That time of the year again, when one is reminded of one’s age… Well, my birthday is actually on Saint Paddy’s day, but since it’s in the middle of the week, we figured we’d advance the celebration activities to the weekend before.
My cousin Eeva, together with her husband Henkka and little Veeti, were also visiting this weekend, staying at my parents’ place in Antibes. Looks like my parents decided to introduce their visitors to “real French life on the Riviera” by taking them along for their weekly Petanque session. Yep, that’s right, a bunch of Finnish pensioners meet up every Saturday (and Wednesday as well, I believe) for a bit of petanque action (sans pastis though – so kind of cheating if you ask me). So I figured I’d join them this time – after all, I’ve not had a go at Petanque so far. It was all good fun, the basic principle is quite similar to curling, except that the equipment and environment is a bit different. I didn’t contribute much to my teams (composed of my dad, myself and Henkka) our eventual victory, except towards the end, when I even clinched a couple of rounds for our team.
In the evening, the plan was to meet up in Nice, for a beleaguered celebration of me getting yet older. I had received the Pelican Station for the occasion – not one of the fanciest restaurants in Nice, but a suitable place to handle our group of 20+ people. We had a nice mix of people, roughly divided into 3 groups – teachers from CIV & spouses (Julie, Aurelien, Marie, Valerie, Gilles, Claire and Antoine with their families), Finns (Mikko, Eevis, Henkka, Henna, Aki & Petri) and “business lunch/engineers friends” (Ismael, Sarah, Youcef, Naim, Steve). I think that’s everybody ;-).
The proceedings went rather well; the restaurant was able to handle our group pretty well (apart from some fiddling about with the bill). I got some superb presents – Finnish chocolate, a nice shirt, a wine taster set, a bottle of 18 years old Highland Park (now that's what I call vintage whisky!), a “Windows for dummies” book (insider joke – cheers Ismael ;) ) and a really cool tee-shirt (another insider joke – “Como todo, tomo todo, ago todo”)! No complaints about the food either – even if it wasn’t exactly high gastronomy (but what do I care, I am, after all, Mr. “Como Todo”).
After the meal the hardy ones from the group headed on for a couple of drinks in Place Massena. We then had the great honor to be chauffeured back to Cagnes-sur-Mer in Aurelien’s Mini (the old classic version, not the new BMW-powered one). Much to my surprise, I fit rather well on the front seat (even better than in my own beemer).
The next day, we were invited over to Tutta’s place for coffee ‘n cakes (that great Finnish institution). Marjukka, Tutta’s globetrotting sister (I believe they’ve lived in the US, Singapore, Canada and Germany, at least), and her husband Antero were also visiting. Must be about 20 years since I’ve seen them the last time... And we finally got to visit little Veeti as well, cute little boy!
That brought an end to a rather busy weekend!
My cousin Eeva, together with her husband Henkka and little Veeti, were also visiting this weekend, staying at my parents’ place in Antibes. Looks like my parents decided to introduce their visitors to “real French life on the Riviera” by taking them along for their weekly Petanque session. Yep, that’s right, a bunch of Finnish pensioners meet up every Saturday (and Wednesday as well, I believe) for a bit of petanque action (sans pastis though – so kind of cheating if you ask me). So I figured I’d join them this time – after all, I’ve not had a go at Petanque so far. It was all good fun, the basic principle is quite similar to curling, except that the equipment and environment is a bit different. I didn’t contribute much to my teams (composed of my dad, myself and Henkka) our eventual victory, except towards the end, when I even clinched a couple of rounds for our team. 
In the evening, the plan was to meet up in Nice, for a beleaguered celebration of me getting yet older. I had received the Pelican Station for the occasion – not one of the fanciest restaurants in Nice, but a suitable place to handle our group of 20+ people. We had a nice mix of people, roughly divided into 3 groups – teachers from CIV & spouses (Julie, Aurelien, Marie, Valerie, Gilles, Claire and Antoine with their families), Finns (Mikko, Eevis, Henkka, Henna, Aki & Petri) and “business lunch/engineers friends” (Ismael, Sarah, Youcef, Naim, Steve). I think that’s everybody ;-). 
The proceedings went rather well; the restaurant was able to handle our group pretty well (apart from some fiddling about with the bill). I got some superb presents – Finnish chocolate, a nice shirt, a wine taster set, a bottle of 18 years old Highland Park (now that's what I call vintage whisky!), a “Windows for dummies” book (insider joke – cheers Ismael ;) ) and a really cool tee-shirt (another insider joke – “Como todo, tomo todo, ago todo”)! No complaints about the food either – even if it wasn’t exactly high gastronomy (but what do I care, I am, after all, Mr. “Como Todo”). After the meal the hardy ones from the group headed on for a couple of drinks in Place Massena. We then had the great honor to be chauffeured back to Cagnes-sur-Mer in Aurelien’s Mini (the old classic version, not the new BMW-powered one). Much to my surprise, I fit rather well on the front seat (even better than in my own beemer).
The next day, we were invited over to Tutta’s place for coffee ‘n cakes (that great Finnish institution). Marjukka, Tutta’s globetrotting sister (I believe they’ve lived in the US, Singapore, Canada and Germany, at least), and her husband Antero were also visiting. Must be about 20 years since I’ve seen them the last time... And we finally got to visit little Veeti as well, cute little boy!That brought an end to a rather busy weekend!
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