A short stroll around Amsterdam

I had a rather long stopover in Amsterdam on the way back to Nice - 5 hours. So I decided to head into Amsterdam for a quick walk around, rather than stay at the airport. Thanks to the efficient Dutch public transport system, that was more than feasible. After finding a locker for my bag, I jumped on the local train, and headed into town.

I figured I'd have about 2 hours to explore Amsterdam, which clearly doesn't do the city any justice. I figured the way to make the best of my time might be a canal cruise, and there were plenty of bureaus selling cruises just by the train station. But alas, they were all sold out - seems that Amsterdam is very busy this time of the year (and yes, the place was pretty much overrun by tourists).

OK, so no choice but to explore the city on foot then, which was just fine by me, as it's my favourite "mode of transport" during city breaks anyway. So how to spend 2 hours in Amsterdam, then ? There are options. Plenty of fine museums to explore - but that would leave no time for anything else. The red light district - after all, one of the main tourist attractions in Amsterdam ? I ended up choosing a rather boring option - Museumplein, based on the recommendation from a nice lady at the tourist office. That would allow me to cross a fair chunk of Amsterdam, check out the famous "I Amsterdam" sign, and maybe have a bite to eat at the Christmas market.

Off I went then, with a firm plan and a map I'd acquired at the tourist office. The walk to Museumpleim was a rather nice one, passing through the very heart of Amsterdam, along a very busy commercial street. Very busy indeed - seems that half of Europe was in Amsterdam on this particular day (reminded me of Oxford Street in London during the mad Christmas shopping period - what a contrast to tranquil Helsinki).  I crossed quite a few of the famous Amsterdam canals as well - all in all, a very pleasent little stroll.

After rewarding myself with a Dutch waffle for my efforts, I finally arrived at Museumplein, just as it got dark. It's basically a big square, located just south of the town centre, which houses some of the most famous Dutch museums (including the Van Gogh museum and Rijksmuseum), the famous "I amsterdam" sign (which has kind of become a symbol for the city, apparently), an ice skating rink and the Christmas market. I have to admit the Christmas market was a it of a disappointment (there were just a few hotdogs stands, basically) - the rest of it was very nice. Photogenic ;-)

After hanging out at Museumplein for 45 minutes or so, it was time to head back - I didn't have time to walk back, so I jumped on the tramway, which conveniently took me back to the main train station. A couple of night shots later, it was time to catch the train back to the airport.

It was short but sweet - Amsterdam surely deserves a longer visit one of these days (my last visit was during Euro 2000, so quite a few years ago!)

A wintery Helsinki

I still had a day and a bit to spend in Helsinki, and I was planning to make the most of it, especially since there was finally some snow on the ground. I started the day with a lunch in Otaniemi with Riku, Aki and Maija (OK, the fact that I started the day with lunch kind of says it all - I had already failed in my mission to make the most of my time). Great to catch up with them again.

I contemplated taking the bus back to the town centre, but then decided to walk instead, as it really was a fantastic winter day. I walked through the University area in Otaniemi, across the bridge over to Lehtisaari. There's a nice footpath along the coastline, which I walked along. Just a beautiful place - what's great about Finland is that there are still places of almost pristine nature, even in the capital city!

From there, I carried on to Kuusisaari, which is a bit more built up, but still a great place to stroll around. From there, my odyssey took me to beautiful Seurasaari. It's a place I usually visit in the summer, but it looks equally beautiful, if different, during winter. The sun was starting to set, so I hurried along, walking along to Sibelius puisto, where I checked out the Sibelius monument, together with busloads of mostly Asian tourists. Mass tourism has finally arrived in Finland...

To finish off my fantastic little walk, I strolled over to Cafe Regatta, a great little place to enjoy a coffee and pulla. It's a place I've read about, happy to pay it a visit finally. It's what one would call a hidden gem, except that it was very crowded (by tourists and locals alike). Must be great in the summer as well. After my sugary break, I was only about 20 minutes away by foot from my dad's flat. That's what's great about Helsinki (and even more so Finland in general), even in Helsinki city centre, one is but a short walk away from unspoilt nature - quite a rare thing in our day and age. Something I appreciate more and more, as I get older.

For the evening, the plan was to try out Helsinki Escape Room with Janne and Katja. Escape rooms are sort of real-life variants of the popular escape room computer/smartphone games. The idea is to basically solve a series of puzzles, and escape a room, in less than 60 minutes. In our case, the quest was called Archipelago, and the whole thing basically consisted of solving puzzles, mostly to find codes for locks that opened up doors, lockers and boxes (which included hints and codes to progress in the game). We made it all the way to the final control room, when time ran out. We were quite happy with our effort, in spite of our failure to save the Helsinki archipelago. According to the game hosts, we did very well (I suppose they say that to everybody, though?)

For dinner, we went to Gastrobar Emo. It wasn't my first choice for restaurant, but unfortunately choice was rather limited as a lot of restaurants are either closed between Christmas and New Year, or are closed on Mondays. Anway, not to worry, Gastrobar Emo turned out to be a fine choice. They are part of a growing number of restaurants in Helsinki serving Nouveau Nordic Cuisine, a kind of sophisticated take on traditional dishes, using local ingredients in an innovative manner. We tried the 5-course tasting menu along with some wine, so it ended up being a rather pricey meal. But an excellent one, the food was very creative and original (the portions were rather small, but we didn't leave the place hungry...), and the wines we had a great match for the dishes. So all in all, a very positive experience, and a great way to end my visit in Finland!

The next day, it was time to head back to France, which was on the one hand a pity, as I would've liked to experience a bit more of the Finnish winter. But on the other hand, I was looking forward to be reunited with Mathilde! And I did have a few hours in Amsterdam to look forward to as well, as I had a rather long stop-over there...

Christmas in Finland

This year, we were spending Christmas apart again, sadly, as Mathilde headed to the West of France, and I myself headed back to wintery Finland. Or rather, as the case was this year, a rather non-wintery Finland (the forecast promised something like 10 degrees on the plus side!).

I arrived after a rather long voyage (as the case often is, when going to northerly Finland), as planned on Tuesday evening, happy to meet my dad, who picked me up at the airport.

On Wednesday, the plan was to go and see Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens, but before then, we had a couple of administrative formalities to take care of. And lunch, of course, which we had at a nice little place called Pompiers. It's a nice little lunch restaurant, managed by the Michelin-starred chefs of Postres. The name refers to the fact that the restaurant is located in an old firefighters barrack (the cool, retro interior decoration still reverently remembers this past). Pretty good food, but most importantly, excellent value for money! (somewhat rare in Finland, and especially Helsinki).

What about the film then ? I loved it! Unlike the prequel trilogy released ten years ago or so (jeez, is it really that long ago?), Part VII very much lives up to the spirit of the original trilogy. The nerd in me was certainly awakened ;-)

For the evening, we visited Jukkis, Jarkko and the kids at Ylästö, in Vantaa. Great to see then again, and glad to see that Jarkko seems to be coping well on his own with the kids.

The next morning, what better way to start Christmas eve than with a Christmas Swim ? So off we went, to Oittaa, us three fools (me, my dad and Jukkis). Actually, to start with, it didn't really feel like winter swimming, as the temperature was several degrees on the plus side (as promised), and the landscape was sadly snow-free. Well, the moment we got into the water, though, it definitely felt like winter swimming!  I think I did a bit better than earlier this year (I did my first winter swim this January), managing maybe 30 strokes or so instead of 10. Getting out of the water was clearly easier with a more modest air temperature. I wouldn't go as far as saying it was too easy though ;-)

In the afternoon, before starting the Christmas eating marathon, I decided to have a walk around Helsinki for a bit, since the sun was happily out. Unfortunately, there was no snow, but the light was just perfect for a bit of photography. So I had quite a longish walk in the end, taking pictures and just taking in the beautiful views over Helsinki, from Kauppatori and up from Uspenski cathedral. It really is a beautiful city.

For the Christmas celebrations, we headed to my brother Tomi's place in Espoo. Nanna was there with her family, as well as Sofia and Julia as well with their other halves. As always, we had a great time, eating traditional Finnish Christmas food (I did bring some foie gras for a French touch...), opening up pressies (I had one this year, which was an improvement over last year ;-) ) and just chatting away.

Christmas day was very relaxed indeed. We had a proper lie-in, and only got up at around 11AM. We then slowly made our way over to Tomi's again, for more eating and socializing. This time, Janne and Katja joined us for the fun. Time for some sauna action as well!

The next day, the plan was to head to the West of Finland. We started off by visiting mum's grave at the cemetery, and paying a visit at Estrid's place, for some coffee and cake. From there, dad drove me and Janne to Tomppi's place in Kaarina, for a real nerd/lad's day out, or whatever you want to call it. It basically involved board games, beer, greasy food, sauna and just hanging out, basically. The usual suspects were present, that is to say Tomppi, Rasse, Oski, Jocke and Janne. Great fun! And after all the fun, I got the unique privilege to experience Kaarina night life with a real expert (Tomppi). We nearly beat the local champions at pool! (more thanks to Tomppi than me!)

On Sunday, 'twas then time to head back to Helsinki, Rasse drove us. Surprisingly, I didn't even have much of a hangover. What was great was that some snow had appeared on the ground overnight, so Finland was starting to look vaguely wintery. I finished off a busy weekend with a few beers in Kaisla with Jani, Jocke, Jonas and Jose, followed by a decent, if over-priced burger in Morrison's Grill.

Lunch @ my favourite Italian restaurant

It's been a while since we met up with the "local Finns" (Aki, Henna, Mikko and I'll even include Marianne, even if she is very French indeed!) so we thought it'd be a great idea to catch up before the Christmas holidays. So the perfect excuse for a nice lunch, then. Unfortunately, Aki and Henna had already headed off to Finland, so we ended up going with just Mikko and Marianne (and let's not forget about young Aleksi either!).

We decided to go to one of my favourite restaurants in Italy (come to think of it, anywhere!) - Il Giardino, located in the pretty village of Vallebona, just on the Italian side of the border on the Riviera. The concept is basically a set menu, where they serve a rather huge selection of antipasti (7-8 in all), dishes of pasta (3-4) and plates of meat (usually 3 kinds) with fries. And let's not forget about the free wine and desert either! So no surprise then that this is one of my favourite restaurants ;-)

As usual, we had a fabulous time. The food was just as great as ever, and great to catch up with Mikko and Marianne, as usual. The perfect way to prepare for all the eating that Christmas inevitably involves as well ;-)

U Giru de Natale

I've gone all bonkers this autumn, and started doing loads of sports. Swimming, running, mountain biking, you name it, I've done it (slight exaggeration... ;-) ). So, I was quite keen to take on the legendary Monaco 10 km Christmas run with a few colleagues of mine.

I headed down to Monaco with Philippe. After getting our bibs, we headed of for a quick coffee, as we showed up a bit early for the race (we wanted to be sure not to miss the start!). And then, time for the big race... There were quite a few people from work there, all in all we were about 10, I think.

I started off easy, as I knew the race was a deceptive one. 10 km is quite a short distance, but this is Monaco, which means there are a lot of slopes going up, and going down. The first 3 kilometers were quite easy, as it was relatively flat going, but then, it was time for the first important ascent - the staircase leading up to the Principality palace, "on the rock". Actually, it turned out not to be as difficult as expected, as the narrowness of the staircase leads to a kind of human traffic jam.

From then on, the going was pretty easy, until we got to the 2nd major ascent, the one taking us up from the port to the casino in Monte Carlo. But I'd dosed my strength quite well, so didn't have too much difficulty with that part either. And from then on, it was all downhill, as we ran downhill along the seaside to the goal, back in the port. Finally, I crossed the finishing line with a respectable time of 51 minutes. I even felt I like might've been able to do a bit better if I'd have had a bit more pace in the middle part of the race.

As expected, I wasn't the top runner at my company, that honour went to Olivier, who actually wan a basket of goodies for his efforts!

In the evening, I was quite happy to reward myself with a big meal at the Polygon Riviera (the swanky new shopping centre in Cagnes-sur-Mer), where we met up with Aurelien and Julie for a bit of a pre-Christmas meal. We decided to go to a rather classy-looking affair called Maotsumy, an Asian restaurant. We had a pretty decent, if overpriced meal there. Great to see Julie and Aurelien!

Dinner at MaYucca

We'd had a rather busy day DIY'ing at our flat, and to carry on with the theme, we headed into Nice for a bit of furniture shopping. We found what we were looking for, and then decided to reward ourselves with a Nice romantic meal in the city.

As you probably know by now, if you read my blog, we are rather big fans of all things Japanese, so naturally we decided to go for a Japanese meal. After thinking about the various options, we decided to try MaYucca, a nice little Japanese/French fusion restaurant, which was rather conveniently located. We'd tried it some time ago, and rally loved it.

Thankfully, we were able to get a table without a booking, as we were dining rather early. And the verdict ? Excellent. From the Japanese-style salad I had as a starter, to the more French-style main dish, to the desert, it was all quite simply delicious. I'm not always a big fan of fusion food (I tend to prefer the "real thing"), but in this case, I'm more than willing to make an exception. I believe we will be back!

Brunch time again

Today, the plan was to meet up with Naim for brunch in Nice. So I jumped on my velo bleu and cycled down to Vieux Nice, where we met up at the usual brunch place (Le Coin Quotidien). This time we were fewer than last time, we were joined by Tony and Naim's girldfriend, Sarah. Great to meet her, finally!

As always, we had a fab time, catching up and chatting away. As for the brunch itself, I think we might want to check out another place next time, as to be honest this place is, in my humble opinion, overpriced and not very good. And the service is still pretty unprofessional.