, me and Mathilde. So this weekend, it was time for Mathilde’s surprise weekend – about 3 months after her birthday, but hey, better late than never, right?

For this special occasion, I had planned a “botanical walk” for Mathilde – something she’d expressed interest in for some time… After some research, I found an interesting-seeming little hotel in a small town located near Nimes, in the Cevennes. The Cevennes is a sparsely located, hilly region, which is part of the Massif Central.

We headed off a bit after noon from sunny Cagnes, and made good progress, managed to avoid traffic jams, and arrived at our lodgings around 6PM, well in time for dinner ;-). After parking in the main square, we made our way to our bed ‘n breakfast, where we were welcomed by our hostess, a French-American artist/botanist/reporter, called Corine. I don’t know if bed ‘n breakfast is exactly the right word – the house is a real artist’s home, with the decoration being quite a whimsical mix of art, plants she’s collected and framed, and various types of furniture. Definitely not your average type of hotel, that’s for sure. Corine struck me as quite a character as well…

Having checked in, we headed out to explore town. There isn’t all that to see, actually, the main sight being the silk museum (silk used to be the main industry in the Cevennes). So we rather quickly ended up having pastis on one of the bar terraces by the main square. The atmosphere here is definitely different from Provence – the place had quite a “rustic” and “rough ‘n ready” feel (there were a fair few drunkards in the street – reminded me of dear Finland!). It felt rather chilly as well, compared to back home on the Cote. After consuming our aperitif, we made our way to the restaurant that had recommended to us – quite a nice place serving rather interesting dishes (I had frog legs – and yes they did taste a bit like chicken!).

The next morning it was time for the “botanic walk”, which was the main reason for our trip. Corine led the way in her little Peugeot into the Cevennes foothills, to a small village from where we started our hike. We were also joined by a friend of hers, an author, and his cranky old dog.

The walk was, shall we say, rather interesting. Corine clearly knows all about flowers, plants and the like, but isn’t much of a guide, to be honest. We kind of got the impression she didn’t really know where she was going, and that she didn’t have much of a sense of direction (she even asked me which way to go a couple of times! Eh?). Things weren’t helped by our author who just decided to gallop off, leaving the three of us with his not very motivated old dog, who refused to go anywhere without his master. After a bit of sporty hiking, we caught up with our dear author friend, who after some deliberation decided to head back to the village with his four-legged friend (who had obviously had enough).

We eventually reached our objective, a scenic pass with great views over the Cevennes. The place is known for the fact that some resistance fighters were executed there during World War II. The Cevennes was quite a stronghold for the French Resistance, apparently (not surprising – considering how remote the region is). In fact, the Cevennes is also unusual in that it’s one of the few Protestant regions in France (I guess the folks in this part of the world are rebels at heart or something?). After enjoying the views and the sunshine for a while, we made our way back to the village, where we found our author friend sitting at the local bar, having a drink with a few local hunters (which are numerous in this part of the world).

Since our hike took quite a bit longer than expected, all restaurants were basically closed by the time we got back to our village. We did find a little bakery where we bought some pastries to alleviate the hunger… We were also kindly treated to some salad and tasty local specialties back at our B n' B (fair enough, really, if you ask me...). By the time we finished our late lunch, it was a bit late to do much else. We did decide to check out one of the nearby towns, La Vigan, though. Nothing much to see there, although it was a pleasant enough little town with a lively main square – but the drive there and back was pretty scenic. We finished the day with a very nice dinner in a nearby village, Dufort.

After a good night’s sleep, it was time to check out, say bye bye to our hostess, and head off. We did decide to explore the region a bit more before heading back home, though. We started off with a quick walk around Durfort, the village where we dined the night before. It’s a pleasant enough historic village, perhaps a bit less cute than some of the places in neighbourly Provence, but refreshingly un-touristy.

Our next stop was Saint-Jean-du-Gard, a major town of the Cevennes. It’s a pretty nice old place as well, with its well-preserved old town and nice riverside views (as the name suggests, the Gard river crosses the town). We found a delightful little restaurant, with a very nice rooftop terrace, where we stopped for a very pleasant lunch. We were once again struck by the rather good value for money the food represents in this part of the world.

Having sated our appetites, we set the course for our “main destination” of the day; Uzès. We decided to stop shortly at Anduze, yet another picturesque Cevennes town (again with strong protestant traditions), beautifully located in a picturesque gorge (yes, I took quite a few photos). We stopped for a short walk around town and a well-deserved coffee. But time was of essence, so we pressed on for Uzès.

Uzès is an old historic town, which I’ve read good things about on a couple of occasions. And the town is certainly worth the detour. It’s one of the most well-preserved mediaeval towns I’ve been to in France, in that charming nearly Procenvesque way, with its handsome town houses, well-maintained cobble-stone streets and impressive cathedral. There was actually some sort of «ass festival » on during our visit (that would be the animal, of course…). All in all, we spent a very pleasant afternoon visiting Uzès, and checking out all those asses. The cathedral was pretty nice as well, although I think our « church overdose » from our Italian odyssey was still a bit too fresh in our minds for us to be able to appreciate its charms fully. After a very nice ice cream in a cosy teahouse, it was unfortunately time to hit the road for Cagnes.

I can warmly recommend a visit to the Cevennes to anybody who likes getting off the beaten path. Just don’t expect to find much in terms of cultural activities in case it rains...

Tour de la Marbière

After a rather lazy weekend, we figured we ought to do something on the Sunday. In spite of the weather not being the best, we decided to do a hike. We decided on a hike near Grasse, for a change (normally we hike around Vence or towards Greolieres).

The walk started off the Route Napoleon (the famous road, which Napoleon took after his return from exile at the Elba island, from Golfe Juan), and climbs from there towards the highest point, at the not-so-lofty altitude of 895 meters. From there, the footpath took us back down towards Grasse.

This is not one of the most picturesque walks we’ve done on the Cote d’Azur. The bit towards the middle of the walk was quite nice, with pretty nice views around the Grasse hinterland. We should probably have continued walking a bit further away from Grasse, since we could see a couple of footpaths taking us a bit out of the “Urban buzz” of Grasse. As it was, we got to the impression at times of having seen more suburbs than nature.

But anyway, it’s always nice to get out and about, and get rid of a few calories!