St. Tropez

This year we decided to take a day trip to St. Tropez, a once-quiet fishing village turned into jet setter / tourist hot spot. We were there on a Tuesday in April and there were still hordes of tourists (the picture below was taken during lunchtime when there were relatively few people out on the streets).

French film buffs will recognize the gendarmerie below from the Louis de Funès film Le gendarme de Saint-Tropez.

There's plenty of shopping to be done from High Street...

...to high end

Marshmallows, chocolate eggs and fruit-shaped marzipan in a sweet shop's Easter window display

Unexpected passageway between two shops -- if only all alleys were framed by arches and paved in stone...

Admiring the port from afar

Côte d'Azur 2011

Beachtime in Roquebrune Cap Martin

Last month we embarked on what has become an annual trip to the south of France. We always stay in a town called Roquebrune Cap Martin located between Menton and Monaco. Our days are filled with strolls in nearby towns, day trips to towns a bit further down the road -- this year we went to St. Tropez and Aix en Provence -- and plenty of beachtime.

Seaside in Menton, France

After several months of recurring colds and lots of work, this year's visit offered a much-needed break for all of us. We thoroughly enjoyed spending a whole week together with no time constraints, plenty of sun and, for me, lots of car time to advance on one of my crochet projects.

View from our balcony of a newly-planted vegetable garden

I'll do a few photo-only postings of a few of the places we visited in the coming days.

Downtime

Has it really been one month since my last post? Time has flown by around here recently. Despite being very busy at work, we were able to take off a week this month and take our annual trip to the south of France. I posted lots of pictures last year and will be posting some more over the weeks to come.

All the Easter chocolate around here (above) has kept me from doing much baking. Plus, the fruit in the stores and at the market is getting better and better...another reason why I am so glad that Spring is finally here.

I'm also very close to finishing a crochet project that I've been working on since autumn. I was able to make a lot of progress in the car during our vacation and yesterday while watching the royal wedding coverage. Hope to have something to share with you soon.

I Want Candy

With Halloween just around the corner, I thought it would be the perfect time to post about the Confiserie Florian, an artisanal candy factory we visited during our trip to the South of France last April. The factory is tucked away in a village called Tourrettes-sur-Loup in the French Riviera’s back country and produces all sorts of sweets including candied fruit, jams, syrups, caramels...

The highlight of the factory tour was getting to watch as they made lemon-flavored hard candies. The steps we saw included pouring very hot, flavored sugar syrup out of a copper bowl and onto a cooling table.

The “candy dough” was flipped and folded several times and then cut into several large chunks.

Each of these was passed through a candy press, which resulted in what looked to me like a long, narrow sheet of yellow bubble wrap.

Each sheet was then struck lightly against the table to break apart the individual candies.

Here are some more photos, including the packaging area and the gift shop where, of course, the tour ended.

On the topic of sweets, I discovered the Candy Professor blog via a recent article about the villanization of candy -- pretty interesting blog for the candy lovers amongst us.

French Riviera

 

I haven't posted in a while, so hopefully this VERY LONG post will compensate...

We have the good fortune to live a "hop, skip and a jump" away (by plane) from the French Riviera. Nearly every summer since I moved to France 6 years ago, we've spent at least an extended weekend there, normally around Bastille Day. We stay in Roquebrune-Cap Martin, which is one of the areas that has resisted the overdevelopment you see in much of the South of France.

View of Roquebrune-Cap Martin from our balcony

This year, we had some unused vacation time saved up and, since I am due in mid-August, we decided that if we were going to take one last vacation before the baby arrives it would have to be in April / May at the latest. I had originally planned a road trip through Eastern France, Germany, Switzerland and Austria, but we ultimately decided that given my condition, it would be too ambitious to do all of those countries in 10 days and that I may be too uncomfortable spending so much time in a car.

So, we decided to return to the French Riviera, since we knew we would not be able to go there this summer and, to be honest, there are few other places in France that we find more enjoyable and relaxing. It was also nice to visit in mid-Spring instead of the Summer when the weather can get quite hot and the traffic is bumper-to-bumper in some places. Our timing was perfect because the following week the region experienced some pretty destructive weather.

Here are some photos we took over the course of our stay.

More balcony views in Roquebrune-Cap Martin

 

Monaco - Monte Carlo

Given its proximity to where we stay, it's very common for us to visit Monaco several times during the course of a visit, especially at night when the sportscars are on parade.

View of the port, La Condamine -- you can see some of the stands that had been set up for the annual Formula One Monaco Grand Prix  

Prince's Palace 

 

On the road to the Saint Nicolas Cathedral (rendez-vous 3 July 2011 for the nuptuals of Albert and Charlene!!!)

 

 

 

Monte Carlo Casino

 

 

Hotel de Paris 

 

Vintage Mercedes with the Café de Paris in the background

Some shots of the marine life at the Oceanographic Museum

Eze

One of the French Riviera's most well-known perched villages...I wish I had taken more photos because these do not do it justice.

Grasse

AKA the world's perfume capital. If you're interested in perfume and the industry in general, there are several museums / factory tours to take in Grasse. We went to a Provence costume exhibition sponsored by Fragonard and strolled the city.

 

Nice

On my first visit to France when I was in high school, we spent one week in this bustling city. This trip, we spent most of our time in the old town.

The flower market at the Cours Saleya

Place Rosetti

 

I love this next picture of the two men talking, I don't know why...

Beachside... 

Ventimiglia, Italy

We didn't spend too much time in this French-Italian border town, but at least the beach had the merit of not being overcrowded.

Peillon

Last year we visited several perched villages and really enjoyed it. On the lookout for new ones to discover, we found Peillon just outside of Nice.

Now, I ask you, how exactly would one go about getting a couch delivered and through the door in a town like this?

Awww, look, it's Simon's scruffier (and undoubtedly street-smarter) doppelgänger 

Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat & Beaulieu-sur-Mer

We made a couple of day trips to Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat and neighboring Beaulieu-sur-Mer to visit the Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild and the Villa Kérylos.

We also took some time to scope out housing for when we retire. Right now this property is in the lead:

With this one running a close second:

More seriously, according to a security guard at the Villa Ephrussi, the above property is reputedly being built for a certain former Russian president...

Here are some photos of the Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild + gardens + some magnificent views from the estate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here are some photos of the Villa Kérylos located in Beaulieu-sur-Mer, just across the bay from the Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild. 

 

 

   

The ancient Greek equivalent of today's living room. Authentic, yes; comfortable, not sure about that...

Wouldn't you just die to have a bathroom like this? Mine is the only room left in our apartment that still needs to be renovated, and it looks like an Eastern Bloc torture chamber compared to this. 

That's all for this year!