Big boo hoo: zthe hurricane that may or may not hit New York caused our flight to be cancelled, so we went to the airport this morning and after a few hours had rescheduled to go straight home on Wednesday, and found a really cute and inexpensive hotel in the small inland town of Mougins. We will miss seeing the kids but thnk it's best not to voluntarily vacation in the path of a hurricane!
So we arrived at the Hotel de Mougins and had a nice lunch on the terrasse,then got our room. Air conditioning! Comfy bed! What splendor. After a snooze we went up to the vielle ville of Moigins, which is beautiful with spectacular views of the mountains on one side, visible today because there was a storm last night, and the sea on the other. Unfortunately thats about all there is to it, asmit is 100% pretty bad art galleries and the rest restaurants. Basically no other commerce or history. We will likely go up for dinner tonight, however.
Yesterday we had the final (or so we thought) beach day at Plage Keller, where we have apparently become cavorts regulars as we were promoted to "second rang" or second row from the beach. The bitch at the front desk even smiled at D.
That night, over my doubts,we went there for dinner too. Last year, they had seated us inside near a collection of bad glass art (think clowns) and had rushed us through a rather uninspired dinner. This year, we reserved outside and when the same crabby maitre d' came to rush our order I told him to lay off. The food was really good and it was a great setting. What a nice surprise. As we left, a huge lightning storm began brewing in the west which was
quite dramatic.
I didn't mention that the day before, we had gone to Isle sur la Sorgue, which in them past has been one our favorite places in France. It's a wonderful little town thatmspecializes in antiques. Just not on Thursday! Only weekends and Mondays. Grrrrrr. The story of our trip!
Ok off to dinner so more later.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Monday, August 22, 2011
Reflections
Today, we dragged out of bed at the ungodly hour of 8 and made our way with Chad to the town of Frejus, which was originally founded by Julius Caesar, and has one of the oldest churches and cloisters in France. We took a tour in French, of which I caught maybe 50%. Because Chad, international man of mystery, had a business meeting later that day, we hightailed it back to Antibes post- tour. Derek and I tried to catch the market in town, but true to form it was just closing up. So we decided that pizza for dinner sounded just fine.
Afterwards, we went to the beach and barely found a spot. Nice anyway.
I was reflecting on the little differences in French culture from our own. There was a book on the shelf here called "French or Foe" about how to acclimate to French life if you are moving here or visiting a lot. Formexample, it talks about why some people who work in stores are so abrupt (apparently one has to earn friendliness here by being a regular customer and learning about the person and have them learn about you; false skilled like those thrown around randomly in the US are considered fake or hypocritical). if you know this tendency in advance, it can make your experience easier. I stillnthink the lady at Plage Keller is a bitch though!
My observation was of two American families at Plage Keller yesterday, who came along with two children each, as well as two nannies who looked to be Central American. The thing about PK as I now call it is that snotty as it is, it's a very family sort of place, where people come to enjoy their kids and grandparents and parents. No nannies for sure! The Americanos, by contrast, Sat back and let the nannies watch the kids in the water, then left them at the beach while they went to the dining area and ate. Everyone else brings their kids for a long lunch, or has food brought to the beach. Even the American moms with their perfect pilates bodies (but one piece suits because they were self-loathers-- too much?) and shiny hair were such stark contrasts to the lovely, but a little messy, sometimes a little fat, sometimes topless French moms. In a way, I don't look forward to returning to that mentality that everything needs to be perfect and I won't want to wear a bikini or just relax with my family and friends.
It's a funny paradox that we think of French women as being so put together and soignee, but on another level they are enviably laid back and relaxed. Something to think about and try to incorporate into my own world view.
Afterwards, we went to the beach and barely found a spot. Nice anyway.
I was reflecting on the little differences in French culture from our own. There was a book on the shelf here called "French or Foe" about how to acclimate to French life if you are moving here or visiting a lot. Formexample, it talks about why some people who work in stores are so abrupt (apparently one has to earn friendliness here by being a regular customer and learning about the person and have them learn about you; false skilled like those thrown around randomly in the US are considered fake or hypocritical). if you know this tendency in advance, it can make your experience easier. I stillnthink the lady at Plage Keller is a bitch though!
My observation was of two American families at Plage Keller yesterday, who came along with two children each, as well as two nannies who looked to be Central American. The thing about PK as I now call it is that snotty as it is, it's a very family sort of place, where people come to enjoy their kids and grandparents and parents. No nannies for sure! The Americanos, by contrast, Sat back and let the nannies watch the kids in the water, then left them at the beach while they went to the dining area and ate. Everyone else brings their kids for a long lunch, or has food brought to the beach. Even the American moms with their perfect pilates bodies (but one piece suits because they were self-loathers-- too much?) and shiny hair were such stark contrasts to the lovely, but a little messy, sometimes a little fat, sometimes topless French moms. In a way, I don't look forward to returning to that mentality that everything needs to be perfect and I won't want to wear a bikini or just relax with my family and friends.
It's a funny paradox that we think of French women as being so put together and soignee, but on another level they are enviably laid back and relaxed. Something to think about and try to incorporate into my own world view.
La Plage
SUNDAY, AUGUST 21, 2011
La Plage
The last few days have been about sand and sea. Derek and I ventured into Antibes to see the brocantes market, which was a bit of a snooze, but I stayed to look at bathing suits. See, everyone here wears two piece suits, from lithe 20 somethings to 80 year olds whose bodies have seen better days. So I figured I would neither be the worst nor the best bod on the beach, so when in Rome...
I went to a store where everything was 50% off (good start) and began trying, and lo and behold every suit I tried on fit! I picked a pink checked number. I wore it to the Peoples Beach on Friday, and no one was visibly offended so I was happy. The crowds were much smaller (Saturday is changeover day as everywhere in the vacation world), but the water was still pretty murky. That night, we ate stuff that we had picked up in town earlier.
The next day, hoping for a spot on the teeny public section of the Garoupe beaches but not finding one, we went to the less snotty Plage Joseph, next door to the uber snotty Plage Keller, where the gatekeeper, a bitchy old woman, turned me away with a sneer "nous sommes complet Madame". At Joseph, the chairs were a little closer together, but the swimming was nicer. By now, I was a two piece pro but I burned my tummy as a result of over exuberance in wanting the color to catch up with the rest of my body. Post Plage we walked over the hill to Juan les Pins, which is supposedly the "happening" town with clubs and nightlife. Since it was afternoon, we saw no evidence of it but it was interesting to check it out.
Later, our friend Chad arrived to visit for a couple of days,having arrived home in London from his family vacation at their home in New York. We went out to a fancy and endless dinner at Vieux Murs, overlooking the bay and the goldmhalf moon shining on the huge yachts anchored there. Very fancy and nice..
Today, we went to Keller (I'm a glutton for punishment) and we stayed all day. I had to be woken up from a dead sleep after a LONG nap..Many hilarious jokes about me snoring ensued of course. Now home with rotisserie chicken and salad fixings. Bonne soiree.
La Plage
The last few days have been about sand and sea. Derek and I ventured into Antibes to see the brocantes market, which was a bit of a snooze, but I stayed to look at bathing suits. See, everyone here wears two piece suits, from lithe 20 somethings to 80 year olds whose bodies have seen better days. So I figured I would neither be the worst nor the best bod on the beach, so when in Rome...
I went to a store where everything was 50% off (good start) and began trying, and lo and behold every suit I tried on fit! I picked a pink checked number. I wore it to the Peoples Beach on Friday, and no one was visibly offended so I was happy. The crowds were much smaller (Saturday is changeover day as everywhere in the vacation world), but the water was still pretty murky. That night, we ate stuff that we had picked up in town earlier.
The next day, hoping for a spot on the teeny public section of the Garoupe beaches but not finding one, we went to the less snotty Plage Joseph, next door to the uber snotty Plage Keller, where the gatekeeper, a bitchy old woman, turned me away with a sneer "nous sommes complet Madame". At Joseph, the chairs were a little closer together, but the swimming was nicer. By now, I was a two piece pro but I burned my tummy as a result of over exuberance in wanting the color to catch up with the rest of my body. Post Plage we walked over the hill to Juan les Pins, which is supposedly the "happening" town with clubs and nightlife. Since it was afternoon, we saw no evidence of it but it was interesting to check it out.
Later, our friend Chad arrived to visit for a couple of days,having arrived home in London from his family vacation at their home in New York. We went out to a fancy and endless dinner at Vieux Murs, overlooking the bay and the goldmhalf moon shining on the huge yachts anchored there. Very fancy and nice..
Today, we went to Keller (I'm a glutton for punishment) and we stayed all day. I had to be woken up from a dead sleep after a LONG nap..Many hilarious jokes about me snoring ensued of course. Now home with rotisserie chicken and salad fixings. Bonne soiree.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Salade Nicoise
Today, we ventured toward Nice. We had seen a brochure for a villa owned by a Rothschild which looked interesting, so we checked it out-- the Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild. It was built by a woman who married an older guy who gave her VD which laid her up for a year and a half and left her barren-- but it took 10 years or so and the fact that he was gambling away the family fortune for her to leave the guy. So then she decided to go ahead and spend it herself and built a huge Beux Arta villa on Cap Jean Ferrat. She was a weird one- had a pet mongoose and pet monkeys that ate at table with her, and she held a gala wedding for her dog complete with diamond wedding ring, wedding costumes for bride and groom, and a bulldog presiding in a tiny morning suit and top hat.
After a jaunt around Cap Ferrat, which isn't very interesting because all the fancy houses have huge fences and walls around them, we headed to Villefranche, which I remember as the place where my parents boarded their ship for a Mediterranean cruise a hundred years ago. We sat by the side of the crystal clear port and had a delightful lunch. V. tasteful. Part of the old town of Villefranche is "rues obscures" which are residential streets that run like tunnels under the hillside. Quite sewer like and not somewhere you'd love to invite friends for a dinner party, as Derek pointed out in his five star fashion.
Onward to Nice, where we hopedmto buy fresh pasta and sauce from a shop we remembered from last year, as well as a pair of bright yellowmpants from Faconnable for Derek. Only got the pasta though! Probably just as well, as we say a lot on this trip! So by now it's 7 already and we are beat and hot so we crept home on the motorway which was inexplicably slow. But now we are here and Derek is in his place in the kitchen making hors d'oeuvres :-). Some rose from a box (shout out to my mom) and we're all set!!!
After a jaunt around Cap Ferrat, which isn't very interesting because all the fancy houses have huge fences and walls around them, we headed to Villefranche, which I remember as the place where my parents boarded their ship for a Mediterranean cruise a hundred years ago. We sat by the side of the crystal clear port and had a delightful lunch. V. tasteful. Part of the old town of Villefranche is "rues obscures" which are residential streets that run like tunnels under the hillside. Quite sewer like and not somewhere you'd love to invite friends for a dinner party, as Derek pointed out in his five star fashion.
Onward to Nice, where we hopedmto buy fresh pasta and sauce from a shop we remembered from last year, as well as a pair of bright yellowmpants from Faconnable for Derek. Only got the pasta though! Probably just as well, as we say a lot on this trip! So by now it's 7 already and we are beat and hot so we crept home on the motorway which was inexplicably slow. But now we are here and Derek is in his place in the kitchen making hors d'oeuvres :-). Some rose from a box (shout out to my mom) and we're all set!!!
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Antibes
Ah, the Cote d'Azur! So annoying, right? But here we are in Antibes, St. Tropez' slightly dowdy half sister. But that's why we like it-- all the incredible beauty of ST without all (or many) of the posers.
Our apartment is a very well located, 70's era two bedroom that would be perfect if it had: no road noise, a view of the ocean, and A/C in the bedroom. Oh, and wifi. But other than that, perfect! The beach is across the street, and the daily market of fresh fruits,veggies, cheeses, olives, and fish is a 10 minute walk.
We had a ridiculously expensive fish dinner the first night (and it wasn't even at Bacon, H and T) because they charged you by the 100 grams of fish but didn't tell you how many grams they would serve you! So I got about a million grams of the most expensive fish, dourade royale -- even sounds expensive! Spent the first day on the "people's beach" as we call it, with jolly vacationers from all over the world cheek by jowl. On Monday, I went by myself to Nice to check out the Marche, which was crowded and fun. I then searched for some sort of good store for dinner supplies, but it was the holiday of the Assumption of Mary, so only Monoprix was open.. Derek whipped up a dinner at home with the random assortment of ingredients I came up with. That night, on the way home from gelato in Antibes, fireworks broke out all over from Nice to Juan les Pins. I mean huge fireworks! Missed them for the most part, but next year they'll be on my calendar for sure.
Yesterday we had one of our now typical shit show days: we tried to go to L'Isle sur la Sorgue, but the traffic was so awful that we bailed out (not an easy task on the motorways where you can only get off very occasionally at toll booths) and went to Aix en Provence. Naturally, there they were just cleaning up after the fantastic Marche Provencal which we had missed! But a good pizza at Chez Jo and a lovely walk around the city, which is a big favorite of mine.
Today, we went to the Marche finally and got dinner stuff then went to Plage Keller, which is a chic-ish private beach where people are also cheek by jowl like the Peoples Beach, but on chaises and wearing cooler coverups. You go to a table for lunch with a white tablecloth and it's super refined.
Dinner tonight is bar de ligne,which is small sea bass, chez nous. Derek is sitting across from me reading a guidebook plotting our next move. A bientot!
Our apartment is a very well located, 70's era two bedroom that would be perfect if it had: no road noise, a view of the ocean, and A/C in the bedroom. Oh, and wifi. But other than that, perfect! The beach is across the street, and the daily market of fresh fruits,veggies, cheeses, olives, and fish is a 10 minute walk.
We had a ridiculously expensive fish dinner the first night (and it wasn't even at Bacon, H and T) because they charged you by the 100 grams of fish but didn't tell you how many grams they would serve you! So I got about a million grams of the most expensive fish, dourade royale -- even sounds expensive! Spent the first day on the "people's beach" as we call it, with jolly vacationers from all over the world cheek by jowl. On Monday, I went by myself to Nice to check out the Marche, which was crowded and fun. I then searched for some sort of good store for dinner supplies, but it was the holiday of the Assumption of Mary, so only Monoprix was open.. Derek whipped up a dinner at home with the random assortment of ingredients I came up with. That night, on the way home from gelato in Antibes, fireworks broke out all over from Nice to Juan les Pins. I mean huge fireworks! Missed them for the most part, but next year they'll be on my calendar for sure.
Yesterday we had one of our now typical shit show days: we tried to go to L'Isle sur la Sorgue, but the traffic was so awful that we bailed out (not an easy task on the motorways where you can only get off very occasionally at toll booths) and went to Aix en Provence. Naturally, there they were just cleaning up after the fantastic Marche Provencal which we had missed! But a good pizza at Chez Jo and a lovely walk around the city, which is a big favorite of mine.
Today, we went to the Marche finally and got dinner stuff then went to Plage Keller, which is a chic-ish private beach where people are also cheek by jowl like the Peoples Beach, but on chaises and wearing cooler coverups. You go to a table for lunch with a white tablecloth and it's super refined.
Dinner tonight is bar de ligne,which is small sea bass, chez nous. Derek is sitting across from me reading a guidebook plotting our next move. A bientot!
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Catching Up
Derek and I arrived in France what seems like weeks ago but also the blink of an eye. We flew to Paris on August 2/3 and went to our apartment on the edge of the Marais district, 5 floors up with a view of Blvd Beuamarchais through the giant trees that lined the street. The apartment was totally cool, filled with shabby chic flea market treasures but totally well equipped with modern conveniences.
Derek had spent the weeks before our trip studying his bible of gastronomy and had turned down a bunch of pages and planned our culinary game plan, as well as packing for himself and encouraging me to pack for several swanky nights out. Oh well, every restaurant on his list was closed for the "fermeture annuelle" in August, where the very sane French take off for between two and four weeks. Not to mention that the hugely famous boulangerie across the friggin street from the apartment was also closed till two days before out departure! Probably for the best, we decided.
We basically packed the days with a death march of tourism, including but not limited to the Louvre, which I unexpectedly was entranced by (and we only really made it to ancient Egypt before I got hungry); more cathedrals than I can name, three walking tours (Montmartre, Parisn During the Occupation, and the two islands of Paris); a stroll around the Canal St. Martin and the Paris Plage (more on that later); more Marais; the Left Bank of course; the Marches aux Puces of both Vanves ( sans Derek) and Clignancourt; etc. etc. We did finally find some dinner gems and cooked/reheated a few times at home. Also had dinners with business friends of Derek one night and Suki's sister and bro in law Kaaren and Richard another. Oh yeah, and it rained or was overcast almost every day!!!! Total clothing nightmare.
Things we learned:
Every things closed in August. We knew this intellectually but didn't appreciate the practical implications
As tier restaurant is open, and they have a never ending cheese plate included in the menu that will kill you (with happiness).
L'as de Falafel is also open. You can go there with Derek. I'll be somewhere else.
Check out Paris Plage. I mean, really: the city of Paris went out and closed the highway along the Seine, barged in a bunch of sand, and then set about making the coolest place for its citizens to hang out, including, for example, very nice Smith and Hawken style lounge chairs and umbrellas, artisinal ice cream stands, the library bringing books to borrow, dance classes, supervised childrens play areas where you can just droop the kids off for an hour or two, beach volleyball in the square in front of City Hall,and right next door a paddle boat bumper car pool for toddlers, free sailing on the Canal St Martin as well as pedal boats and giant plastic things you get into and roll around in on the water, arts and crafts for kids, a beer garden, foes ball tables, board games, you get the picture-- or do you? Because it's all free and for Americans it's a little hard to get your head around. Derek points out that it's only the month of August though (so where do they store all that stiff the rest of the year?)
Musee Maillot-- oh wait a minute it was closed.
Memorial de la SHOAH, which is the Holocaust. The Vichy government is incomprehensible.
Paris Walks: for 9€ you get a two hour walk around some interesting area or subject. Pretty cool. Better in London, though.
Derek had spent the weeks before our trip studying his bible of gastronomy and had turned down a bunch of pages and planned our culinary game plan, as well as packing for himself and encouraging me to pack for several swanky nights out. Oh well, every restaurant on his list was closed for the "fermeture annuelle" in August, where the very sane French take off for between two and four weeks. Not to mention that the hugely famous boulangerie across the friggin street from the apartment was also closed till two days before out departure! Probably for the best, we decided.
We basically packed the days with a death march of tourism, including but not limited to the Louvre, which I unexpectedly was entranced by (and we only really made it to ancient Egypt before I got hungry); more cathedrals than I can name, three walking tours (Montmartre, Parisn During the Occupation, and the two islands of Paris); a stroll around the Canal St. Martin and the Paris Plage (more on that later); more Marais; the Left Bank of course; the Marches aux Puces of both Vanves ( sans Derek) and Clignancourt; etc. etc. We did finally find some dinner gems and cooked/reheated a few times at home. Also had dinners with business friends of Derek one night and Suki's sister and bro in law Kaaren and Richard another. Oh yeah, and it rained or was overcast almost every day!!!! Total clothing nightmare.
Things we learned:
Every things closed in August. We knew this intellectually but didn't appreciate the practical implications
As tier restaurant is open, and they have a never ending cheese plate included in the menu that will kill you (with happiness).
L'as de Falafel is also open. You can go there with Derek. I'll be somewhere else.
Check out Paris Plage. I mean, really: the city of Paris went out and closed the highway along the Seine, barged in a bunch of sand, and then set about making the coolest place for its citizens to hang out, including, for example, very nice Smith and Hawken style lounge chairs and umbrellas, artisinal ice cream stands, the library bringing books to borrow, dance classes, supervised childrens play areas where you can just droop the kids off for an hour or two, beach volleyball in the square in front of City Hall,and right next door a paddle boat bumper car pool for toddlers, free sailing on the Canal St Martin as well as pedal boats and giant plastic things you get into and roll around in on the water, arts and crafts for kids, a beer garden, foes ball tables, board games, you get the picture-- or do you? Because it's all free and for Americans it's a little hard to get your head around. Derek points out that it's only the month of August though (so where do they store all that stiff the rest of the year?)
Musee Maillot-- oh wait a minute it was closed.
Memorial de la SHOAH, which is the Holocaust. The Vichy government is incomprehensible.
Paris Walks: for 9€ you get a two hour walk around some interesting area or subject. Pretty cool. Better in London, though.
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