Mini Cote d'Azur road trip

We'd promised Marie to take her and Billy on a bit of a tour around the Cote d'Azur - the idea was to take our American friend around a few of the sights around the Cote.

We picked up Billy and Marie in Nice just before lunch time, and headed towards our first stop - Saint-Paul-de-Vence (one of the most famous and most pretty of the many medieval villages on the Cote d'Azur). Actually, we decided to start off by having lunch - after some quick consultation on the internet, we opted for a Danish restaurant (!?) called La Broutte.

The place is located across the Malvan valley from Saint-Paul-de-Vence - it's kind of tucked away from the main road, so we struggled a bit to find it, but we got there in the end. The restaurant is located in an old country-house, and there's a very nice terrace with a beautiful view towards the medieval village. The food is very typically Danish - they serve meatballs, smoked trout, amongst other things.

I went for the smoked trout, and was very happy with my choice indeed! A great little discovery, I suppose we'll probably be back!

The food bit out of the way, we made our way to the village, and had a nice walk around the place. There isn't actually all that much to see, unless you like art shops (apart from the nearby Fondation Maeght), but it's a very nice place to stroll around, when there aren't too many tourists around (which is the case this time of the year).

The next stop on our mini-road-trip was Antibes, a town most foreigners typically like. Again, the old town of Antibes is a great place to walk around. We particularly enjoy walking along the city walls - and we were there at just the right time, as the sun was just setting over the sea during our nice little stroll.

After checking out the Antibes Cathedral (Cathédrale Notre Dame de l’Immaculée Conception, to be precise!), we decided it was time for a drink. One can only take in so many touristy sites without a stop for refreshments. And what better place than that in Antibes than the Hopstore, an Irish pub in the old town ?

That brought an end to our nice little Sunday road trip!

Birthday meal at Mougins

Our dear friend Marie was celebrating her birthday this Saturday. So we were happy to accept her invitation to join her at one of our favourite restaurants on the Cote d'Azur, the Amandier in Mougins. L'Amandier is one of rather many restaurants on the Cote d'Azur that are "nearly Michelin starred" - the advantage of that status being that you basically get nearly Michelin-starred cuisine for a very reasonable price indeed.

Quite a big bunch joined up for the bash, mostly colleagues of Marie, but we also had a special guest start, Billy, from the US of A. As expected, we had a fantastic meal. I naturally had the Menu Plaisir, a bit on the pricey side (although I tend to think 45 Euros for a 4 course menu, with extra tasters in between, is very reasonable indeed), but very tasty indeed.

And, what's most important than the food, we had a great time, with a great bunch of people! Hopefully the meal was a nice introduction to French cuisine for our American guest Billy!

Skiing @ Auron

Winter's been a bit of a slow starter here in France, as it was back in Finland over the Christmas holidays (and in particular over new year in Megeve, where we didn't even get to do any skiing). But finally, the snow was starting to appear in the southern Alps, so time to hit the slopes methinks!

Snow was still sparse in Greolieres, where we often go, as it's the closest ski resort, so the choice was between Auron and Isola 2000 in the Mercantour national park. Usually we go to Isola 2000, but this time we decide to head to nearby Auron. Conditions were pretty much spot on - plenty of snow on the slopes (more than I was hoping for, especially as there wasn't much to be seen on the way to Auron) and a clear blue sky.

We spent a wonderful day enjoying the snowy slopes. We didn't feel overly ambitious skiing-wise, so mostly did relaxed blue slopes, even if we did do a couple of red ones. No black slopes this time around ;-). Conditions really were pretty much perfect, and what's best, there weren't all that many people on the slopes either.

All in all, a fantastic way to spend a sunny January Sunday!

Back in our favourite Japanese restaurant

I suppose I shouldn't write a blog entry each time we go out to eat at a restaurant (and, believe it or not, I actually don't! ;-) ). But, some places deserve all the free publicity they get (ahem, maybe I'm being a bit pretentious to think enough people read my blog for it to be called publicity ? Oh well, one never knows, I suppose...) - and one of those places is a restaurant called Yoko in Cagnes-sur-Mer.

It is, of course, a Japanese restaurant ;) One run by a lovely Japanese-French couple (the lady is called, unsurprisingly, Yoko). We've only met Yoko, but she's truly lovely to us each time. So, anyways, tonight was the night for another visit to our favourite Japanese eatery in France.

The place is really cozy, and evokes Japan in a perfect way (without going over the top either). The food is quite simply, but all dishes are excellent and delicious. A special mention also to the deserts, which are all great (we've tried 'em all).

So, should you ever find yourselves hungry in Cagnes-sur-Mer, give Yoko a go, you won't be disappointed!

A dose of Asian culture in Nice

Today was yet another glorious, sunny day on the French Riviera. The original idea had been to go skiing, but alas, we had a bit of a lie-in, so decided to do something else. Why not a bit of culture ? We'd driven past the Musee des Arts Asiatiques near Nice airport the other day, and reflected upon the fact that we'd not been there for quite some time. So, we decided to head over there.

As the weather was magnificent, we decided to cycle down there. What better way to get there, than cycling by the beautiful Med ? So, off we went, on our velo bleus. The museum itself is a pretty cool architectural feat, designed by the Japanese architect Kenzo Tange (who's probably most famous for his peace memorial in Hiroshima). It's a very Japanese structure, with very simply and pure forms, blending in perfectly with the adjacent pond, which the museum shares with Parc Phoenix.

There were two exhibitions on, apart from the rather small, but interesting, permanent collection (that we'd already checked out). On the bottom floor, there was a rather interesting exhibition depicting the history of theatre in Asia through history, leading up to Mata Hari (what does a World War I spy got to do with any of this? She performed oriental dances...). The exhibition was rather excellent, showcasing beautiful costumes, mostly from India, China and Japan. So now we know the difference between Peking Opera, Bunraku (Japanese puppet theatre), No (traditional Japanese theatre) and Kabuki (a more popular, "light-weight" kind of theatre...). Interesting stuff, really!

On the top floor, there was a pretty cool exhibition on the works of Kinji Isobe, a Japanese artist who works with Washi, a type of Japanese paper (Wa means Japanese, Shi paper in Japanese). Making the paper is a rather laborious and manual process (actually the paper and the process of making it is a Unesco Intangible Heritage "object"), and results in a paper that's rougher but also sturdier than ordinary paper. Kinji makes good use of the paper, I particularly liked his panoramic depiction of a forest.

All in all, a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon! And what's best, the museum is free!

Antibes Sharks vs. Rouen

One of the great things about the place I work at is that there are plenty of "extra-curricular" activities available through the "Commite d'Entreprise". One of those is that the CE has 5 season tickets for Antibes Sharks, the local basket ball team. I'd been to see them once already, with my dad and my brother, a couple of years ago, at the old stadium.

So me and Ilario decided to book out 2 of them for this evening, when the Sharks were facing Rouen. We arrived at the brand-new stadium (the Azur Arena), and got through security with less hassle than during the recent Nice football game.

Rouen were 17th in the League (Antibes and Roen play in the 2nd divistion of France), so it ought to be a winnable game for Antibes. Things didn't start very well, as Rouen took an early lead. But as the Antibes team warmed up, they picked up the pace, and eventually Antibes took the lead. Mostly due to their American reinforcements, actually, the top 5 scorers on the Antibes team were all American! (including one Tim Blue, who actually won the Finnish championships a few years ago for KTP).

In the end, after a rather exciting match, Antibes won with a score of 87-81 (the score was very close right up to the end, so the Sharks victory wasn't a foregone conclusion...). The hero of the match was Akim Mitchell, with 33 points scored. Tim did pretty well too, with strong defensive play and good play on the rebounds.

Entertainment during the breaks was, as always, provided by Sharky (player number one) and of course SHARKSANGELS!

All in all, good fun! Wouldn't mind going along for another game.

La Chapelle de Notre Dame de la Vie.

I'm quite lucky, having my office located in Sophia Antipolis. Not only is Sophia-Antipolis considered "the Silicon Valley" of France, which is great in terms of professional opportunities. But it's also located in an area with a lot of beautiful nature. Just next door to the office, the Parc de Valmasque has great footpaths, and mountain biking paths. This has lead me to do rather more sports than I'm used to!

This particular time, we decided to cycle over to nearby Mougins, and more specifically, to the Chapelle de Notre Dame de la Vie. It's a rather curious little chapel for at least two reasons. First of all, it was immortalized in a painting by the one and only Winston Churchill (yes, Mr. Churchill was a rather multi-skilled individual, and one of those skills was painting). Second of all, none other than Pablo Picasso spent the last 12 years of his life in his villa, which was located just next doors (the Mas de la Chapelle de Notre Dame de la Vie). Apparently he very much appreciated the chapel. It's easy to see why - it's a very beautiful place.

There's also a pretty nice view over the surrounding scenery, which we checked out (and in my case, immortalized with my smartphone, naturally). The ride back to the office was pretty much routine stuff in the Valmasque. I have to say, my bike and myself were both in rather messy states after the ride - the tracks were very muddy after the rain from the day before!

Back in the Esterel!

New year, and plenty of fat gained during the holidays to burn off (actually, less than I expected, but still...). So on this sunny winter Sunday, I was more than happy to join my colleagues Philippe and D.B. (code name used to protect my mystery colleagues name...) for a bit of mountain biking in Massif d'Esterel (a great place for it!). Apparently it was going to get "technical" this time around...

The Esterel looked rather gorgeous this morning, there was a kind of layer of mist covering the landscapes, with the tips of the mountains coming out of the mist. The mountaintops almost looked like islands in a sea of mist... Beautiful.

Things did indeed start rather technical, with a rather steep single track, heading down the slopes, towards Lac de l'Avellan. And how did I fear ? Things did indeed get rather technical (there were plenty of roots and slippery rocks to worry about), and I have to admit I even got off the bike a couple of times. But I managed to get down to the bottom, without actually falling and hurting myself. Well, almost... Of course, just as I reached the end of the single, there was a dead easy bridge to cross across a stream, where I naturally slipped, and fell (nearly into the stream!). Nothing much got hurt apart from my dignity (apart from a slightly scraped leg), so we carried on.

No more technical singles for me then, so we decided to pedal up to Mount Vinaigre, which is the highest peak in the Massif d'Esterel, measuring a lofty 618 meters. Not that high, perhaps, but the views from up there over the Esterel and the Cote d'Azur are pretty amazing. We had about 350-400 meters of height difference to deal with all in all, which actually didn't feel all
that hard.


So I suppose I've made some progress, then, I'm pretty sure it was much harder the first time around, last year!

Heading back to our cars, we had a go at some somewhat easier singles than we did at the beginning of the ride, it was all great fun!

All in all, a splendid way to spend a Sunday morning!

New Year in Megeve!

I arrived at Nice airport rather late from Amsterdam, and was very happy indeed to be reunited with Mathilde, who met me at the aiport. We didn't have much time to rest at home, though, as the plan was to spend New Year at Megeve, in the French Alps, with our dear friends Flore and Christian (and let's not forget about Lilian and Melodie either!). So after a bit of a lie-in, and lunch, it was time to pack our things and head off towards the Alps.

Getting to Megeve from the Riviera is a bit of a pain, as basically it requires getting around the Alps somehow. There are plenty of options - the quickest & easiest one (the one we went for) is to drive through Italy and take a rather expensive tunnel through the Alps (either the Frejus or Mont Blanc tunnel). We opted for the Frejus tunnel option (which is the quickest option - but not the cheapest as the tunnel costs 45 Euros!).

Anyway, we arrived at Megeve at around 8 in the evening, just in time for dinner ;-) Or actually, just in time for some Vin Chaud, as we ended up meeting up with the Mollard family in downtime Megeve, at the ice skating rink. After a vin chaud, we headed back to their flat for a nice dinner. Tartiflette was on the menu - what else (tartiflette is the savoyard dish par excellence - basically composed of Reblochon cheese, lardons and potatoes - with ingredients like that, how could one possibly go wrong?).

Much to our disappointment, the Alps were about as snow-less as Finland had been - so there was not to be any skiing this time around, unfortunately. Which actually suited us just fine, as we were quite tired after our respective Christmas celebrations, and didn't mind just chilling out. So we spent the day in a rather laid-back manner, playing games, watching telly, being jumped on by Lilian and Melodie, etc.

We kicked off the New Year's eve celebrations by heading into Megeve town centre. Megeve, being the oldest ski resort in France, is a pretty nice little town (much nicer than a lot of the more modern purpose built ski resorts). So it's quite a nice place to stroll around. We rather quickly ended up at the main square, where free vin chaud (and hot chocolate for the kids) was kindly being served up by the municipality. The atmosphere at the main square was pretty electric

We cooked the new year's eve dinner at the house, some sweet potato chips, with a nice roast to follow. And to top it all off, a fantastic Apple Tarte prepared by Mathilde. And plenty of champagne and wine to go with it, naturally! No clubbing, no crazy partying, but civilized socializing, then, rather? (well, the kids did manage to liven things up a fair bit!).

After the wining and dining, we were of course treated to the rather impressive New Year's eve fireworks. As they are organized by the municipalities in France, they are somewhat more impressive than in Finland, for example, where the fire works are organized by private persons. The fact that those persons are quite often drunk, though, means that the fireworks in Finland tend to be more "exciting" affairs in the sense that you never know what will happen...

The next day, we all woke up, rather hangover-free (are we getting old or something? Isn't one supposed to have a hangover on New Year's day?). The weather looked quite promising (compared to the rather misty weather we had the day before), so we decided it was time to do some outdoors activities (in spite of some less than enthusiastic reactions from some of the younger members of our party).

So off we headed, to Lac Javen, a nice little lake, located just on the Southern slopes of the ski resort. An energetic (and somewhat adventurous, given the slippery & icy roads) 40 minute walk from the parking took us up to the lake, from where we had some pretty amazing views around the surrounding mountains. And there was even some snow, and more importantly, beer and vin chaud.

Before dinner, we had time for a bit of ice skating as well. It's been a while since the last time - actually I think the last time was probably at Megeve as well. Well, I didn't fall, so I suppose I did all right then ;-)

For dinner, I prepared a proper Finnish salmon soup with Mathilde's expert assistance (actually, I was maybe doing more of the assisting...). It's always a success with foreigners (but anyway, how can one go wrong with a recipe consisting of salmon, potatoes, cream and dill?). It was this time around as well, even our young, strict culinary critic Lilian seemed to enjoy the soup.

The next day, it was sadly time to hit the road. Or, actually, given the mist that had made its appearance again, perhaps it was a good time to leave. This time around, we decided to drive up to Grenoble, and take the Route Napoleon from there. A much cheaper, and more scenic option, if a bit longer...

All in all, a great way to welcome the new year. Merci beaucoup, Flore et Christian, et a bientot!