Summer on the Cote d'Azur!

With all the travelling back and forth, we've not had much of an opportunity to enjoy the Cote d'Azur, a very nice place indeed during the summer (in spite of the inevitable tourist horde invasions that). So we were quite happy to have a "free weekend" to do just that.

Things kicked off with us meeting up with Aurelien & Julie in Le Cannet for dinner. After an aperitif at Julie & Aurelien's place (with a bottle of Trousepinette, to remind us of the Vendee!), we headed off to a Japanese restaurant for the occasion (now there's a surprise!) - Kashiwa (one of the best Japanese restaurants on the Cote). The food was excellent as always - the place is a bit more sophisticated than our local favourite Yoko (which btw doesn't mean it's better - it's a tight match but I still have a soft spot for Yoko).

The next day, the plan was to meet up with our good friend Naim, whom we've not seen for quite a while in spite of his frequent visits to the Cote (Naim is a bit of a world citizen, currently splitting his time between London, Nice and god knows where else). The plan was to meet up with him and Sarah (whom we REALLY haven't seen for ages!) for lunch. What better place for lunch on a sunny summer day than Pass'Port in the Vieux Port. Great, unpretentious local specialities - that ratatouille of theirs is just fantastic. But most importantly, it was great to catch up with Naim and Sarah again!

We then cycled over towards Place de la Liberation, just by the train station (but a place we've never actually been to!) - our objective being to try the supposedly best ice cream in Nice at Arlequin Gelati. And for sure the ice creams were good - well worth the bike ride - but I have to say I still prefer Amorino's on Rue Massena. Liberation is a pretty nice place to walk around as well - there's also the historic & impressive Chemin de Fer de Provcence train station there (a library these days, though).

Before cycling back home to Cagnes, we met up with Aki for a coffee - it's been a while since our last meetup after all. Great to see him and little Eemil - too bad Henna couldn't make it.

And then, 'twas time to make our way back to Nice - after pretty much a perfect day in the appropriately nick-named Nissa la Bella!