D-DAY: Tribulations to Portugal

Finally the day had arrived. I had booked the 6.00 am flight from Marseille to Porto and to manage to be at Marseille airport at 6.00 am I had to take the last train from Nice on the previous day. All went perfectly until approaching Marseille: the train was 20 minutes late!! This means I lost the last shuttle going from the station to the airport! Who knows Marseille train station knows it is not the place where you want to spend the night. It is a very bad place and unfortunately I had no choice but to stay there and wait for the first shuttle of the next day at 4.00 am (and rush to the check-in desk to register!).

The “night” was short and not very comfy, sitting and sleeping in the waiting room, charging my cell that left me down and being stressed of whether or not I would manage to arrive on time at the airport...

Finally, all went well, I caught my shuttle, registered (not without other little problems) and got the flight.

Mum and Greg came to pick me up at the airport and together we went to rent the car.

- So now we’ll go towards North ‘till Viana do Castello

- Nope, now we go to the hotel where I’m gonna have a shower and some minutes sleep.

- You’ll sleep tonight! Now we’re going!

- Mum, you don’t seem to understand that I haven’t slept much last night, that I feel dirty and tired and I don’t feel confident enough to drive right now hours towards North, to spend a whole day visiting with only a few hours bad sleep."

I learned something that day: it’s useless discussing with my mum when she’s discovering a new place! :)

Festival and events

1. The two brothers from Lyon came to visit us in Nice. We headed towards Monaco and got a drink in a fancy place. After having laughed quite a lot at the restaurant, we went to the club Karément. On our way back, we stopped at the beach to enjoy the sunrise.

2. Music festival: I participated to the Colombian show organized by the association that does the salsa courses -> fun!

3. Kid’s back in town! One evening at the pub La Havane with Noémie. The next day at the beach with Cécilia.

4. For my birthday, Cécilia and I went to the restaurant on the beach of the Hotel Beau Rivage. Mum was around for a few days because of a famtrip so we spent the evening together in Cannes attending the opening of the “Electronical beaches”. Slept at the Matinez. Next evening, mum was busy with work so I went with Cécilia, Tatiana and Francis at the Fashion Photo Festival in Cannes. Next days, I went to the market with Noémie and out for a lunch on the beach with Alexandrina, my neighbour.

5. Invited by the big hotel chain Accor, the office (meaning Cécilia, as always, Francis, Luz and me) were invited to the famous Festival “Les Nuits du Sud” in Vence. After a buffet dinner reserved for the guests and presents everywhere on the table (keyrings, hats, T-shirts, bottles of wine…) we left to the festival were Kassav’ was expected. Cool evening and there again, lots of luck to get free entrances and attend such big event

6. Jazz Festival in Juan-Les-Pins: Invited by a hotel in Juan-Les-Pins, we got free entrances to attend the Jazz Festival. This is as well one of the most famous events on the Riviera during summer time. The bands were excellent and Cécilia and I really enjoyed listening to some different music (I actually love Jazz music!!). After that we left for a drink at the Pam Pam club where there are traditional Brazilian musicians and dancers. While waiting in front of the pub as is was packed, we noticed we were not on the queue. Who cares! If we can go in faster…! :P And that’s what happened! The bouncer asked how many we were and 2 seemed to be the perfect number. We entered the pub and got a great table right next to the stage. I was filming with my camera when I saw the dancer ask Cécilia to join him on the stage. Cécilia went and SHE did the show!! All’s on record on my camera!

What a terrific evening!

7. 80 years old and lots of resources! Cécilia invited me to the Domaine Saint Andréol to celebrate her grand mother’s birthday with all her family. The location was fantastic, the food awesome and the afternoon just as great. The sun was shining and we could enjoy the swimming pool of the hotel. In a few words, it was an absolutely fantastic day.

8. Club “La Siesta” with Alexandrina and Cécilia

Today my manager came to Cécilia and me and said that she was invited to the TV Festival in Monaco and she wasn’t feeling like going. So she gave us her tickets adding that before the beginning of the show she was invited for a drink at the Meridien Beach Plaza, one of the most beautiful 4*hotels in Monaco and that we could go at her place. I looked at Cécilia and together we agreed that this was just awesome and we would spend one more unbelievable evening.

Straight after work, we both rushed home to get prepared. We had decided during the day what we would wear for the event and it didn’t take us long to get ready.

Cécilia came to pick me up and we drove towards Monaco to attend this special occasion.

When we arrived in Monaco, and introduce ourselves at the desk of the hotel, it was already late and the festival had already started since a while. We therefore agreed to go see it first and then to come back to have our free drink (how could we miss that?!).

The ceremony was presented by Tonya Kitzinger, the famous actress of the serie Sous le Soleil and Bernard Montiel, a TV animator. It was kind of impressive being there, among all those very well-dressed people and attending such event. Cécilia and I really felt like we were privileged (and we were indeed!!) and we decided to take the most of it, even though we could be ridiculous

at stages. We obviously took pictures: pics of the stage, of the magnificent theatre, of the people attending… We even were lucky cause we found two seats at the 5^th or 6^th raw and therefore could see perfectly the show.

Among the famous people there was Bruno Salomone, a French humorist and actor and Isabelle Adjani.

The show ended and we walked towards the hotel to get that drink. We sat at the terrace and thought of what was happening: we were in Monaco, at the terrace of a wonderful hotel near the beach, listening to the waves, all dressed up, we just attended a very select show and walked among famous people. We are 24! Who else can say he did such things at our age? I guess that’s the time we realized we were really privileged, not only to be there but to work for a company, and more than anything for a manager, who gives us such occasions.

Driving lessons...

Just back from the wedding in Paris, I had some plans.

Preparing our next trip to Portugal, we (meaning mum and I) faced some problems: as she wasn't feeling enough in shape to drive, my mother decided I'd be the driver for the week we'd plan to spend around Nothern Portugal. What mum had evidently forgotten is that I haven't been driving since I got my licence, i.e. 2006!!!!!!

Therefore I to ok some big decision: I rented a car for 3 days and asked Noémie to be my personnal coach.

On the day I came back from Paris, I've been working all day and the same evening I had to exercise myself again with this Citroen C3 we had rented.
Noémie drove us outside town and when there were less cars, she gave me the wheel.

I was so tensed, so afraid I'd commit some stupid move or any accident...
But after a couple of minutes things happened to be not that bad after all. Reactions were coming back little by little though I was still very clenched.

The first evening ended well and I was pretty proud of myself and way more confident to see I was still able to drive and I hadn't forgotten that much of all my driving lessons.

Second and third evening (I was driving exclusively after work) went way better (more or less). I wasn't tensed anymore and I gained fluency and confidence. Cécilia joined us in our little escapade the last day.

After those 3 days I felt I was more able to drive on my own, though I had some apprehension.
On the other hand I was so excited about our trip and I couldn't wait to be there.
Portugal here I come!!

Wedding time

Up to Paris again to ensure a special role: witness at Anne-Marie's wedding.
I have waited for this moment since quite a while and was very excited.

When the day arrived, I went there enough in advance to help Anne-Marie getting ready. She wore a beautiful white dress and had been maked up by her aunt. A couple of pictures already as I really wanted to have some special pix of this priviledged moment with her.

When everybody was there, we all left together for the city hall. There again some pictures and then time to stand in from of the mayor.
No one was sitting. All guests were in front of us, taking pictures of Anne-Marie, David and their two witnesses.

When the time came, the mayor asked us to sign the record. Two signatures that would mark thi special day forever. I felt so much pressure that I ruined the second signature!!! But anyway, what matters is to be there right?

We left the room and took hundreds of pictures outside the city hall. Our newly wife and husband were just perfect: all smily on every pic. They really seemed to be happy :)

From there it was time to go and celebrate. So in their appartment we cut the wedding cake and I had the chance to discover wedding traditions from Anne-Marie's family.
Awesome time together and loads of food! I ate sooooo much!! Anne-Marie and David had warned me: "don't ate too much we still have the retaurant later on". Damn! I had completely forgotten about it. So I stopped eating looking forward to the restaurant.

Arrived there, we had a lovely dinner. At the time of the wedding cake (yes, a second one!!) I stood and raised my glass of champagne. It was my turn to talk and make all my wishes to the new couple. I had done my best to personnalise my speech as much as possible and, to me, the internet field was what linked our two newly weds best. I spoke, my hands were shaking and my voice wasn't very assured but still, by seeing them smile at some funny sentences, I felt I had done the right thing and I was glad I had followed my intuition.

The dinner ended and I felt sick of having eaten so much! Anne-Marie and David told me that for the religious wedding that was planned for the 1st August it would be worse and that I'd better get used to big quantities.

All summed up, I had a great day and I was proud to be the witness of such a lovely and adorable couple.
Anne-Marie, David, even thought this was not the most important part of your commitment together, I wish you all the best in your marital life and sincerily hope you'll spend the rest of your life in the same joy as this special day.

Family gettogether

Mum and Greg came over for a week and we enjoyed some more time together. Program was: Villa Kerylos, Villa Rothschild, Saint Tropez, MMV Resort and Cannes festival. All was perfect!

Villa Kerylos: I-LOVED-IT! If that place was on sale, I would be the first buyer! The audioguide gave us all information regarding the place and the house was lovely, decorated with taste and in the perfect Greek tradition.

Villa Rothschild: I didn't like the house that much. Too heavy for me. But the gardens are a marvel. Different styles, music, all sorts of plants... and my special flower: the Rothschild rose, big, colourful and smelly. A real beauty!

Saint Tropez: This was a very nice day. We took the boat from Saint Raphaël and as soon as we saw the bell tower, we started singing the opening music of the serie "Sous le Soleil". We enjoyed the market and rested on a little beach. We had transparent water, lots of sun, sailboats and mountains on our sight... Chillaxing! ;)

MMV Resort: This was kind of special. My mum managed to get a free appartment in the resort and I travelled all the way from Nice to Mandelieu to enjoy it with her and my brother. The resort is lovely and it was nice staying there and enjoying the sun a bit. Next day was spent at Cannes movie festival. Just the time to take a couple of pictures and back home again.

Fairytale in South of France

Kid, a good friend of mine, had decided to take me on a special week-end. He took advantage of the bank holiday of 8th May to take me away from Nice and make me visit the surroundings.

After a night spent in the Suite of the Westminster hotel in Nice and a lovely breakfast, we left with our private driver-guide towards Aix-en-Provence. There we had a private half day visit. Aix-en-Provence is a very nice little city full of cafés to stop and enjoy the nice weather.
We visited as well Paul Cézanne's studio and learned quite a lot of things.
Back to the city center, we had lunch in a lovely restaurant and headed toward a "ranch" close to Les Baux de Provence, which is known for being a very nice location.

In that ranch, Kid had organised a 2h horse ride. It'd been ages I haven't rode a horse and just seeing them and getting close to them I felt like a child in Disneyland! I love horse riding and that was just a magnificent gift!
So there I was, wearing my jeans and helmet, riding a white and brown horse named ... (Gosh! I can't remember it's name!). After a lovely ride we all had a chat and a drink in the ranch.

Time was flying but sparkling eyes remained when I saw the hotel in which we were about to stay. Kid had booked the best room of the hotel: a white-and-red suite in which only the kitchen was missing for me to buy it straight away! Space, peacefull atmosphere, luxurious bathroom... a white-and-red bunch of flowers and an iPod Touch.... uff! That was just too much!

We were too tired to go out having dinner so we decided to skip it... though we were pretty hungry. That evening each one chose a couch and we stayed there discussing. It was lovely...

Next morning, after a great breakfast on the terrasse of the hotel with local products, we had a taxi waiting for us that drove us to Arles train station. With a first class ride and in no time, we arrived in Nice and just had the time to rush home leave our stuff before going to the airport. There Kid had his last booking made. No, not his flight back but a 20 minutes helicopter ride.

When he first told me that, I thought he was out of his mind, maybe jocking. But he really did it!
We jumped in and soon the helicopter flew. A bit shaked at the very beginning and then up in the sky. We flew all above Villefranche, Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat then Eze and Monaco. The Côte d'Azur is such a beauty!
We continued our ride until Cap Martin and came back from there on the inside seeing the mountains and the small villages. It seemed it was just a second but the number of memories I have from that ride shows me I enjoyed every minute.

We spend the evening in a lovely restaurant down town and Cécilia joined us for desert.
We ended up on Paloma beach in St Jean-Cap-Ferrat taking pictures and having big laughs.

Thinking back at it, this seems to have been some kind of fairytale. I did nothing, was brought to do things I have wanted since ages and was just asked to enjoy, which I obviously did!

Thanks Kid for bringing me over that marvellous ride. It was amazing and fun.
I wish we could do it again someday soon.

Among stars

Today my manager came to Cécilia and me and said that she was invited to the TV Festival in Monaco and she wasn’t feeling like going. So she gave us her tickets adding that before the beginning of the show she was invited for a drink at the Meridien Beach Plaza, one of the most beautiful 4*hotels in Monaco and that we could go at her place. I looked at Cécilia and together we agreed that this was just awesome and we would spend one more unbelievable evening.

Straight after work, we both rushed home to get prepared. We had decided during the day what we would wear for the event and it didn’t take us long to get ready.

Cécilia came to pick me up and we drove towards Monaco to attend this special occasion.

When we arrived in Monaco, and introduce ourselves at the desk of the hotel, it was already late and the festival had already started since a while. We therefore agreed to go see it first and then to come back to have our free drink (how could we miss that?!)

The ceremony was presented by Tonya Kitzinger, the famous actress of the serie Sous le Soleil and Bernard Montiel, a TV animator. It was kind of impressive being there, among all those very well-dressed people and attending such event. Cécilia and I really felt like we were privileged (and we were indeed!!) and we decided to take the most of it, even though we could be ridiculous at stages. We obviously took pictures: pics of the stage, of the magnificent theatre, of the people attending… We even were lucky cause we found two seats at the 5^th or 6^th raw and therefore could see perfectly the show.

Among the famous people there was Bruno Salomone, a French humorist and actor and Isabelle Adjani.

The show ended and we walked towards the hotel to get that drink. We sat at the terrace and thought of what was happening: we were in Monaco, at the terrace of a wonderful hotel near the beach, listening to the waves, all dressed up, we just attended a very select show and walked among famous people. We are 24! Who else can say he did such things at our age? I guess that’s the time we realized we were really privileged not only to be there but to work for a company, and more than anything for a manager, who gives us such occasions.

Short trip back to Paris

Special occasion: my old friend, Laure, is getting married.
Who would have thought this? It's always weird thinking someone you grew up with is building his/her future as an adult.

So I took a ticket and came back for that particular occasion. On the day, I went a bit earlier at Laure's place to see if all was ok. She already went to the hairdresser and Daphné was ready to do her make up.
There was a little tension in the air that showed me that day wasn't a common day. Sylvie, her mum and my Godmother, was running everywhere to have everything sorted and Laure was moaning as usual. :)

I came back home to get prepared and met my mum and brother who were all dressed up too. 15-30 min before the meeting time, Daffy called me to help her with the bride and groom flowers. We rushed to the flower shop and saw, before all guests, the flowers taht Laure would have on all pictures. It was a very nice little bunch of various flowers.

I finally came back to pick my mum and brother up and all together, we left for the other side of the road to the city hall, as the wedding was taking place in Levallois.

After having waited for a while due to some delay, we finaly took place in the wedding room of our beautiful city hall and the deputy mayor started the speech. He talked about both parties, talked about the link each and everyone had with the city of Levallois and all summed up it was a nice ceremony.

Straight after, we left to Laure's parents' place and had the little "party". I had the occasion to talk to Antoine, which I hadn't seen in 2 years, since our separation, and it all went very well.
The party finished late at night (or should I better say, early morning) and everyone seemed satisfied with the day.

I really wish this wedding will go well in time. I may haven't seen Laure in ages and we may not agree all the time on everything but she will remain forever someone I do care about. Let's wish them the best of happiness.

Unknown and great!

Lyon. Everyone told me it's a nice city so I decided to go and have a look... and, as often, Cécilia followed me in my adventure.

We had decided to go there on the week-end after Cécilia's birthday. It was Easter, so we'd have a 3 days week-end and that would be a nice way to celebrate Cécilia's 24 years of age.

Cécilia's mother absolutely wanted us to have a guide there so she gave her number to some fellow she sort of know.

DAY 1: On the day, we were sitting in our 1st class chair (yes, it was as expensive as 2nd class so...) when we received a call from Ludovic, our "guide". He said he would come to pick us up at our hotel in the evening.

With Cécilia we arrived and went straight to the hotel to visit it (our visit was half professional, that was the only way to get the accomodation for free) then decided to have lunch in a typical restaurant as Francis told us Lyon is the capital of gastronomy. What he didn't tell us was that Lyon's gastronomy is based on tripes and offals. So we had some "tablier de sapeur" and an "andouillette aux tripes" and after two bites we just wanted to have desert! Tripes are just awful!

After this culinary experience, we went for a walk to have a first view of the city. Pretty disappointing as we were expecting something more modern. the city actually looks like an Italian one!

Coming back to the hotel, we decided to go to the Spa as no one was there and we still had time before Ludovic called. The problem was: we didn't think of taking of bathsuits with! Nevermind! We went in underwears!! Great time in the jacuzzi taking pictures and relaxing.
In the evening Ludovic came and introduced us to his brother Max and all together we went for a drink and a chat, then for a bite and finaly we ended up in a great dancing bar, drinking, dancing, laughing... We got on very well straight away all together and we really had a great time!
Back at the hotel at 4 am!

DAY 2: Up at 9 am to enjoy the wonderful buffet breakfast and change hotel. Once settle up in the other, we used the velo'v (public bycicle!) to cross the city and arrive in the Parc de la Tête d'Or. This is such a nice place. I don't know how many hectars of parc there is there but the place is huge enough to have a lake in the middle! As we ran out of batery in our camera, we agreed to come back there the next morning to do a shooting session.

Max an Ludo came to pick us up in the evening and again we went to take the aperitif and finaly spent the evening chatting in a tropical pub. There again, just great!
Came back at the hotel at 5 am.

DAY 3: After the traditional awesome breakfast, we headed with the velo'v to the Parc de la Tête d'Or for our shooting session and did some very nice pictures!
Guys joined us and together we rented a pedalo. It was a 30 min ride laughing and enjoying.
Then after one last bite, we left for the train station.

What I really liked about this week-end was that we met these two guys and we got on so well together that it just seemed to everyone that we've been knowing each other for 10 years!
We had a really great time and now we look forward welcoming them here, in Nice.

Like in the old days

I didn't expect a simple little green shamrock to rock my world like this.

This week-end I went back to Dublin for an extended week-end and I found there the peace and the joy I lost when I left Ireland... This seems quite a philosophic sentence... Ok, let's start from the beginning.

It was the first time since I'm in Nice that I took a day flight. Normaly I'm always flying late in the evening or too early in the morning to see anything. That time, my 11 am flight allow me to have a wonderful panoramic view on the French Riviera: Nice, Mont Boron, Saint Jean Cap Ferrat... The coast is a real jewel and I didn't expect it to be that nice. That was the first surprise of the day.

The 2 hours and 15 minutes flight went ok. Nothing much to say except maybe that all France was under the clouds and that I was next to the window so I could "face-sunbathe" during the flight.

Landing in Ireland, I had the opportunity to look at the landscapes and they stoke me. Everything was plane and green. Just beautiful. I was invaded by some inner peace and happiness. Memories, wishes to be there again, I felt like the time was suppended... I looked at the beaches and the cliffs that reminded me of so many nice memories with Ramona, Michi, Marie, Siemens, Antoine... Beauty was there. Inner beauty I mean.

Landing and meeting Sonia I haven't seen at all for 1 year!!! That's the longest period we've been separated and I was so excited to see her again. Kristjan was there too and after the expected hugs and kisses, we left the airport to go to her place.

The weather for the week-end was expected to be ok. Not so cold (some 8°C) and not so cloudy. When I landed the captain said it was 5°C in Dublin but when we waited for the bus to come, it started snowing!! No joke! Only for 30 seconds but still!! Funny!

After a good lunch and some chat and gossips, Sonia and I went in the city center for shopping. Penneys, a|wear, Carroll's of course. Dinner and the first part of the evening were spent at Sonia's place while for the second part, I met Marie at my former house.
It was so nice to see her again and to be in that house. I felt like I never left. Everything was at its place and only a couple of new things had appeared.
To respect our traditions, we went to Searson's to have a couple of gin tonics and to catch up with time. Marie introduced me to her new (and let's say it, handsome) Spanish boyfriend. "Marie in love? No way!!" And still, she definitely is (and so is he!).

We went to bed around 4.30am (change of time during the night) and as I slept on the sofa that night (José took my place in the bed) I got waken up at 8.30 (new time). So a little 3 hours sleep.

José left and Marie and I had our traditional breakfast at the restaurant on the other side of the river: salmon, scrambbled eggs, toasts, capuccino and a glass of fresh orange juice. YUMMY!!

I met Sonia straight after at her place and with Kristjan we went to Bray for the afternoon.
Sonia and Kris just bought a new reflex camera (I'm loving it!!) so we spent the whole afternoon trying to make professional pictures and understanding how it worked. My next camera will definitely be a reflex!! Bet on it!
The evening went on at Soso's place looking at the pics made, chatting, transfering movies from a hard disk to another...

I took monday off to enjoy better my time in Dublin. I had planned to go to Siemens to see Michael O'Connor and get some news from the Siemens life and I was stunned when I saw my beloved second floor. The financial crisis has made some damages: 2 divisions out of 5 or 6 (can't remember) have disappeared, all devices in the showroom were all packed up, ready to leave, and the second floor is about to be sold.
Michael didn't look very happy too... it seems he's kind of worried. The only moments I saw him smile sincerily was when we talked about our common memories. Old times...

I finally walked back to the city center, to buy the last souvenirs and on my way I realized I left Dublin 2 years ago. 2 years already... and I felt like I was right there in these wide streets yesterday!

Time to say goodbye to Sonia and there I was, at the airport, on my way to Nice... again... leaving my heart and memories in Dublin... again...

Salsa Queen

Since a bit more than one month, I'm following salsa courses given by the Columbian association in Nice. I've known this association thanks to Francis, my colleague, and Luz, his wife, who are part of it.

So after having revised the basis, I am now evolving a bit and learning new steps. Well not exactly... Actually we're still learning steps that I know but as there aren't enough men in the course, and since I know the basics already, I'm learning man's steps and that's quite funny. So I'm Cécilia's partner and we both rock! We're great together and really get on well on the dancefloor!

Aside from that, we're participating to a lot of salsa evenings like yesterday at the Karé(ment), a club in Monaco.

I hope soon I'll be able to dance salsa perfectly... ok, maybe not soon but maybe one day! ;)
Special thought for my brother who celebrates his 10th birthday today. Lots of love Greg!

The King is dead! Long life to the King!

Last day of the carnival and again the parade. It was my last occasion to take a picture of the dragon which was, according to me, the most stunning attraction of the whole carnival.

For this last day, Cécilia and I got from the Tourist Office 2 stand tickets and even the rain didn't put us off watching one last time this ballet...

And there it comes! The dragon and its very well done sound and light effects: its green eyes rolling, its mounth lightning and smoke coming out of its nostrils... One could just stand there, admire the huge beast and feel the power that it represented.

I felt so little in front of the hours work that thing represented and I really felt like I changed time period for a minute.

The show continued later in the evening: after a last parade of the King and Queen, they put a replica of the King on a boat and sent it offshore. Suddenly, the shadow of the King cought fire and burned until nothing was left while the speaker was saying: "The King is dead! Long life to the King!!"

Right after started the fireworks of carnival's closure. It was over the sea fired from 4 boats and it was really nice and well done. With Cécilia we managed to get a nice spot on a rock of a pier really close to the sea. So close that everytime there was a wage, we got wet! :)

It was a real traditional evening (waaaaayyyyy better than Menton's "party") and I'm glad I participated to the Carnival event.

Dying at Menton's carnival

Isn't carnival supposed to be a funny, getting together party?
Isn't it supposed to be a good occasion to enjoy the family reunion?
Isn't it the moment when everyone makes jokes and masquerades with anyone, even if they don't know each other?

If yes, I really wonder what the carnival in Menton is for?

Cécilia and I had the chance to go to Menton for the lemon party (all paid by the company by the way). Before the "show" started, we went around to have a look and were surprised to see only some chariots and few dancers. The chariots were nice but not as impressive as in Nice.

When the show started, it was like nothing happened: some music of course but no festive atmosphere, no one seemed to really appreciate and to celebrate, everyone was so passive! Gotta say that the public average age sould have been 70 years old... That may explain something...

With Cécilia we decided to "awake" the public a bit and we started shouting and dancing to animate a bit... but nothing... We watched the parade and complimented the dancers that were the only real attraction of the evening (Brasilians, Mexicans, Hawaian dancers...).

At the end of this boring parade was the fireworks which was as boring as the rest of the evening.
We took some funny pictures of ourselves getting bored and went home convinced that Menton was a place to die, not to live! :)

Viva Carnaval!!

Carnival started in Nice this week-end and I had decided to be part of the party.
This year's theme was "The King Of Masquerades" and I assumed this would lead lots of fun.

On Satuday afternoon was organised the Flower Battle so at the right time, I went on the Promenade to get a nice spot. Unfortunately, the event was reserved to the people who'd bought tickets and at 25€ each, I didn't see the point in getting one and staying there the whole afternoon alone just to see some decorated chariots. In fact Cécilia was on holiday and Noémie didn't felt like coming. So I tried to take a couple of pics and to see throught the fences but after 15 minutes I gave up and my festive afternoon ended up doing shopping.

Nevertheless, on Sunday was the Corso Carnavalesque and that one was opened to the public.
It was a parade of chariots one more beautiful than the other. A great job has been done there and the athmosphere was really nice. Children on their parents'shoulders and everyone with spray bombs and confettis. Some friends had even organised spray bombs battle and everyone got sprayed in the public! The athmosphere was really childish and fun.

The parade lasted 2h and I really enjoyed the moment. I would certainly have been better with a couple of friends but I had fun anyway and will continue to go to the various events organised until the 1st March, day of closure.

I'm dreaming of a white... week-end!

The weather has been so cold in France in the last month that all mountains became completely white and the ski station were overbooked.

Fortunately I live only 2h away from the mountains so when Romain arrived at the train station Saturday morning with a 15 min delay, we hurried up to be on time for the departure of our coach: direction Isola 2000!!!

3h later (the time to rent the skis and buy the afternoon tickets to go up the mountains), we were all dressed up with our wonderfull coloured skisuits, ready to slide down the trails.
It has been 10 years that I haven't skied so I was a bit affraid to go at the beginning but Romain had decided for me: he wanted to start with a blu trail. "I don't think that's a good idea..." said I, but Romain didn't let me the choice and in less time than expected I found myself in the middle of a flow of skiers.

I was happily surprised to see that I remembered quite well the ski lessons I had from my uncle and my cousin Luca 10 years ago as I manoeuvred quite well the skis.

In a whole afternoon I fell only 3 times and it wasn't the kind of fall you normally want to forget because it ashames you.
We ended the afternoon having done almost all the trails of the station and going from a green trail to a blu and even a couple of red ones!

It was really great and I loved it!

European Tour: London - 5 days

- Do you want a cup of tea?
- Yes, please. I would highly appreciate it.

31.12.08: Leaving for London with Cécilia!!!
To sum all up: G-R-E-A-T!!!!

Visits: Madame Tussaud's Museum, British Museum, Harrods (Cécilia still can't realize the sales there while I can't realize how many people were fighting for a perfume!), London Eye, Big Ben, Westminster Abbaye (from the outside as it was too expensive for us), London Bridge, Tower of London, Saint Paul's Cathedral, Sherlock Holmes Museum (well, just the shop actually, but I bought the first book of his adventures!!!)


Walks: Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens, Regent's Park (we even got locked in!!), Trafalgar Square, Oxford Street (for shopping obviously!!), Westminster Bridge, Portobello Road.


Food and drinks: Starbucks Coffee (first time for Cécilia), hot dogs (all included!!), Claridge's (4 stars hotel where we had a "high tea", very posh tradition. We were really embarassed at the very beginning but after a couple of minutes, we started being really at ease!), Pasta Hut and Pizza Hut, Ice Bar.

Cécilia fell in love with London and I went through a lot of memories.
We came back with more than 600 pictures and 52 films. That's a good summary! :)