A day in Antibes

After our day in St Paul de Vence (see previous post) we found our accommodation in the heart of the old town of Antibes.

Antibes is half way between Nice and Cannes on the Mediterranean coast - just that descriptor alone makes me swoon. On top of this you'll find an enormous port, cobblestone streets and stone walls (ramparts) from the 1500s.

That morning we were up nice and early, thanks in part to the change back from Daylight Savings plus a two year old who was beyond excited to share a bedroom with his older brother and sister.

It was a good thing though, because I was up early enough to snap this on route to finding coffee and pastry for our brekky:

Also seen on my early morning stroll, the Cathédrale dAntibes:

The stunning coastline:

We had a slow start that morning. The mister was recovering from his man cold, so while he sobbed quietly on the couch I took my daughter down to the Marché Provençal to shop for lunch supplies.

A very nicely turned out French lady who got in the way of my camera.

We were distracted by these (we had the salted butter caramel ones):

But came home with plenty of baguette, ham, tomatoes, figs and this:

That darn cheese man was just so charming. And we fell for it.

After lunch and afternoon sleeps for the little kids, we strolled 300m down the road to visit the Musée Picasso, housed in the Château Grimaldi. Picasso set up shop here from July to December 1946 and the museum shows some of his paintings, sculptures and ceramics, as well as art from many other artists. (No photos allowed inside unfortunately.)

Musée Picasso

So, Picasso. What do we all think? I really like some of his pieces, but not much of his art on display at Musée Picasso spoke to me. Except maybe to say 'too busy looking at the view to paint properly'. And really, you couldn't blame him.

Out on the terrace there was a sculpture garden with a breathtaking view over the ocean. Some of the sculptures we saw included this cute little fella:

La Sérénissime by Jean Amado, 1986

This one spoke to the civil engineer in me (unfortunately I didn't get the details of the creator, sorry):

This one made me laugh. *facepalm*

La Forêt by Germaine Richier, 1946

This one in the courtyard was inspired by Picasso:

À ma jolie. Hommage à Picasso by Arman, 1982. Picasso dug guitars.

After our date with Picasso I took the baby for a walk along the stone ramparts enclosing the port.

Dusk through one of the rampart arches

There were lots of super expensive boats about:

Definitely not part of the 99%

At the end of the ramparts on Bastion Sainte-Jaume is a sculpture called La Grande Nomade by Jaume Plensa. It depicts an enormous man sitting, holding his knees to his chest while looking out to sea.



The entire figure is made from white letters and is pretty cool, I think.

One last look across the port towards Fort Carré:



And one last photo for the day (for Keith):



The next day we visited the village of Biot. More on that next time.

Have a great week everyone!

St Paul de Vence

I mentioned we recently spent a long weekend in Antibes on the French Riviera. On our way there we stopped for the afternoon in St Paul, located in the Riviera hinterland.

St Paul has a beautiful walled old city (founded in the 9th century) perched high on a hilltop with gorgeous views.

There was plenty of this sort of stuff to walk around and admire:

Of course there was a church:

And this building is a dungeon, all that remains of the 9th century Chateau de St Paul.

St Paul is renowned for being a bit of an artist hang out (as well as being popular with writers and actors). We loved that there were sculptures on many different streets.

There were also tons of art shops with some stunning and kinda weird paintings/sculptures/etc. No photos of those to show you due to all the 'photography prohibited' signs in their windows. The sweet shop had no such sign though, so here you go:

So there you go - St Paul de Vence. Very nice, you should go there. 

Next up: Antibes. 

Blogapalooza Redux

It's been a dark and rainy weekend here in Provence. My two favourite Texan expats lifted the gloominess by organising another Blogazpalooza get together for Saturday.

Last time we met in Aix-en-Provence, this time at Mamma Corsica's in Avignon.

We had a great time chatting about blogging and all the joys and annoyances of living overseas.

Bringing Sexy Back: counterclockwise from the right:
Aidan (with my bub) from Conjugating Irregular Verbs
Sara Louise from Le Petit Village
Samantha from Love, Life and Living in France
Piglet (with her gorgeous Petite Piglet) from Piglet in France 
B from Is there such a Thing as too much Cheese
Sarah from St Bloggie de Riviere
we were also joined (after this photo was taken) by Ameena from Mummy in Provence

And because there wasn't a man in sight this time (save the baby) we could freely discuss whose husband likes to dance about the house nude and whose has a strange penchant for teabags.

I will take it to the grave.

The restaurant was very salt-of-the-earth; plenty of bits and bobs hanging from the walls and rafters.

We were the only ones there which meant we could stretch out and didn't have to keep our cackling in check. Just as well as the baby decided to exercise his lungs just before his nap (while Samantha was sharing the super romantic story of how she came to marry her French husband).

Corsican flag on the wall.

The food was similarly honest, as Corsican fare is renowned for.

I started with the charcuterie plate:

And a few of us finished with the very tasty lemon ricotta cheesecake-like dessert:

Delish! Thank you ladies for a bright spot in an otherwise sunless weekend.

In closing, a question. If someone should happen to spend an entire day in their pyjamas, does one have to have another shower before going back to bed? Just asking.

Once I had a secret love...

Just got back from four days at the French Riviera where the sun shone and it was a lovely 20 degrees (70℉) every day. Yep, it was the pits I tell you.

While I fix up the photos, I wanted to tell you about two fab things we got to do while my folks were here last month.

First: Taking advantage of free babysitting, I dragged the mister to see George Michael when he was playing in Marseille.

When I was 14 I had the biggest crush on George. Many a hot, hormonal tear was shed on my pillow, my Walkman clutched to my aching, undeveloped chest. I knew, absolutely knew, we would fall in deep, irrevocable, stubbly love if only we could just meet.

Random tangent (or dare I say red herring): I named my first pet fish George. This is a stock photo as my George suffered an early, tragic and senseless death from shock when I accidentally knocked an ABBA cassette into his bowl.

But back to the story. Yes, I can hear you all saying that George is 11 years older than me, gay and hates photography.  I'm not interested in problems, people, only solutions.

It was a fantastic concert. Dodgy personal goings-on aside, George's voice is still magnificent and he puts on a great show. My only wish would've been for a few more dance tunes, but it looks like his next album should give me what I want:

I foresee much dancing around my living room in 2012. 

Second: A great meal at Le Pigonnet restaurant (music warning if you're reading at work) in Aix-en-Provence. The restaurant is set in the beautiful formal gardens of the hotel.

The food was fantastic, as you'd expect.

Appetisers brought out with our apéritif. Yummo.

Avert your eyes feminists - check out the menu the ladies were given (no prices):

Versus the version given to the guys:

Quaint, huh? In a Betty Draper kind of way.

The wine, the meal, the ambiance - the whole thing was wonderful.

Le Pigonnet is a lovely restaurant if you're looking for something a little more formal and flash - we've only eaten here twice, but it gets our recommendation.

That's all I've got for now - will have more on our recent travels soon. Hope you're all having a great week. If not perhaps this George video will cheer you up.

Points of interest:
1. Wicked facial hair.
2. Two innocent cans of hairspray gave their lives to create that fringe. It just. doesn't. move.
3. George clones. Surely they wouldn't miss just one?



Have a dance around your living room for me!

With Love from Finland

Hey bloggers! Do you remember when someone left the very first comment on your blog? Wasn't it just amazing and weird and awesome all rolled into one?

I had no idea how fantastic the interaction through blogging could be, and for me it all started with a comment from the lovely Eva at Eisblumen.  She sure made me happy that day.

Eva is German, living in Finland, blogging in English. Got that? She is not only an all-round sweetheart, she's also a wicked seamstress. Look at what she sent for the baby:

A gorgeous flannel hooded jacket - perfect for the fall season here in southern France.

I absolutely adore the Anna Maria Horner flannel on the inside:

And how it ties in with the button loops and topstitching.

Sure he looks grumpy. He's just realised he's not old enough to eat any of this:

Check it out, Finnish sweets. So far I am close to polishing off the blue/purple block: teeny crunchy balls of liquorice in milk chocolate. Finland has been holding out on us all.

Aren't these lollies so pretty? They are also almost gone, between me and occasionally using them to bribe my children.

Best of all, Eva sent this book which is telling me everything I need to know about Finland. (Oh, and the kids too).

I have to share this TV advert from home which shows why Australians need to read this book.

Dear Finland. Sorry about that. Love Australia. x x  

The kids are loving the nicky-nar-nu cartoons about saunas:

I'm dreaming about Scandinavian men who apparently can all cook like this:



But best of all I am loving the Finnish sense of humour:

I think Finns and Australians would get along just fine. Thank you, Eva!