When You're Blue, Indulging Is All You Can Do...Welcome to the Côte d'Azur

I have officially caught the Côte d'Azur bug. Tuesday Elliot and I took the ferry to St. Marguerite, a little island just off the coast of Cannes. It was such a lovely day; the beaches were full, boats were out...like this little guy:

Though small at a distance, don't let this yacht fool you. It comes fully equipped with a swimming pool, motor-ski dock at the back and it wouldn't surprise me if it had a helicopter landing.... 

Walking around the island was lovely and warm. So much so, that we decided to take a little dip in the blue waters that give the coast its name. 

That was just a foot tester. We brought our bathing suits and swam out to some of the boats that were docked near by. God I love Mediterranean water! So warm! 

Anyways, after we were cooled off, we went up to the little castle on the island and took in the nice view of Cannes' coast. 

The way back down to the port was very cute, with cobble-stone roads and old little stone houses...

Upon our return to Cannes, we decided to go for a little snack. Now, this whole trip so far has been undoubtedly inspiring, fun, delicious....but nothing had prepared me for the new obsession I was about to develop...That is, the obsession for the French Macaroon

Specifically, the macaroons from Jean Luc Pele, a bakery with locations in Cannes and Paris.

To our astonishment, the man working there gave us a free macaroon to sample their new caramel creme brule. My soul died and went to heaven. Fortunately, I was reborn, only to die again when I tried the "Framboise" (raspberry) and then, my so far favourite, "Chocolat 80%". 

Once I found my balance again, we headed back home where Elliot and I made dinner for the household of nine: Elliot's father, grandparents, aunt, uncle and two cousins plus us. I became very close friends with his four year old cousin Amelie, who accepted the role as my personal French tutor

Indiana, Amelie and me

Wednesday, in search of a bit more of rich glamour, we took the train to Montecarlo, Monaco. We walked around the Casino, which is so fancy that you cannot take pictures, but imagine high ceilings, plaster carvings, mosaics, stained glass windows.... A much more classy, rich, European version of a Las Vegas gambling spot. 

On the other side of the city (but only about a 15 minute hike), the Montecarlo Palace had some amazing views of just about the entire country of Monaco

One of the yachts we saw from there actually did have a helicopter landing....

On our way down we found a little amphitheatre whose perfectly circular shape makes your voice bounce right back at you when you stand in the middle. It was super cool. 

For my last day today, we visited Grasse, a town located right on a hillside just about 10 minutes away. Grasse is mainly known for its perfume factories. We visited Fragonard, one of the factories that is open to the public. 

The tour through the little building was quite insightful. I never knew how much went into making perfume. 

The difference between perfume and eau de toilette is the concentration of ingredients. Perfume has up to 40% concentration of aromatic essence, while eau de toilette only has about 10%. Hence, perfume is the more expensive. The real difference isn't the potency of the smell though, it's how long it will last on your skin. 

Those are different essences or smells that are mixed to make one perfume. The perfume makers have to go through ten years of training which ends in a test where they have to identify 250 unique smells. Then, if you want to become what is called a Nez or Nose, which are the masters of perfume making, one would have to take another test, where 3,000 smells must be correctly identified. There are only 50 in the world, and they are the ultimate perfume assemblers. 

After being enlightened and pleasantly scented with good perfume, we made our way, once again through old, narrow streets....

...on our way to a little Patisserie that Elliot had stumbled upon in the past, to have some tea and pastries. 

Once again, good Lord! Just the menu was mouth watering...

Of each of those little desserts, only one is made each day from scratch, and they are all served with its' perfect pair of home-made ice-cream. 

After much torment, I was able to settle on one...The Cara Blanco: Fondant chocolate blanc au caramel salé, coeur coulant caramel salé aver glace chocolate noir. 

What  does that mean? It means White chocolate fondant (meaning that the little cake would be gooey and delicious) with a heart or centre of salted caramel, served with dark chocolate ice cream. 

......very little time after.....

It took all the effort and strength that I had not to lick that plate clean. 

For my last dinner here in France, Elliot and I went to, what I now have heard from several people, is the best pizza place in all of Cannes (and according to the very rich seeming lady sitting next to us), possibly the best in the world. 

I ordered Le Neptune, with tomato, garlic, parsley and tuna. 

The pizzas are made in a huge stone oven that you can see if you peak in, and I must admit, it was amazing. 

Of course, I had to go by and indulge one more time in my new favourite food item.....Yes, you guessed it.... I bought more macaroons

But they were the small size, and I promise they will be my last ones for a very very long time, so shush. 

It's hard to believe that I'm already leaving tomorrow. This has been such a different, fun part of my trip.

So much good company, good food, good weather...and I must say, I have learned a new word or two in French, which is an added bonus. 

Alors au revoir la France. Jusqu'à la prochaine fois!

P.S. I am  now heading off to Spain, where I will be staying in Cabo de Palos, a small beach town near Cartagena, Murcia. Now, one of my favourite things about this place is how disconnected I feel when I go there....Translation: I am probably not going to have access to internet, therefore the blog may be stagnant for a few days. I'm doing pretty well so far though, so stay tuned! I'm planning on being back! 

Nicean Day With a Hint of Paris

Lovely, lovely day. So long to London weather, Tuesday I was awaken by a beautiful sunny morning. Once we were ready, Elliot and I went down to Cannes by bus to meet up with his friend Vanessa, and her brother JF, and the four of us set off by train to Nice.

We first walked through Old Nice, which is filled with windy roads, allies and little shops. I loved the old artesian bakery, filled with amazing looking marzipan and typical French cookies and candy.

Elliot took us to a little corner restaurant, where we would have a lunch of traditional Nicene food. 

I had really wanted to try Socca, a thin pancake, similar to a crepe, but made of chickpea flower, and slightly crispier around the edges. We ordered some of that, plus a pan bagnat: a huge sandwich filled with hard boiled egg, lettuce, tomato, onion and tuna, which you then season with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and salt, and finally Pissaladiere, a thin bread crust (similar to pizza) topped with caramelized onions and anchovies. 

 Yum! 

We then picked up another friend, Lee, and walked up to the old castle of Nice. 

From there, you could practically see the whole city. It was really beautiful, as you can see. 

 After our long walk around the city, we took the train back to Cannes and Elliot and I went back home for dinner and a bit of freshening up. Not too long after, we were back in Vanessa and JF's hotel room, ready for a night out to, what I've heard, is one of the most popular clubs in the South of France; Le Palais.

We clearly were in a cool spot since Paris Hilton decided to come by and party a bit with us... I'll just say that she acts just like she does on TV.

The whole night was very exhausting, and very fun. What else can I say? 

Why has this weather followed me?

Well! I am in Cannes. Well, technically Mougins, a town just a few minutes away. Unfortunately, I was followed by the lovely rainy weather I was experiencing in Britain (please appreciate the sarcasm).

But, unlike the UK, it was still really warm, so running through the rain as Elliot and I tried to get to the restaurant where we would be having dinner, it wasn't so bad. The soaked clothing was worth it though when we ran through a skinning ally-way lined with small bars and restaurants and squeezed into the tiny La Farigoule, a  whole in the wall restaurant run by three crazy French ladies. And when I say crazy, I mean crazy. 

All of the customers (including me) were very often startled by the sudden yells coming from the back, as the three of them ran around yelling at each other and arguing with customers about what they should eat etc etc. Their food was incredible though. For the entree I had their fish soup, which came with a dish of croutons topped with ali-oli and sharp cheese. 

Then, for le plate principale I strangely decided to be adventurous and try the steak tartare, which to my great surprise, I loved! 

It was so much food, and the craziest lady of the three made sure we finished everything. 

And of course, there was dessert, which came with the menu. Elliot and I shared a chocolate cake and poached caramel apples with ice-cream. But that was not before the crazy lady #1 had taken out all of their tarts and cakes (lemon, apricot...) and showed them to us and the table next door. 

I was funnily surprised when the check came, not because of the amount, but rather the very formal presentation...

Just a straight to the point piece of paper with the amount we owed. 

By the time we were finished, it had stopped raining, so we took a walk through the little streets and water front of Cannes. 

A great first day in the South of France. Hopefully the weather will be a bit better in the next few days...

Beauty, Culture and Tradition

Busy busy last two days. Yesterday I woke up and headed over to Kensington in the late morning to meet up with an old family friend from Valencia: Layhing. Unfortunately her daughter Natalia was out of town for a concert (she is in a youth orchestra) in the north of England, but Layhing and I had a lovely time together nonetheless.
I first dropped by her house in a very cute neighborhood near the Olympia station

Soon after, we headed to Brompton Road on our way to lunch. We passed by Harrods, which, at first, seemed like an overly large department store

but once inside, I was proved wrong...

Harrods is such a massive, enormous thing that it can't even fit into the category of "store". I felt like it was a mix between a very very very gigantic Bloomingdales, mixed with a grocery store, a cafe, several restaurants, an amusement park and a lot of steroids.
The highlight for me were the laborynth of food stores, decorated with tile mosaiacs and chandeliers.

To get to the second floor we took the "Egyptian Staircase" where a sphinx was waiting for us at the top of the umpteenth level, and manikins and an opera singer (yes, the music on the escalators was coming from a live opera singer) stared down at us through balconies on the sides of the moving staircases. 

After we got out of the maze of extravagantly decorated "luxury rooms" on the first floor and tore ourselves away from the plethora of beautiful jewelry and accessory displays that looked like they belonged in an art gallery, we heading over to an actual museum, The V&A, to have lunch.

 The Restaurant area of the museum is also incredible eye candy, with tile all around the walls and floors, huge lounge chairs, high ceilings with incredible molding, stained glass windows and chandeliers.

We followed lunch with a look around the fashion exhibition, where they were displaying clothing from a large span of decades, from the 20's, 60's and even 1800's. My favorite was this dress from the late 19th century:

Following the museum, we met up with a longtime friend of Layhing's and went to see a summer BBC Prom concert at the Albert Memorial Concert Hall.

The concert hall was incredible on the inside, seating over 8,000 people. As "promenaders" for the Proms, we were standing in the center, and were very close to the orchestra. The symphony for the night was Beethoven's 1st and 2nd. It was such a great experience. I felt like I was wreaking culture by the time it was over.
This morning we headed out to Notting Hill. We passed by some extremely beautiful, fancy houses...

 ...through a park in Hillsborough...

Which had birds like these walking around....

 ...we passed by restaurants with cool cars in the display...

 ...and finaly met up with Sophie and Adam at the Portobello Market, a huge street fair. There, I said goodbye to Layhing and Sophie, Adam and I wondered around the many stalls and cute antique shops, browsing and picking up a few gifts for those back home.

 We eventually stopped for lunch in the food stand section of the market. I had a cumin chicken wrap.

 Once we were filled with yummy street food, we made our way to the posher side of town, to see Buckingham Palace. I made a new friend at the gate who had an awesome hat,

 and discovered my talent as a royal horse whisperer.

Since the Queen was busy for the afternoon, we walked around SOHO in search of somewhere for tea. We passed by some pretty incredible pastry shops, like this cake shop/cafe, where cakes were a mere 2800 pounds ($4374)...

but settled for a more affordable New Zealand cafe called Milkbar, were we enjoyed dunking banana break and pain au chocolate into our cappuccinos, tea, and "long blacks".

 A few hours after resting at home we walked through Stoke Newington to Rasa, a traditional Indian restaurant with a very colorful outlook

 We had the  most amazing dinner, starting with street food crunchies dipped into an array of chutneys and dips...

...followed by a main course of curries, Indian breads and rice.

Once again, I am ending the day on a full stomach, full mind and exhausted feet. I will no doubt be waking up with exhausted everything in a few hours, since my flight to Nice leaves at 7am. However,  I cannot wait for the next part of my travel adventures in France!
So long London! I have so much enjoyed my stay! Stay tuned for many aventures extraordinaires to come.