Easter skiing Italian style.

Me and Mathilde have a great tradition, whereby we offer a surprise weekend trip on each other's birthdays. I've been going on about heading down to Limones for skiing for ages, so we kind of agreed that my "surprise" this year would be just that.

So, it wasn't much of a surprise then, we headed towards Piedmonte, Italy this Friday evening (I was just back from my first business trip with the new job, from Grenoble). Thankfully there wasn't much traffic (this was after all Easter weekend), so we arrived just in time for dinner ;-), after checking in at the lovely Excelsior Hotel, that Mathilde had booked for the weekend. After dropping off our bags, we headed out for dinner. Thankfully we found a very nice eatery - Osteria il Bagatto -  in one of the side streets off the main street, which had just one free table. A real gem of a restaurant - nice interior design (rustic in a kind of modern way), excellent sophisticated food (traditional, with a modern touch) and great service. Pretty much the perfect way to start the weekend!

The next day, after a rather leisurely (and very tasty) breakfast at our classy hotel, we headed for the ski slopes, in spite of some looming clouds in the sky. Unfortunately, our worst fears came true - things only got worse as we got into the ski lift and headed up the mountain. We basically had zero visibility skiing down - and in addition there was plenty of snow (with more coming down from the sky) - so it was pretty hard work as well. After a couple of runs, we decided to give up for the day, we just weren't enjoying ourselves very much.

No matter, we decided to have a walk around the village instead. And what a charming place it is - Limone is not your average ski resort - rather it's a lively village with shops, nice restaurants and local people. A nice change from the Riviera ski resorts like Isola 2000... After our short tour of the village and a quick and very tasty lunch, we decided to head back to the hotel and try out the spa. Pretty much just what the doctor ordered - sauna, steam bath and a nice swimming pool in a very relaxing atmosphere. In the end, we didn't much regret the lack of skiing - a bit of relaxation did us both a lot of good!

For the evening, we were meeting up with our friends Stephane, Sandra and their kids Cleglia and Tristan for dinner. Stephane and Sandra are friends of ours from Cagnes-sur-Mer who come to Limones on a regular basis. Funny we should meet them here for dinner, after quite a few aborted attempts to have a coffee with them ;-) We met up at a nice restaurant, serving a rather filling buffet. I especially liked their anitpasti. Good to catch up with Stephane and Sandra as well!

The next morning, we got up bright 'n early, so that we could hit the ski slopes early. Our hopes were high, since the weather forecast was very promising. And we were certainly not disappointed - the conditions were pretty much perfect for skiing. Bright blue skies, warm sun, good snow - pretty much perfect conditions. We made the best of our day, and had a go at pretty much all the slopes, making it all the way across two valleys to the other extreme at Limonetto. Just a perfect day!

The perfect day was followed with the perfect evening, with a meal at our lovely hotel. Excellent food, good service (in spite of the fact that they tried to nick my plate before I'd finished it at one point!) and most importantly, the best company possible.

The next day, it was sadly time to head back to Cagnes-sur-Mer... Well, the weather looked to be getting cloudy again, so I suppose it was time to leave... Thank you my darling, for the perfect birthday weekend :-)h

Basketball action in Antibes

Even though I'm considered quite tall by most people, by the standards of my family, I'm a veritable shorty, measuring a measly 194 cm (both of my brothers and my dad are taller - Tomi measuring an impressive 204 cm!). The fact that I come from a tall family probably goes a long way in explaining a certain interest in the sport of basketball in my family (although I'm more of a ice hockey man myself).

So, since Tomi and Leena were still on the Cote d'Azur, we decided to go and  check out the local team, the Antibes Sharks, playing in the Pro B series. This Friday, they were facing Aix-Maurienne. After some hassle finding a parking spot, and having sated my appetite with what is probably the worst hamburger I've ever had, we sat down to watch the action.

It was a pretty tightly contested match, with the points starting to pile up after a very shaky beginning from both teams, with very few points scored. Coming up to the last period, the teams were neck-to-neck, with Antibes finally making the difference in the nerve-wracking last couple of minutes, when the nervousness of both teams resulted in a lot of errors and missed throws. In the end, Antibes came out on top, with a score of 70-64. A well-deserved, if tight, victory. Apart from the impressive player number 4 of the Sharks, we were quite impressed with the Sharks mascot, who really made the crowd go wild ;-)

A nice way to wrap up Tomi's and Leena's visit, then!

Another birthday celebration

My brother Tomi, and his wife Leena, were visiting France this week. Since this coincided nicely with my birthday, we decided to all (me, Mathilde, mum, dad, Tomi, Leena and Tutta) meet up in Bar-sur-Loup for a birthday lunch. My parents had booked a place called Le Jarrerie for the occasion, a nice little rustic eatery just outside the picturesque old village.

The food goes with the rustic cadre - traditional fare here, very well-cooked. No complaints in the food department then! And it was great to catch up with everybody as well - especially Tomi and Leena, whom I don't get to see that often. A pity about the lousy weather though (not sure what's happening with the weather here on the Cote d'Azur - it's been decidedly Brittish this winter!), given the scenic location of the restaurant and the village.

Our appetites sated, we headed back to our flat to continue the celebrations with a delicious cake Mathilde had baked. And pressie time as well - apart from the lovely Manga I got from Mathilde, I got an injection of Finnish culture in the 2 DVD's Tomi and Leena gave me (my parents gift - a drive in a cabriolet car, will have to wait for another day, when the weather is better, I suppose ;-). After the coffee and cake, I convinced Tomi and dad to have some of Mathilde's grandmum's home-distilled Calvados with me (not that I had to twist their arms or anything...) - a great success as always!

All in all, a great birthday celebration and "family day" out, then!

Triple birthday celebration in Nice

Time for another "gentle" reminder about how old I am getting - yep, birthday celebration coming up! Henna and Vincent, A couple of  friends on the Cote d'Azur, we're having their birthdays around the same time as me, so we decided to make a triple birthday celebration of it.





We let Vincent book the restaurant, called Rosalina, in the port of Nice (a nice area for eating out, less touristy than downtown Nice). Rosalina is perhaps typically more a place to hang out and have an aperitif at than dining, or at least the atmosphere and the interior of the place suggests that. A good venue for a birthday celebration, actually, with its lively atmosphere. There was a bit of a wait for the food, but that wasn't a big bother, since we were having a good time, anyways!

Great to catch up with everybody, especially Henna and Aki (nearly fully recovered from his recent sporting injury) and of course young Emil, whom we've not seen for quite some time. I was happy to see Julie and Aurelien could make it as well. All in all, a pretty good night out then, in spite of the "sad" occasion... ;-)

A weekend in Lyon

We were quite happy when our good friends Aniko and Philippe got in touch some time ago about meeting up somewhere in France for a weekend, during their holiday road trip around France. After some deliberation, we agreed upon Lyon - one of the great cities of France, conveniently located between Nice and Paris (where Philippe and Aniko live). We've been to Lyon a couple of times, but haven't really properly visited the place, so we quite looked forward to spending a weekend there.

We arrived just in time for dinner, after a surprisingly trouble-free trip from Nice (traffic can be quite bad along the Rhone valley leading up to Lyon). And what better place to have dinner in than a proper Lyon "bouchon" - a traditional little Lyonnais eatery, serving things that sound rather disgusting on paper at least, usually involving intestines from various animals. We chose a rather promisingly named place called Le Carnivore - and at least the cozy deco more than lived up to expectations. The food was rather Lyonnais as well - I decided to really go all the way and start with some bone marrow, folllowed by that famous stinky sausage known as Andoillette (which is actually strictly speaking a speciality from Troyes, unless I am mistaken...). All in all, a nice little introduction to Lyon then! Me and Philippe rounded off the evening with a couple of beers in a bar near the hotel...

The next morning, we decided to head down to Vieux Lyon, in spite of the ominously grey sky. Vieux Lyon is a rather charming place, with windy roads, loads on Bouchons (many looking rather touristy...). My favourite bit of Vieux Lyon are the Traboules, sort of passages that cross building courtyards, allowing quick access form one street to another. Heading through these "secret passages", one feels almost like an explorer or adventurer...

After a nice little walk around this charming part of time, we decided to take the funicular up to Fourviere, a hill overlooking the old town and the Saone river. This hilltop is famous for its Roman ruins (which we didn't have time to visit this time around, unfortunately), and the Notre-Dame de Fourvière, an impressive church stunningly located at the top of the hill. The views towards Lyon are, needless to say, stunning. Pity about the fog... The walk down back to old Lyon was pretty nice too...

By now our stomachs were grumbling, so we decided to head back across the Saone river to the modern part of town to get something to eat. We eventually ended up in a great little bistro called Le Potager des Halles. We had a meal that I can only describe as stunning - everything was sport on: the food, the prices, the decor, and the cheeky service... Seems that Lyon's reputation as a culinary hotspot is well deserved!

After lunch, we continued exploring charming Lyon, starting with the rather stunning Place des Terreaux and the modern opera, and heading up-hill to trendy Croix-Rousse. Croix-Rousse used to be a working-class neighbourhood, but these days, it's one of the hippest places in town. It's got a nice little edge to it, reminds me a bit about some parts of San Francisco (not just because it's similarly hilly...), with its chic little shops and fancy cafes. And what's best, there are plenty of traboules to explore ;-)

After a couple of hours of exploration and walking around, we headed downhill back towards our hotel, stopping by at a nearby bar where we had rendez-vous for apero with Mathilde's friend Karine. She ended up joining us for dinner as well (and luckily ordered a nice little restaurant for us as well - since I had managed to book a Japanese sushi place rather than a Lyonnais Bouchon for the evening!).

Dinner was excellent again, similar to lunch, pretty much confirming our faith in the local cuisine. And great to get a bit more time to catch up with Karine! We were treated to some nice night-time views across the Rhone river on the way back to the hotel as well, as an added treat. Me and Philippe finished off the evening with a couple of pints at an Irish pub in the old town...

The next day, we very lucky enough to be blessed with plentiful sunshine. We decided to make the best of it and walk along the Rhone river up to the Cite International. The walk was rather stunning - they've really done a good job at redeveloping the riverside - dedicating it to nature. The Cite International is a pretty cool place as well. It's a kind of big appartment complex, completemented by art galleries, shops and restaurants, stunningly designed by Renzo Piano. Me and Philippe made fools of our selves, climbing on top of the art works on display (only afterwards spotting the "do not touch" signs). Some people never grow up, eh ? ;-)

After the cite we headed into the nearby Parc de la tete de l'Or, a lovely place to spend a sunny day like today. There's even a zoo there - great opportunity for me to put my telephoto lens to good use on the monkeys and other animals on display. We ended up having a rather disappointing lunch at the Place des Terreux in what can only be described as a tourist trap. During the meal, it started pouring raining cats and dogs, as the English would say, surely a sign that it was time to leave Lyon. So we did, after saying our goodbyes to Philippe and Aniko.

All in all, we'd had a fantastic weekend in Lyon. It hadn't made much of an impression on me on the previous short visits, but this visit really left it's mark. I would happily go back - especially as the cuisine was every bit as good as I expected as well! ;-)

A day at Greolieres-les-Neiges

One of the things I love about the Cote d'Azur, and this is something that is perhaps not known to most people with images of glitz, glamour and sun that they associate with the French Riviera, is that this must be one of the best places in the world for outdoors activities. With the beautiful Mediterranean coastline, all the watersports one can imagine are there to be enjoyed (diving, sailing, swimming, you name it). And just an hour away or so, there are the Alps - with plentiful opportunities for mountain biking, hiking, skiing and so forth.

OK, enough with the tourist commercials, we get enough tourists here as it is ;-) What I was actually going to write about was the fact that after a few weekends of bad weather, winter flu, and other unforeseen circumstances, we finally got the opportunity to head to Greolieres for a bit of skiing. The conditions couldn't have been better - sun, blue sky, good snow, and the best skiing companion in the world ;-)

We really enjoyed our day out in the snow - even tried the black slopes a couple of times. Another gentle reminder about what a wonderful place the Cote d'Azur can be, even during wintertime. OK, I'm going back into tourist commercial mode again - so I better stop writing!

Lunching at my favourite Italian restaurant!

Our good friend Emmanuelle was visiting her cousin in Nice for a few days, all the way from London... So naturally this called for a get-together. And what better place for the get-together than lunch at one of our favourite restaurants on the Cote d'Azur, Il Giardino, located just on the other side of the border in the Italian village of Vallebona.

Having picked up Emmanuelle and her cousin in Nice, we sped down the A8 into Italy, happy to enjoy the sun (welcome back - it's been sadly absent over the last couple of weeks!). We arrived at the restaurant just on time, and dug into the food straight away. I love the concept of Il Giardino: for the rather reasonable price of 30 Euros, one is treated to 9 antipasti, 3-4 plates of pasta, 3 plates of meat, a desert, not to mention as much wine as one can handle (and coffee and limoncello to finish off!). Hard to find better value for money than that - especially considering the food is delicious as well (in a "cooked by grandma" kind of way).

So, needless to say, we very much enjoyed the food. The fact that the meal takes rather a long time, meant there was plenty of time to catch up with Emmanuelle. After the meal, we had a nice walk in the village, enjoying the sun... (Vallebona is built on the slope of a valley, so walking up and down the cobble-town streets is quite a good way to get rid of all those recently-acquired calories).

The way back was a bit of a pain, with some crazy traffic jams between Vallebona and Ventimiglia. But all in all, a fantastic way to spend a Saturday (you just can't go wrong with this place), and great to see Manue again!