Jukkis visiting!

Barely had my parents seen off their last bunch of visitors, when a new one turned up at their doorstep. This time it was my cousin Jukka-Matti’s turn to enjoy a bit of Riviera springtime weather. Jukkis is a very keen diver, so I figured it was the perfect opportunity to get a bit of diving done myself. We decided to go for Le Cave de Lido at Cap Ferrat again (last time we had some issues finding the place…).

This time we found the place, possible since Merlin joined us this time ;-). It was a pretty cool dive, with somewhat warmer water than last time. The viz was very good at the surface, but it got a bit murky down at 30 meters (but still a fair bit better than the UK visibility I’m used to!). The cave was pretty cool, with plenty of little sponges, urchins and other vertebrae growing on the rocks (good thing Merlin brought his torch…).

There wasn’t a lot of fish to be seen unfortunately (a sign of the Med being well overfished, I suppose, although apparently the stormy weather from the day before had made things worse as well…), but we did spot a couple of “Scorpionfish-like fish” (can’t remember what Merlin called them now). A good dive, then!

After lunch at our place we headed down to the beach to enjoy that Riviera springtime sun a bit more. In fact, it was the first swim of the year in the sea for us. Very refreshing – definitely feels like the summer is here!

For the evening, the plan was to celebrate daddy’s birthday (a few days in advance, since my parents are heading off to Finland in a couple of day’s time). My parents had booked a nice cozy restaurant from the Antibes old town for the occasion, called Le Brulot. It’s quite a nice little place, a really “rustic” and traditional French restaurant. The menu is perhaps not very creative or original, but I liked the no-nonsense style and lively atmosphere. A pity they don’t have a terrace, would’ve been nice to enjoy the warmth outside. Still, we had a very nice night out, and good to see Tutta again as well!

Festival time @ Cannes

Like every ear, Mathilde managed to acquire a few tickets for the “la quinzaine des realisateurs” – one of three “main” festivals taking place during the Cannes film festival. Since we’d been rather busy the last couple of weeks, we hadn’t actually had time to go and see any films until the very last day of the festival. We also had a couple of spare tickets, so Henna and Aki joined us for the cinema action.

We headed into Cannes a bit before the screening, to take in a bit of “bling bling” action in Cannes. I didn’t have very high hopes for seeing any celebrities though – hadn’t seen one so far…

And this time seemed no different – we didn’t see anybody surrounded by paparazzi on our way to the cinema screening. We didn’t really know what film we were supposed to see actually, other than that it was supposed to be the winner of the “la quinzaine”. Turns out the film was a Swedish flick called “Play”. The flick tells the story of a bunch of nice, straight Swedish teenagers who get terrorized by some big, nasty immigrant teenagers who nick their mobile phones and generally make their life hell. Not sure what the message of the film was, to be honest (on the one hand, it’s got a pretty authentic feel, but on the other hand it sort of does reinforce some cultural stereotypes…), but I suppose it could be characterized as “interesting” at least. But not one of the best films I’ve seen at Cannes (and that’s even though the films at the “quinzaine” are a little bit hit-and-miss).

After the movie, the plan was to head down to our favorite Cannes restaurant, Le Bistrot Gourmand” for dinner. On the way there, we actually an authentic celebrity on the Croisette - one of the Bogdanoff twins (hmm, either Igor or Grichka). The Bogdanoff brothers were famous TV-stars in France during the 80’s, but unfortunately engaged in a bit too much plastic surgery during the 90’s. The end result can be seen today… Scary stuff!

The Bistrot Gourmand was actually a little bit disappointing. I mean don’t get me wrong, it’s still a cozy restaurant with a pretty original menu. But somehow, the quality of their food doesn’t reach the level of their aspirations. And at 29 Euros for a 3-course menu, it’s not that good value for money either. But anyway, I don’t want to sound too negative – at the end of the day we ate well and had a very nice time, that’s the main thing. I just have a recollection of the food having been better on our previous visits.

We finished our stay in Cannes with a bit more celebrity watching (didn’t see anybody famous though), before catching out train back home. Good night out, altogether!

Joel and Francoise visiting

After their week of hiking in the Drôme, the plan was for Francoise and Joel to come and visit us on the Cote d’Azur. They’d rented a place in Villeneuve-Loubet, just down the road from where we live.

On Sunday, we decided to do a quick visit to Italy, which is something we’ve not done so far witht them. After some contemplation, we decided to head for what must rate as one of my favorite restaurants in Italy, even anywhere! The place in question is Il Giardino, in the picturesque Ligurian village Vallebona. The concept is rather simple – you pay 30 Euros, and they bring you HUGE amounts of food, and as much wine as you can handle. Here’s what I mean by huge amounts: about 9 antipasti, 3 plates of pasta, 3 plates of meat, and a desert. So basically, you won’t leave the place hungry (in fact, no point to bother about dinner either).




The meal was as tasty as ever (simple, but tasty. It’s not a place to go for in case you are into “haut cuisine”). Especially the antipasti were a real delight. I think I had even more to eat than usually, since I now had to finish not only Mathilde’s plates, but also Francoise’s and Joel’s. Well, it’s a hard job, but somebody’s gotta do it, right…? It was a lively day at Il Giardino, since somebody’s first communion was being celebrated at the table next to ours (added a nice “Italian touch” to the proceedings). After the meal, we had a quick tour around the village – it’s a typical Ligurian mountain village, but a refreshingly untouristy one. The views over the valley the village overlooks are pretty nice, as well.

After Vallebona, we made our way to another pretty little Ligurian village we like very much indeed, Dolceacqua (“soft waters”). It’s a very picturesque little place, with a river running through it (with a very photogenic bridge connecting the new part of town to the old village). Dolceacqua is a little bit touristy, it has to be admitted, but nothing like say Saint-Paul de Vence on the other side of the border (they do share one trait – apart from being pretty old villages – a lot of artists seem to have made both villages their homes). After sending some time to admire the tidy (for Italy!) cobble-stone streets and well-kept houses (and taking pictures of the famous bridge, of course), it was time to head back towards France.

On the way back, we did stop in Menton, which is a rather pleasant little seaside town right on the French side of the border. The Italian influence is very noticeable here, from the architecture and pastel-coloured houses, to the plates on a lot of the cars parked here, to the smattering of Italian that can be heard everywhere. It’s got a pretty nice seaside promenade, where we enjoyed the setting sun, admiring the azure-blue Mediterranean…

The rest of the week took on a rather pleasant routine, with Mathilde spending time with Joel and Francoise as her schedule allowed her to, and me joining for the odd lunch and most dinners (handily, their apartment was just down the road from where I work). The weather was very pleasant, so we could dine outside each time…

On Thursday, we’d been invited for dinner at my parents’ place in Antibes. My parents had been rather busy that week, since the “gang from Karis” (relatives of mine from Finland) was visiting (all 10 of them!), having rented a villa in Biot. So, on Thursday, it was time for the big get-together… After some logistical problems (somebody had parked in my parents parking space, and Mats didn’t have quite as good a sense of direction as he thought, and no GPS either, etc.) everybody finally arrived, and we could start with the aperitif (champagne, what else?).

It was quite an international gathering, with Finnish, Swedish, English and French being spoken often all at the same time, but it all ended up being a very lively and pleasant meal. The food and wine was as tasty as always. It was great to meet the old Karis gang again, they are a very lively and friendly lot, that’s for sure!

Friday night was Francoise’s and Joel’s last night on the Cote d’Azur. Since the weather was still very nice, we decided a nice little barbeque would be the perfect way to finish off their visit. I was tasked with getting the fire going, a task from which I believe I acquitted myself rather well in the end… The food was tasty with the usual tasty French BBQ fare (merguez and cipolata sausages, some lamb chops – and OK a bit of veg as well…). I hope this won’t offend Finnish sausage fans, but I have to admit that a French merguez sausage beats the “HK bleu” hands down…

Sad to see Joel and Francoise off again, but it shan’t be long before we shall visit them in Angers!

Hiking in the Drome

After but one night of rest after another hard day of work in sunny Southwood, it was time for us to hit the road again. This time the plan was to meet up with Joel and Francoise in the Drome department for a bit of hiking.

The Drome is located kind of between Provence and Lyon, the parts we visited during the weekend being part of the “Drome Provencal” – and the villages and landscapes do indeed have much in common with Provence. We were staying at a small village called Villeperdix, located above the rather impressive Gorges of Saint-May. Mathilde had managed to find a totally charming Bed and Breakfast for the ridiculous price of 30 euros per night (that same place would’ve cost at least the double in nearby Provence).

We arrived in the early afternoon, and decided to do a bit of exploration of the region, since Joel and Francoise hadn’t arrived yet. We drove down to nearby Remuzat, which is a bit bigger (passing by the dramatically perched village on Saint-May on the way, overlooking the gorges from its lofty heights). We spent a leisurely afternoon walking down its charming streets, as well as having an ice cream in one of the local cafes. It’s a pretty nice little village, but falls a bit short of the level of cuteness to be seen in some of the more famous Provencal villages.

We made it back for dinner with Joel, Francoise, and their hiking group. Great to meet everybody, and the meal was a real delight!

After a good night’s sleep, it was time to get to work. We’d signed up for a bit of an unusual hiking experience, as we were hiking with a group of disabled people. For this purpose we needed to master the Joëlette, a specially designed wheel chair for hiking. It’s a pretty impressive and practical piece of engineering actually, as it can navigate some very challenging terrain and obstacles. All this was made apparent during our morning session, when we trained in the village, taking on various obstacles and challenges (fallen tree trunks, narrow passages, steps, and the like). And boy, was it hard work...! But as we would find out in the afternoon, it was a very crucial exercise indeed.

The hike itself took us up to the hilltop next to the village. And this was REALLY hard work... I think our hike only had about 350 meters of height difference, but it felt like a hell of a lot more, pushing that Joëlette up the hills. Thankfully, my partners Bernard and Emmanuel had more experience than me, and gave me a lot of useful feedback during the day.

Towards the end of the hike I felt I nearly mastered the Joëlette. As I said before, all the training we’d had in the morning sure came in handy, as we encountered most of the obstacles in “real life” as well. I have to say it was an extremely rewarding experience, all in all. It was very good exercise, that’s for sure, but it felt nice to help people as well. I’m full in admiration for this group of people, who do this thing during their weekends and holidays, at their own expense. But I can also understand what motivates them. And no complaints about the views either, this region really is fantastically beautiful, the views over the gorges with the village of Saint-May overlooking them were particularly stunning.

We finished off a very hard but rewarding day with another extremely tasty dinner – this time we were treated to a couscous. And as always in France, the food was accompanied with some equally tasty wine (including some from Loic’s, Joel’s and Francoise’s neightbours, vineyard). I also got to taste some very tasty eau-de-vie (two different kinds, actually). Great to get to know the people a bit better as well – we felt kind of wistful leaving them the next day...

But alas, we had to go back to work, so back we had to head on the Monday. We did have a bit of time for some more touristy action on the way though, since we had all day to drive back to the Cote d’Azur. Or drive took us along the gorges again, down to Buis-les-Baronnies, which is one of the main towns in this area (known as the Baronnies). I think we were also treated to some views of Mont Ventoux on our way there, as well. Anyway, Buis-les-Baronnies is quite a charming little town, typically Provencal I would say (even though we were still in the Drome...), the highlight being the main town square with its pastel-colored houses, I suppose.

From there, we decided to pop over into Vaison-la-Romaine (which is located in the “real Provence”, in the Vaucluse department). Vaison is basically divided into two parts by the river Oueveze. There is the medieval town, dramatically perched on top of the hill-top, and the modern town, connected to the medieval town by an ancient bridge, dating all the way back to the 1st century AD.

The modern town actually has some rather impressive Roman ruins, but we decided not to visit those (after all, barely two weeks had passed since our visit to Pompeii, and Mathilde is coming back here later this summer on a school trip, so...). So off we went to the medieval town then, climbing up the cobble-stoned streets. It’s quite a charming little town, and refreshingly (and surprisingly) untainted by tourist shops and the like. We made our way all the way to the top, to the medieval castle (which was unfortunately closed to visitors).

After taking in the stunning views, we made our way back towards our car, stopping for a very tasty lunch in a small and charming eatery we found on the way. A perfect end to a very nice weekend indeed!

A long weekend in London

It’s been a while since me and Mathilde have spent a weekend in London. So since I had another work-related trip to the U.K. coming up, we decided to take the opportunity to combine it with a long weekend in London (it fit in nicely since Monday was a bank holiday in England). And, before you ask, yes it was a complete coincidence that our visit coincided with “the big wedding” (we didn’t get invitations…).

We booked a nice hotel near the Tower of London, which is a pretty good base for exploring London (well, it would’ve been, except that the Circle and District lines were shut all the way up from Embankment to Tower Hill tube station…). But, aside from that, no complaints at all about the hotel.

I joined Mathilde in Embankment, having caught the Heathrow Express to Paddington and then the tube for a bit of shopping. After checking into our hotel, it was time for a bit of dinner. We decided to head down to Farringdon (no particular reason – but I had a recollection it’s a pretty good area for bars, pubs and restaurants). Farringdon was oddly enough pretty quiet this particular Friday (perhaps most Londoners had left town due to the long weekend?), but we eventually found a nice and lively little Belgian pub called Dovetail (although funnily enough the bar staff was all Portuguese – that’s London for you I suppose). A few Belgian beers and some tasty burgers later, we headed back to the hotel, our appetites sated…

The next day, we decided to walk down to Borough market down in Southwark. It was a lovely walk, especially since the sun was out all day, taking in Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, the Belfast, and all the other big Thames sights… Borough market is a pretty cool place, where they sell everything your heart might desire to do with food and drink. We contented ourselves with a couple of vegetable drinks (what’s happening to me??) and some rather delicious brownies…

From there we made our way to Tate Modern, where we strolled around for a while (the cool thing about Tate modern is that it’s free – like a lot of London museums).

We then took the wobbly bridge (a.k.a. the Millenium Bridge across the Thames down to Saint-Paul’s cathedral (impressive as ever, with its huge dome).Our “London rediscovery tour” continued in Covent Garden, where we checked out the street performers, trying to find a cheap place to eat. Mission impossible, obviously. We ended up buying salads and sandwiches in Marks and Spencer’s, and picnicking on the street, basking in the sunlight. After walking around a bit more around Covent Garden, we headed back to the hotel, to get ready for the evening’s festivities.

The plan was to meet up at Arch1 bar in Waterloo (it’s a pretty handy bar to meet up for people coming from Guildford/Farnborough – so has turned out to be a bit of a standard place to meet up). We had a pretty good turnup – apart from the usual suspects (Phil, Sinhung and Nick), we had a couple of Nokians (Kate, Louise) as well as Emilie, Adrian and his new girlfriend Nathalie, as well as Simo and Zuzi (finally I met her as well!). After a few beers in Arch1, we made our way to our next stop – Las Iguanas (not a very original choice I’ll admit – but the place is good fun and they can handle big groups). Some Latin food and lots of cocktails and other drinks later, we made our way back to the hotel to catch a bit of sleep, to get ready for the next day’s hectic program.

On Sunday, the plan was to meet up with Manue & Marie in Little Venice, where they had a river boat festival. Good choice of program, especially with the great weather that still persisted. Little Venice is one of my favorite parts of London, a lovely, leafy part of London to walk around. The riverboats were good fun, and it was of course great to meet up with our two French lady friends again. Emmanuelle has relocated to Essex, where she is running her own translation “business”, whereas Marie (Mathilde’s ex-colleague) is still teaching at Tormead High School.

From Little Venice, we made our way along Regent’s canal up towards Camden Lock. Camden is one of my favorite parts of London, where I’ve not been for absolute ages. Camden is of course mostly known for its market – which was founded in 1974 as a crafts market. Camden market is the most “alternative” of all the London markets, and in spite of the fact that it’s become quite commercial over the years (a tell-tale sign of this are the “no photos” signs present in a lot of the shops), but it’s still a pretty cool and quirky place to walk around.

After a quick lunch in one of the local Camden eateries (a rather original and charming place), and a bit more shopping at the market, we said our good-byes and 0headed off.

For the evening, we’d booked tickets for the Globe. Now, theatre doesn’t get any more English or traditional than an evening at the Globe. Actually, it’s a recreation of the original theatre (which was closed in 1643), where The Lord Chamberlain's Men (the theatre company Shakespeare worked for most of his life) performed. Basically it’s an amphitheatre shaped open-air theatre, with a large open area in the middle, where most of the spectators stand. The rest of the spectators sit on the stands. The play this particular night was “All’s well that ends well” – one of Shakespeare’s less famous plays. I have to say it was a fantastic experience. The atmosphere was just great – I think it’s greatly helped by the layout of the theatre and the fact that you get to be so close to the actors. Shakespeare’s verbal jousting was sometimes a bit sophisticated for us, but we were able to follow the story, and a lot of the jokes aren’t all that subtle, to be honest. A great experience – and for the meager price of 5 quid each (that doesn’t buy you a lot in London).

We finished off the night with dinner at Pizza Express. Not too bad, but I think we had better value for money when it comes to pizza in Campania recently…

The next day it was time for Mathilde to head back to France. I saw her off at Saint-Pancras station, from where she took her train to Luton. Having said my bye-byes to Mathilde, I made my way to Regents park, for a bit of ornithology photography (need to use that 300mm lens for something, after all!). Then it was time for my next rendez-vous in Marlybourne, I was meeting up with Tiger-Dan, his wife and little Alexander for lunch. I haven’t seen Dan for ages (the last time must’ve been in Nice about 4 years ago), and I had never met his wife nor little Alexander. So it was great to catch up with him again… Adrian also joined up.

One thing you which you may or may not have noted in my musings about London is that I had not so far been to a single proper English pub (the Belgian pub on Friday, or Arch1 just don’t count). So to make up for this abnormality I had summoned a few drinking buddies for a bit of a “traditional English pub crawl”. Finally, Samy, Ed, Phil and Esa joined me for the adventure. We started in a nice enough drinking hole across the street from Southwark tube station, from where we made our way to The George, a real London classic pub. It is a real historical institution, dating at least as far back as 1543 – it is currently owned by the National Trust. It’s a great little pub, with low doorways, dark interiors, sloping floors, walls and roofs. Just a place full of character, basically.

A couple of pints later, we stumbled onwards to Wapping. The drinking establishment we selected here The Prospect of Whitby, were we also decided to have dinner. It’s a great little pub, about as typical and traditional as they get. An added bonus is the nice views over the Thames. I like the hanging noose on one of the terraces – perhaps a reference to Judge Jeffreys, a.k.a. the Hanging Judge? He was apparently one of the regular customers here... (it was rather an unsavory place back in the old days). Obviously we’re all getting a bit old, since we were pretty much finished by this 3rd pub, and had to make our ways back home…

A great finish to a great London weekend!