Moving to Cagnes-sur-Mer

After 10 great months in Nice, it’s time to finally move on… Mathilde is going to start working in Sophia Antipolis, so the commute would just be too long…

We decided upon a nice little town between Nice and Antibes called Cagnes-sur-Mer. That way, both of us have a reasonably short commute, and we’re still close to Nice, and still by the sea ;-). We found a nice flat right in the centre, in a newly completed building, for a pretty reasonable price (well, reasonable for this part of the world, anyway…).




After the usual administrative hassle that seems to be required for almost anything in France (needed to get proof that you are steadily employed, insurance, two guarantors etc) – we were finally set to move! So we got up early Wednesday morning, drove down to Cagnes, and picked up the rental van. We had enlisted the help of Hannu, Sami and Mikko (my trusty compatriots here on the Riviera) for the evening, but optimistically figured we could easily do a couple of van-loads during the day, and only leave the trickiest and heaviest things to the evening.


Wrong… Put it like this, 3 van-loads (as well as a few beers and pizzas) later, about midnight, we still hadn’t managed to empty the flat. At least, thanks to the help of the guys, we had managed to move all the heavy stuff).







So Thursday turned out to be a day of hard work as well, as I drove between Nice and Cagnes with my parents Scenic packed to the roof with boxes, bags and odd bits of furniture (it’s actually amazing how much you can squeeze into that car) while Mathilde was packing the last boxes and cleaning up the flat. But, by midnight, we were finished!

Of course the work was still not finished – the next few days (the first two without electricity) we had to unpack everything, install the washing machine (at times some nasty thoughts involving guns and whoever designed the bloody kitchen came to my mind – that bloody thing took hours to get into place), get a fridge changed (it mysteriously stopped working after the move…) etc. But we got there in the end!

Meeting Sandrine & Carl in Hyeres

We knew that Sandrine (a good friend of ours from our years in the UK) was visiting Hyeres (where she's from) with her boyfriend Carl, and finally managed to get in touch with her - and decided to drive down to meet them in Hyeres (or Hyeres-les-Palmiers as its full name is - quite appropriately).



So we jumped into the car, and drove down the Provencal (the A8 motorway, which goes from the Italian border, through the Cote d'Azur, to Aix-en-Provence) towards Hyeres. A mere hour and a half later, we arrived (we were expecting worse, as it looked sooo far on the map...). We headed down to the port with Sandrine's mum, where there was a market (reminded me a bit of the Brick Lane market in London, except that we were surrounded by palm trees instead of Cockneys and Mockneys ;-). Having had a look at everything from 2nd hand books, cheap clothes to local farm products - we headed down to the beach. After a very nice lunch, we relaxed on the beach for a couple of hours.



Beach life at Hyeres is quite different from around Nice (better, you could say), as the beach is much better (sand instead of pebbles!), less crowded and somehow more chilled out (with relaxed bars and restaurants by the beach). It felt a bit more like Spain than the Cote d'Azur, somehow... (in a positive way)



Having roasted ourselves in the sun for a couple of hours, we headed for the Giens peninsula - a really beautiful, peaceful place, from where you have some great views over Porquerolles (one of the islands near Hyeres) as well as Hyeres. After relaxing there for a while it was unfortunately time to get into the car and head back for Nice. We'll be back for sure - maybe we'll visit one of the islands next.

Visiting Cimiez

We've decided to move out of Nice, since Mathilde has been assigned a teaching position in Sophia Antipolis (which is kind of like the silicon valley of France, with over 40,000 people working in high-tech companies) - Sophia is a bit too far from Nice to commute.



So we decided that we probably ought to do a bit of touristy stuff in Nice as well - since we actually haven't gotten around to doing that much over the past year. So we decided to visit the Matisse museum, which is located a bit outside the town centre in an area called Cimiez. Cimiez is a very famous part of Nice in its own right, as it's where the Romans built a city a long time ago (there is a still a relatively well-preserved Roman theatre there). It's a very nice area with old and very impressive villas and appartment buildings, dating back to the late 19th and early 20th century.



The Matisse museum (which had recently reopened after some major restoration works) was very interesting. Not only because of the impressive paintings on display, but also because there was also quite a lot of information about his life, especially on the Cote d'Azur (where he spent most of his life). And it didn't take too long to visit - which for me is quite important as my attention span when it comes to art museums is somewhat limited :-)

Young guests from Paris

Having seemingly crossed most of France during her holiday, Muriel arrived in Nice with her whirlwind of a daughter, Alix, and the nearly equally energetic twin boys, Paul and Lucas. About half a day in their company left me completely exhausted... OK, so maybe I'm exaggerating a bit (although having said that, I think I must've run around the old town of Nice 2 or 3 times during Friday afternoon ;-).



Actually, I have to admit, it was great fun ;-) And then in the evening we celebrated Paul's and Lucas' birthday - with a great strawberry Tiramisu cake Mathilde had baked (it was the first - and I very much hope not last - time I had that - honestly I could've eaten the cake all by myself...).

Meeting Ollie and Raphaële in Cannes

You might remember from a couple of blog entries ago that we ran into Ollie and Raphaële at the airport in Paris, and that they were on their way to the Cote d'Azur ? Well, they were still there, so we decided to meet up. Ollie's parents have a place in Greolieres up in the mountains, which is where we were thinking of meeting up at first. However, nice as Greolieres is, we figured Cannes might offer more options for a night out ;-).

So Cannes it was. I left work at four, hoping to avoid the rush-hour traffic into Cannes (my last trip there took me about 2 hours, so...). In vain - I was stuck again, swearing in frustration along with all the other poor souls (at least I had aircon...). Although this time it "only" took me one hour to reach the centre.



Having parked, I met up with Ollie and Raphaële in front of le Palais des Festivales, from where we strolled over to the Suquet - the old town. It's a nice part of the town, although it is extremely touristy - although fortunately of the culinary kind (I think every single building on the main drag is a restaurant - and at least all the ones we've tried are pretty good). We walked up to the top of the old town, from where there are some great views over Cannes and along the Cote d'Azur. There is also a nice church up there, and an old castle which now houses a museum.



After having walked around for a bit on the Croisette as well, we went for a nice meal in the Suquet. Then it was time for the tearful farewells, and for me to head back to Nice. Which proved to take an eternity again - the signposting to the motorway is interesting to say the least - let's just say that it gives you a great tour of Cannes (took me about 1 hour - again...) - no wonder I was the only one following the signs ;-).

Afternoon in Paris

After taking the TGV back to Paris from Angers, I had a few hours to spend in Paris before flying back to Nice. So I decided to have a walk around Paris, which really is one of my favourite cities in the world to walk around (which is kind of a paradox, since Paris is, apart from very beautiful, also a city of grand boulevards and mad drivers).

So I headed down towards Boulevard St. Germain from Gare Montparnasse, and from there towards the Latin quarter and Place de St. Michel. I really love this part of Paris, with its cafes and 2nd-hand bookshops. I spent a good 2-3 hours looking at books and BD's (Band Dessinees - French comics).




I did also have time for a bit of touristy stuff, as my walk happened to take me past Abbaye de Saint-Germain-des-Prés - which happens to be the oldest abbey of Paris (the current building dates back to the 11th century). The church is very impressive, built in the Romanesque style - and made a nice break from the hustle and bustle of Paris.

Visiting Angers

Sunday morning, we got up bright an early, and off we went to Gare Montparnasse to catch the TGV to Angers (294 kilometres in 90 minutes - pretty good).

We spent a few relaxing days in Angers visiting Mathilde's dad - here are a few photos...




Having lunch with Joel, Francoise and Herquise.



View over the Maine river, during our walk around "Lac de Maine".



Visiting Mathilde's granddad in the Sarthe department.



Visiting Angers (the picture shows the 13th-century Saint Maurice cathedral).