Hyam's birthday party

I can remember Hyam’s birthday party we attended two years ago rather well – the delicious meal cooked by Hyam’s mother, and the belly dancing we were treated to by Hyam (she’s a bit of a pro at that…).

So we were very happy to get the invitation to her party this year, as well, in Antibes (different flat this time, though). And we were not to be disappointed this time either. The food was delicious this time as well, in spite of the fact that it wasn’t cooked by her mum this time ;). It was also a more international occasion than many soirees on the Cote d’Azur – maybe since Hyam is an English teacher.

I was happy to chat away a bit in Swedish as well, with the same couple working at Amadeus, whom I chatted with two years ago (that’s right, I still can’t remember their names…).

We were happily again treated to a belly dancing spectacle, and it was at least equally enticing this time as two years ago (or perhaps even more so, as our hostess was dressed in traditional attire this time around). The atmosphere got so good that she was also that pretty much all the ladies at the party joined her for a bit of dancing (thankfully I wasn’t asked, in spite of my prominent belly!)

So all in all, as I suppose you can guess, it was a great night out. I am looking forward to an invitation in one year’s time ;-)

A week in Ulm

Time for a trip to Ulm then, again. This time I flew into Munich, and bravely decided to use public transportation to get to Ulm. The good thing about this was that I was treated to the sight of plenty of blokes in lederhosen, and plenty of ladies in “traditional Bavarian ladies’ costume” – yes that’s right, it’s Octoberfest time.

The bad thing was that I spent about 4 hours getting to Ulm, instead of less than two had I taken the car (had to take a train into central Munich from the aiport, missed the train, had to go to another station, wait 40 minutes, catch another train, then take a bus to the office. Phew).

It was a pretty hard week work-wise, but it was good to see the old gang from the UK (including that incorrigible party maniac, Sinhung), and meet some new faces (like William, Sakari and Aida). Monday night was Barfüßer night – what else? The drinks and culinary fare was pretty much the usual – hefeweisse bear for the thirst, pork and potato for the hunger. We went for the big 5 litre keg of beer this time – there were plenty of eager folks to finnish it off.

My new boss Thomas was kind enough to take us all out for dinner on Tuesday night to Zu Forellen – one of the better restaurants we’ve been to in Ulm. They specialize in trout (obviously!), rather than pork and potato as is the case for most restaurants. They still had hefeweisse thankfully, so we weren’t completely out of our element. Afterwards, we headed down to next-doors’ Zunfthaus der Schiffleute, which is still probably our favourite restaurant in Ulm. The reason for our visit was the notorious Eisbock beer – with an awe-inspiring alcohol content of 12%. To be drunk in moderation.

The other highlight of the week was our visit to the Ulm Munster. We’ve gazed at this wonder of gothic architecture many a time from outside, but finally had the opportunity to visit the interior, as Thomas took us out there Thursday, after lunch. It is the tallest church in the world (must’ve been hard to build, since it took about 500 years to complete!), and funnily enough, doesn’t even classify as a cathedral (since it’s never been the seat of a bishop). After gaping at the sombre yet impressive interior, we naturally decided to climb up the 768 steps up to the top of the steeple. Well, nearly the top, it went on for a further 10 or 20 meters, but that part was (thankfully) inaccessible. That counts for this week’s exercise, methinks! I’d say it was worth the effort – the views from the top were rather magnificent. After the strenuous exercise of the week, we were treated to coffee and apfelstrudel. Yummie.

All in all, ‘twas a rather good week in Germany, both workwise and otherwise, I contemplated on the train back to Munich on Friday, together with Sakari and Tony (the mad bloke had to fly to Oslo to run a marathon!).

Last night with Marie and JayJay

Barely had we time to pose our sacks after our trip to the Gorges du Verdon, when it was time to hit the road again. Dinner with JayJay and Marie was on the cards – and the last one for a while, since they were catching their flight to sunny California a couple of days later (where as I was flying to not so sunny Ulm the next day).

So it was rather an emotional evening then, but hey, such is life? Anyways, Marie is back in three months, and JayJay hopefully a few months after that. We spent the evening doing the stuff we normally do, ie. drinking/eating and chatting away. JayJay also showed us some fantastic photos from his recent whale-watching trip in Italy.

Oh, and the cheesecake was, as always, delicious. We’re looking forward to the next one, in a few months’ time!

Weekend in the Gorges du Verdon

For Ismael’s birthday, a few months back, we’d decided to take him on a surprise weekend to the Gorges du Verdon. The timing turned out to be quite appropriate as well, since he found himself a job in Dublin, and is hence leaving the Cote d’Azur in a few weeks’ time.

Our original plan had been to stay at Moustiers-Sainte-Marie, near Lac de Sainte-Croix, at a nice hotel where Youcef and Ouarda often go for weekend breaks. Unfortunately, we were unable to get a room there this time, and actually couldn’t find any at all in the Gorges du Verdon. Eventually we settled on a little hotel in Annot, located in the Var valley (not far from the gorges).

Our first stop for the weekend was Castellane, a nice little village located just where the gorges start. After a coffee on the main square, we decided to tackle the main attraction at Castellane, the aptly named Roc. The Roc is a big cliff overlooking the village, at the looming height of 184 metres. And some crazy locals even decided to build a chapel right at the top – so naturally walking up to the top is a bit of a pilgrimage. In spite of slight difficulties, we eventually made it to the top – from where we were greeted to a rather magnificent panorama over the village and the gorges.

All that walking left us in a state of ravenous hunger – thankfully we found a restaurant with a nice terrace, willing to accommodate us, down in the village. Our apetites sated, we carried on, up the torturous roads taking us through the gorges. A great drive, at least when the weather is good (which is was, for the moment). After a quick stop to take in the views and snap a couple of pictures, we arrived at the main destination of the day, Lac de Sainte-Croix, located at the other end of the gorges.

It’s quite a stunning lake, it must be said, and especially considering it’s an artificial one. It is actually the third largest lake in France, and is one of the most visited lakes in the country (for good reason). We naturally jumped into the lake for a bit of a swim. The water wasn’t the clearest, but the temperature was just right (especially considering it’s already September!). After some clowning around (we unfortunately failed to drown Ismael), and due to some approaching clouds, we decided to head on.

The route to Annot (where we were sleeping) took us back through the gorges. Unfortunately, this time we were overtaken by a rainstorm unlike anything I’ve seen here in the South – with a bit of hails to make things even more exciting. I felt especially sorry for Youcef and Ouarda in their Peugeot 205. After a fair bit of zigzagging around fallen rocks and things, we eventually made it to Castellane for a short conference (we weren’t sure we wanted to deal with another 30 kilometers of mountain roads in this weather). Eventually we decided (mostly due to the fact that there was no accommodation available in Castellan) to carry on.

Thankfully, the weather got a bit better towards Annot, but caution was still required as there were quite a few nasty rocks on the roads. The drive took us past the Lac de Castillon, which looked rather pretty (too bad it was getting dark), down the Valley de Var, until we eventually arrived in Annot. After checking into the hotel, we made our way to a nearby restaurant for a VERY well-deserved dinner (and a few equally well-deserved glass of wine). We continued the soiree with a bit of Texas Hold-Em poker in Youcef’s room. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a bit of a disaster for me – as I ended up loosing. ‘nough said about that.

The next day, me and Mathilde decided to brave the light rain and explore Annot for a bit, after taking in the rather good hotel breakfast. Annot is a pretty typical little Provencal village, with nice cobble-stone streets, pretty houses etc. (I’ve written that a few time on this blog, I reckon?). The grey post-storm water running down the gutters added a touch of originality to the setup…

From Annot, we carried down the Var valley towards Nice, making a stop in Entrevaux. It’s a place I’ve wanted to visit for some time now, having seen some photos of the place. And it proved no disappointment, the site is rather exceptional (Entrevaux is a fortified village by the Var river, with a citadel (built by that very busy citadel builder, Vauban) overlooking the village on the nearest hilltop. It’s like the place was made to be photographed (and photograph it I did).

The thing to do in Entrevaux is, of course, to climb up the hill to the citadel. It was quite a hike, but we all made it (unfortunately we were hit by some pretty bad rain again). We spent the next hour or so enjoying the splendid views over the valley and village, and exploring the nooks and crannies of the citadel (which was actually never completed).



By the time we made it down to the village it was time for lunch ;-) Thankfully we found a nice little eatery serving the local speciality – Secca (thinly sliced, salted and dried beef). The perfect way to end our weekend.

All in all, it had been great weekend. We were a bit unlucky (to say in the least) with the weather, but that just goes to show that the most important thing is to be in good company (and the clichés just keep coming, eh?).

Lunch with Marie and JayJay

After all the travelling we’ve done this summer, we were quite happy to have a quiet weekend just for relaxing, and tidying up in the flat. A fair bit of dust lying around, due to the work that’s been done tour bathroom. Nearly there now, so we decided to do a bit of a tidying up upstairs.

We did have Marie and JayJay over for what was supposed to be a quick lunch on Sunday – quick since JayJay had to make his way to San Remo in Italy, from where he was catching a boat to do a bit of whale watching. We were quite keen to catch up with them, since they are soon heading over to sunny Mexico for a few months.

Not unsurprisingly, the lunch turned out to last rather long, with numerous antipasti, some pasta, and a rather delicious strawberry dessert from Marie to finish off the proceedings. Anyway, from what we heard later, JayJay didn’t miss his boat from San Remo, that’s the main thing ;-)

Andy visiting

This weekend, I was supposed to have two old friends over visiting. Ed from London, and Andy from Basel. We used to study together at ‘ole Heriot-Watt university at Edinburgh (I visited Andy in Japan about two years ago, and see a fair bit of Ed in London). Unfortunately, Ed made a bit of a mistake with his flights (booked them for the wrong month…) and didn’t show up in the end. Andy arrived on schedule, though.

Due to our ongoing bathroom renovation, we decided to stay at my parents’ place in Antibes. After dropping off our things, we made our way into Antibes. After a short walk around the old town, we found a nice little tourist-trap restaurant at Place National for dinner. After we’d sated our apetites, we made our way to the Absinth bar – a real Antibes institution (we were also joined by Hyem, a colleague of Mathilde’s, at this point). It’s a great place – both for drinking absinth and trying out hats. The picture gives you an idea ;-). A bit pricey though – and the 3-drink limit is a bit disappointing (mind you, not sure whether it’s a maximum or minimum limit?).

We were a bit lazy the next day (absinth effect?), but did eventually get up and headed East, towards the Italian border. We stopped at Menton, just on the French side of the border. In spite of the rather cloudy weather, we decided to go for a swim, after which we explored the old town for a bit. I like Menton – it’s definitely got a rather charming Italian touch to it. After having some nice Italian pasta for lunch, we carried on towards Nice.

Our next stop was Nice – naturally mandatory for anybody visiting the Cote d’Azur. We parked near the old town, and decided to start by visiting the museum of modern art. Not so much for the art (although there is some cool stuff there) – more for the nice views over Nice the roof-top terrace offers. After that we explored the old town a bit, and stopped at Fenocchio’s (a real Nicois institution) for a gelato. We dined at “Black Cat, White Cat” (named after the Kustorica film), a real gem of a restaurant right in the centre of the old town. The place is ran by the old crew from Jouni’s (a Michelin-starred restaurant named after its Finnish chef), and later Le Reserve. The food was really delicious, and the place really cool and what’s best of all, the prices were pretty reasonable.

On Sunday, the plan was to show Andy some of the small, cute mountain villages the Cote d’Azur is blessed with. So we headed towards Gourdon. Unfortunately, the weather was far from ideal for such an expedition – in fact it started raining cats and dogs just as we got to Gourdon. Thankfully, we managed to rush to one of the two restaurants in the village, for a rather nice lunch. Unfortunately, we didn’t get the opportunity to enjoy the panorama over the Loup Valley, for which Gourdon is famous…

After dropping off Mathilde in Cagnes (she had some work to do for Monday), we headed on to Monaco – another place where most people seem to want to visit. We started with the main sight – the Casino. Unfortunately Andy didn’t bring his passport so we couldn’t actually pay 20 euros to have the honour of losing yet more money inside… So, we lost our money in the nearby “mini-casino” in the Café de Paris instead. At least we got to enjoy the sight of a few Ferraris ;-).

After taking in the usual other Monaco sights (the rather disappointing Palace, the impressive Museum of Oceanography, the yachts in the harbour), we made our way for dinner to Stars ‘n Bars, in the harbour. It’s a kind of classy version of Planet Hollywood, with various memorabilia from motor sports (we were seated next to vitrines with Markku Alen’s and Ari Vatanen’s driving overalls – wicked!). Anyway, I like Stars ‘n Bars, a bit of a touch of Americana on the Cote d’Azur. And the hamburgers aren’t too bad – if a bit pricey.

On Monday, it was time for a bit of exercise. Since Andy is into outdoors stuff, we decided to head out to the Park Natioanl de Mercantour for a bit of serious hiking. We opted for a walk around the Madone de Fenestre. There is a small church at the hamlet where the walk starts (in honour of the Madone – there is a kind of hole in the mountain next to the church which apparently looks like a window, beneath which this Madonna did her miraculous stuff, or something along those lines…).

It was quite a fantastic hike, taking us up though some very nice landscape up to a small lake, from where we headed up towards a nice mountain pass right on the border of Italy, from where we were greeted by some rather stunning scenery on both sides of the border. From there, we made our way back down to the Madone and the nearby refuge, where we stopped by for a beer and blueberry pie (the two go well together, honestly!). What was great about this hike, apart from the great scenery, was the amount of wild-life we saw. We saw loads of Marmots, and even a couple of Chamois (a graceful goat-antelope, which are quite numerous in the Mercantour). All in all, a pretty fantastic way to spend a few hours...

We finished off the day with dinner in Antibes with Naim, who joined us (him and Andy, both being rather dedicated cyclists, had plenty to chat about). That brought an end to Andy’s visit… Great to see him again, next time in Basel perhaps?