Old Town and vineyards

On Saturday, we went into the old town and had a look around. Then we walked along the Promenade des Anglais, which runs along the sea front for miles. We walked down to the Hotel Negresco, which is a really posh hotel on the sea front. We intended to go in for a hot drink (as we were once again freezing). However, it was a lot posher than I had expected and we were way under-dressed. So we gave up on that idea and wondered around the back streets for a while.

Then we meet up with Gerry and his girl friend Françoise, who was visiting for the weekend. We had lunch at a creperie (something I intend to do more of as it is really nice food).
Then Gerry drove us up into the hills to the Bellet wine region. This region is still pretty much in the Nice city limits and contains numerous little vineyards. We got there quite late in the day so only managed to see a few.
We were lucky to see the first one. The man who owns it was just leaving as we got there. He turned around and went back to open up for us. He is a retired Theatre Professor and now runs the vineyard. We tried 4 wines: 2 white (one was very dry), a rose (Mom's favourite) and a red (my favourite). Mom and Dad got a bottle of the rose and I got a bottle of the red. We had to wait for him to put the labels on one of the bottles. This place was pretty much his garage. But the wine was lovely and not something you can get in the supermarket.

Garage Vineyard shop.

The second place we tried was more commercial. We had a look around as it was very pretty though a little soulless after the first place. However the wines were really expensive and we had to pay for a wine tasting. We did not stay.

Expensive vineyard...

...but has a great view!

The last place we managed to get to was another little family run vineyard with a very sweet yet ugly dog. He looked a bit like a staff bull but with very big ears. Still he was very sweet and sat with me during the wine tasting. (I tried to get a picture of him but every time I tried, he moved.) We had a quick look at the vineyards, as the sun was setting. The sunset across the Alps was beautiful.

Sunset over the Alps

Really beautiful

Then we went inside and tried a few of the wines. We tried 2 reds (one was really dry and Mom couldn't drink it so I got her share), one white (very light) and a lovely rose. We didn't buy a wine from this place, but I had brought one of their wines from a wine shop in Nice a few weeks ago (though I have yet to drink it) so I didn't feel bad about not buying one. (And I paid more in the shop for it!) But we did buy some of their home-made fig jams. Fig jam is very popular here and very nice. By this point, I was happily merry.

The wine we brought

On the way back, we stopped for a hot drink in St Laurent, a port just West of Nice. It was very pretty and crazily expensive, so we did not stop for food. However, when we got back to the car, someone had double parked behind us. (Double parking seems to be a speciality of the French.) It took a little interesting manoeuvring and several curse words before we managed to squeeze out.

Ventimiglia, Italy

My parents came to visit on Thursday evening and left on Tuesday night. On Thursday, we just went for a meal as they had been travelling all day.
On Friday we took the train to Ventimiglia, which is just over the board in Italy. (I don't think I have ever travelled on a train through 3 countries in less than an hour before.) And they have double-decker trains before, like in Australia. I don't know why more countries don't have them.
The train trip was beautiful, travelling along the coast. The coastline is gorgeous here. 
In Ventimiglia, we went down to the markets which are throughout the town and along the river and beach front. The markets here are massive, and sell everything from clothes, jewellery and bags to food and kitchen supplies.

Beach at Ventimigla

Mountains behind Ventimiglia

Mom and Dad looking very cold!

However on Friday, it was freezing! The wind was so cold, within a few minutes we were shivering despite multiple layers, gloves, scarves and hats.
So we went back into the town and had a look at some of the shops. Dad managed to find a really cheap bottle of Galilaneo, an Italian liqueur he likes but it really expensive. It was half the normal price in Ventimiglia.He was very happy! And some of the shops have 4 litre bottles of Vodka and Whiskey. The Italian do like their drink it seems.
Then I saw the Nutella. They are crazy about the stuff there. You can get little individual jars for each day:

For you one a day...

And massive 5kg jars and bigger for the true addict!

Lots of Nutella! (The little ones are 5kg!)

Nutella is everywhere. I have never seen so much of it.
At the train station on the way back, we stopped at the souvenir shop. I resisted most of the numerous Nutella items but did buy some sticks filled with Nutella, some Biscotte, and some Marron Glace, which are candied and glazed chestnuts.

Museums and belly dancing

This weekend I went to some of the local museums with Gerry.

The Natural history museum was interesting but small, basically just the one room. But it was free. 

In the front entrance

Ancient whale back bone

In one of the windows

Then we went over to the port to see one of the prehistoric museums. In Nice, there are a number of sites where prehistoric man settled and hunted elephants and bears. (Not kidding!) It was pretty cool.

Skull found here

 

Recreation of one of the hunts

In the port there is also a artisan chocolate shop. They dont just sell chocolate. They also sell crystalised flowers (in the box - violets, roses and I am not sure what the green one is), and fruits. The chocolate contains violets. They also sell lots of different types of jam, like earl grey jam, and violet jam. It a little expensive (ok in some cases very) so I brought a sample of the cheapest things.

On the evening, we were invited by a couple from the department to go with them and their two children to a professional belly dancing show. It was really amazing. Some of the routines were fantastic. They mixed traditional belly dancing with modern hip hop, and my favourite, some very impressive street dance.

Crepe party

I went today stairs yesterday to microwave a cup of water for a hot drink (the kettle is too much for the electricity on our floor and often blows the fuses so we have been asked not to use it any more.) The is a small common room on the second floor where people can eat lunch etc. Most places (bar UCLan) have one.
There were a group of people making crepes. Apparently it was Candle Mass, which is a catholic event. No one could tell me what the event was for but they had decided to celebrate it any way. Fair enough. And they asked us if we wanted to join in. Who in their right mind is going to turn down Crepes?
I have never seen so many crepe fillings. Lots of different jams. Nutella. And new my favourite, Congac. The lady doing the crepes poured some congac into a pan and heated it for a minute. Then she added a match. In the middle of the common room in a university building, she was happily flambéing! Added to a crepe with a squeeze of juice from a blood orange and a sprinkle of sugar, makes a very nice crepe. I felt very posh.
And it seems here if you have crepes you have to have cider! And it is very nice cider.
I did go back to work after, but I felt very merry!
:-)

Strange things about France

So I have noticed some odd things about the French you may or may not know. Some are just odd, some are things which make me miss the UK.

1.) The French are not keen on the toilet seat. Seriously, I am glad I am in a city and not the outskirts where I have seen the toilets. For those that have not, imagine a hole in the ground you stand above and, well you get the picture. But it seems in the city, toilets seats are optional (and not popular).

2.) They are very keen on safe sex. I was walking down the street and saw this:

Vending machine on the side of a building

It was on the side of a pharmacy but literally in the street. What happened to getting your protection from a good pub loo? If it really gets to this point, you probably should rethink the whole thing.

3.) The French don't queue. This is more something I miss. At times they can have amazing manners. For example on the tram, if an elderly lady or gentleman gets on, someone always get up and offers their seat. But when it comes to queues, they haven't a clue. I know queueing is a very British thing. But for example I brought some bread an as I was about to pay 2 people barged in front of me so I couldn't get to my bread or the till. And on the tram trying to get off, it doesn't matter if you are literally at the door leaving the tram, they will push you out of the way to get out first. They definitely do not have the British hate of the queue jumper.

There are other things that live up to the stereotype. Like the French love of Bureaucracy (which is as bad as joked about.

I am sure I will find other things. :-)