Mountain biking in the Esterel

As you may have noticed if you occasionally read my blog, I've been getting some strange sporty inclinations lately (getting up ridiculously early for a morning swim, cycling lunch time with my colleagues and things like that). I've lazed off a bit lately though - so I decided to hesitantly accept Gilbert's and Philippe's invitation to join them for some mountain biking this Sunday.

The weather looked quite promising as I drove down the A8, parking at the Port de la Rague, from where we started. Our trek started uphill, towards the Massif d'Esterel - after a rather steep zig-zagging climb we reached a sort of plateau, from where we had some great views over Theoule-sur-Mer, the Mediterranean and the Cote d'Azur.

The going got a bit easier for a while, as we made our way to the Col de Trayas, from where we carried on to the Col de Notre Dame - with nice views greeting us on the way (with the Pic de l'Ours looming ahead). Our original, rather ambitious plan, had been to cycle up to the Pic de l'Ours, dominating the Massif d'Esterel at a height of 492 meters. (doesn't sound like Mount Everest exactly, but cycling up there would for sure be a bit of a challenge for a part-timer like me!).

In the end (thankfully), we took the collective decision to give it a miss, since Philippe had some DIY to attend to in the afternoon, and well, that gave us a good excuse to postpone it to the next time as well ;-). So me and Gilbert took our time cycling back to the port - thankfully not getting shot by one of the numerous hunters we ran into on our way back.

Nice, sporting way to spend a Sunday! (I even went for a run later in the afternoon with Mathilde, that's like 2/3rds of a Triathlon!)

Cine and Dine in Nice

Our cinema attendance has been rather sparse lately, so we figured it was time to remedy that. After checking out what's on offer, we ended up going for a safe choice - Woody Allen's latest. I used to hate Woody Allen films (I just found the guy annoying), but am growing rather fond of his movies - I guess it's a sign of me getting old or something :-|. His latest directing effort - Magic in the Moonlight -  was appropriately based on the Cote d'Azur. Quite a nice, if minor Allen effort, with a rather good performance form Colin Firth.

Having ticket off the cultural activity bit, we headed off for dinner. I'd booked Cafe Sejour, a very highly ranked restaurant on Tripadvisor (need to be quite critical about TA rankings in Nice though, we've found...). Not to worry - Cafe Sejour is easily one of the best restaurants I've been to in Nice. Everything was just about perfect: excellent, high-quality, creative cuisine (nearly Michelin star-level I would say), laid-back yet attentive service and tasteful internal decoration. OK, not the cheapest place you'll find in Nice - but as I've said before - you can easily end up paying the same in one of the tourist traps on Rue Massena for far worse food.

Highly recommended, then!

Lunch at Cagnes and a concert at Valbonne

Today wrapped up a simply abysmally dismal week (not sure that's a valid expression) weather-wise for Janne and Katja (of course, the weather would turn great just after they left). Since the weather continued on the rainy trend today, we decided to invite them and dad over for lunch.

Mathilde had prepared a very tasty Kitsch for us, whereas I got all creative and make a crumble (well, to be honest, making a crumble doesn't require all that much creativity...). It all seemed to go down pretty well, I'm happy to report. And then it was time for Janne & Katja to head off to the airport. It was nice to have them over, hopefully the weather will be better next time...

For the evening, the plan for us was to go and see a concert in Valbonne (a nice little village near Sophia-Antipolis, where me and Mathilde both work). Jim Yamouridis was playing at the cinema - for free ! It was pretty good fun, the guy's music could best be described (this is obviously copied from the internet rather than an opinion I formed myself ;) as a mixture of Leonard Cohen and Nick Cave. All in all, a pretty nice way to spend a Saturday evening.

Day out in Marseille

Today was a public holiday, which was pretty good timing given the fact that Janne and Katja are in the neighbourhood. My hope had been to take them off the beaten track to show them some of the amazing local nature we're blessed with in this part of the world.

But alas, the weather decided to stay poor, so we decided to go for a more urban destination - Marseille. It's one of those places that has more to offer than meets the eye - it's a "proper city" with its own distinctive character where there's plenty of stuff to see and do, in spite of the bad press the place sometimes unfairly gets.

We decided to stop off at Aubagne, since it's kind of conveniently located on the way, nice stop before an early lunch in Marseille. Unfortunately, there wasn't really much to do in Aubagne on a rainy day like this (the main tourist attraction, a museum dedicated to the famous Provencal writer Marcel Pagnol, was shut) - we were treated to the rather unique spectacle of the foreign legion (their HQ are actually in Aubagne) parading around the main square (today was a public holiday in honour of the the armistice that was signed to end World War I).

We arrived in Marseille just in time for lunch. I'd booked a restaurant I found on Tripadvisor conveniently located in the port, named La Table du Fort. Quite a good choice again, even if the place had a bit of a pretentious, wannabe feel to it. Quite different from the little, cozy restaurant where we'd eaten in Peillon the other day. Still, no complaints about the food - all excellent stuff (if a bit pricey).

Our appetites sated, we headed off to explore Marseille. We naturally started with the port, walking along the newly renovated quays (Marseille was a European capital of culture last year), checking out the cool mirror construction by the fish market, making our way all the way up to the Fort-Saint-Jean and the newly built MUCEM (an architecturally impressive but otherwise somewhat disappointing museum dedicated to the Mediterranean). We were quite happy in that the constant rain had finally stopped.

Still, we didn't have to wait long for it to start dripping down a bit again, which lead us to the decision to jump on the touristy train, which took us up to what cold be considered the main touristy sight of Marseille  -  Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde. Rather aptly named (translated into English, Our Lady the guard), this basilica perched at the highest natural point of Marseille at 149 meters, literally watches over the port and the rest of the city. The views are quite simply astounding, especially since the sun finally decided to reveal itself! The neo-Byzantine church is quite impressive as well, unfortunately we didn't have a lot of time to explore it, as the little train was waiting to take us back to the port ;-)

Before heading back towards the Cote d'Azur, we decided to have a walk around one of my favourite parts of Marseille, Noailles, just off Canebieres, the main street of Marseille (which, even though it's a word for Cannabis, refers to the hemp rope that was once made here). Walking around Noailles is really like stepping onto another country or continent, the place feels more like Cairo or Marrakesh than a major French city, with its street sellers, shisha bars and tea shops.

That brought an end to a most interesting day out in one of the most fascinating cities of France!

Family lunch in Peillon

My brother Janne and Katja certainly could've chosen a better week on which to visit the Cote d'Azur. The past few days had been positively miserable weather-wise (rather unusual for the Cote d'Azur - especially considering what a fantastic Autumn we've had so far!), and the forecast wasn't promising for the next days either...

But, they arrived this weekend, so clearly we had to do something on Sunday, in spite of the rather heavy rain. So, clearly the best option was a nice family lunch (any excuse to check out another good restaurant eh?). As we wanted to include a bit of tourism into the package, we eventually decided upon a well-rated little eatery called "Les Plaisirs", located in one of our favorite villages on the Cote d'Azur, Peillon.

Peillon is a real medieval gem, a tiny village perched on a seemingly unassailable hilltop, located just a few kilometres from Nice, amazingly off the tourist trek. The absence of touristy trinket shops (yet another reason to like the place!) that overwhelm some of the more touristy places like Eze probably contributes to this lack of tourists.

Anyway, the village was just as pretty as we remembered from our last visit, and the views just as great, in spite of the insistent rain (which kept the touristy part of our visit rather short...). And the restaurant ? What an amazing place - really nice to still find places like this.

The place is operated by a young, enthusiastic and friendly chef, who's clearly passionate about what he does. Everything on the menu is made of locally sourced, mostly organic, ingredients, amazing given the reasonable prices. Since the young chef also does most of the waiting (helped by an equally friendly lady), one can forgive a somewhat slow service. Not much on the menu - a couple of starters, a couple of main courses and a couple of deserts - but I'm more and more of the opinion that fewer dishes on the menu is a good sign. So to summarize, one of the nicest restaurants we've been to on the Cote d'Azur.

After lunch, since the weather unfortunately decided to stay miserable, we headed back to Cagnes to hang out for a bit. We kicked off with a coffee and cake session (a Finnish tradition I cherish!), during which we watched photos from our recent trip to Japan. After the photo session, dad decided to head off home, whereas us "youngsters" decided to spend the rest of the afternoon (and evening, as it turned out) playing board games whilst enjoying a delicious Japanese chestnut rice dish prepared by Mathilde.

A very nice family kind of Sunday then, in spite of the insistent rain.

Back in Tokyo

Sadly, our trip in Japan is coming to an end... :-( But still, a day and a half left to go in Tokyo, so better make the best of it! We got off the Shinkansen at Ueno station, and decided to walk from there down to our hotel in Asakusa.

Asakusa is one of our favourite parts of Tokyo - it's one of the few places that still has some of that "old Tokyo" feel. It's also a bit more lively and has a more working-class feel than Yanaka, where we stayed on our first leg in Tokyo. The downside is that it's rather touristy...

Anyways, after checking into our hotel, we decided to pay our favourite Tokyo temple, Senso-Ji, a visit. Senso-Ji is for sure one of the landmarks of Tokyo, and the place looks particularly enchanting at night. It's also one of those places that always seems to be busy.

For the evening, the plan was to meet our favourite Tokyo guide, Matsuoka-san. So we jumped on the train again, and headed down to Kita-senju station again, eager to find out where what culinary delights our friend would introduce to us this time... Chicken, it turns out! We'd never been to a restaurant serving exclusively (well, nearly) chicken dishes. That would be chicken in all its forms - chicken sashimi (yep, you got it, raw chicken meat!), chick skin, chicken liver and so forth. Not the sort of stuff we would necessarily order back home (well, for the raw chicken that would be a definite no), but we put our faith in our host and Gwere not disappointed. The food was delicious, as always.

Another great night out then... After saying our tear-filled goodbyes, 'twas time to head back to our hotel. 

The next day, we decided to split up for a change. I was quite keen to visit the Tokyo-Edo museum, whereas Mathilde wanted to do a bit of shopping. So I took the metro down to Ryogoku, where the museum is located.

The Tokyo-Edo museum is a great place to find out about Edo-era Tokyo, through some painstakingly detailed replicas of various buildings from a historic Tokyo sadly long gone (blame earthquakes and American WW2 bombings for that). One great thing in about Japan is the volunteer guides that are happy to give you free private guided tours. I was lucky enough to get a one-on-one tour with a very nice lady wearing a traditional kimono. 

All in all, a very interesting way to spend a couple of hours on a rainy day. One of the main replicas at the museum is a Nihonbashi bridge (which was the focal point of Ero-era Tokyo, since that's where the main roads heading out into the provinces all joined) - interesting detail since our next stop in Japan was the Nihonbashi district. (the original bridge is long gone - the current one dates back to 1911). Nihonbashi is more of a business district than a shopping, but hosts some of the most famous Japanese department stores (or depatos as the Japanese would say).

We visited the Takashimaya, one of the most venerable depatos in Tokyo. And it's quite an impressive place indeed - stands up well in comparison to Harrod's for example, I would say. We ended up doing most of our souvenir shopping back in Asakusa though - a bit easier on the wallet and Asakusa is a real mecca for shopping - it's a bit like a blown-up version of a big bazaar. It's not a place to get your Gucci bags though (you're better off going to Ginza for that) - more a place to get stuff "normal" Japanese families need. We even found a ninja shop!

This being our last night in Tokyo, we wanted to end our trip with something a little bit special. I was thinking, why not Tokyo Skytree - the second highest building in the world? Seemed like a good idea, even though it was quite a hike form our hotel. We eventually made it, and paid the rather pricey entrance ticket for the elevator ride up to the top. Well, NEARLY to the top. Actually, you had to buy ANOTHER ticket to make it all the way to the top. Now that felt a bit like a rip-off... Anyway, the whole thing was a bit disappointing, I have to admit. OK, the view is great, but it just didn't have the same impact as say going up the Eiffel tower or the Empire State building. Maybe the Tokyo skyline is just a bit less distinctive...

This slight disappointment was followed by another crisis - where to dine!? The places around Tokyo Skytree didn't really inspire us and it was getting rather late. So we hurried back to the train station and jumped on the train back to Asakusa. Thankfully we managed to find an open sushi restaurant near the hotel, where we sated our raving apetites...

Alas, that's the end of our third trip to Japan. As you have probably gathered already, we had a fantastic times. Seems that our appetite for this country grows after each visit. We can't wait to come back - already!