European Tour: Rome - 5 days

It was just great!! 5 days in the Italian capital celebrating Xmas with my family and rediscovering the ancient city.

My mum and brother came as well from Paris so we spent Xmas all together.

Even though I was about to miss my flight because I locked myself out of the door just before going to the airport, leaving my ID card, fly ticket, etc in my appartment, the flight was ok. My cousin, Marco, and one of his friends were waiting for me at the airport. I haven't seen Marco in years!!! So it was just great spending time with him again.

DAY 1: Wednesday 24th December
My mum, brother, Marco and I left for a big walk in the city: we saw the Bocca della Verità, the Campidoglio from where we admired the Fori imperiali, then walked to the Pantheon (where it DOES rain inside!!). There Marco had to leave us to go pick up his father's Xmas present so with my mum and brother we continued

our tour to Piazza Navona, Fontana di Trevi, Piazza di Spagna and close from there visited a hotel for one of my groups which will go there soon (work's never far!).
We came back by metro and had a nice Xmas dinner next to the lovely and fairy Xmas tree my uncle, Pierangelo, had settled.
We finished the evening playing society games (I won most of the time :) ).

DAY 2: Thursday 25th December
We woke up early enough to go to the Xmas mass in a very nice basilica famous for having all the portraits of the popes on the walls.
After lunch and a couple of games, we went for a long walk on Via Appia Antica where the Romans use to walk and drive. Via Appia Antica is the last authentic street of the Roman Empire in Rome, with the original stones and the prints on it made by the chariots.
Then we left to see the Mosè from Michelangelo and finished our walk in front of the Colosseum.
Lots of pictures obviously.
DAY 3: Friday 26th December
Out with Marco, mummy and Greg to visit the Vatican and some other places.
First San Pietro basilica to admire the beauty and the majesty of the place. Pics, pics, pics :)
Then back to Piazza di Spagna to see another hotel and to take some daylight pictures, after that Piazza del Popolo and up to the "Pincio" to have the best view of Rome (all the momuments where illuminated as it was starting to be dark) and finaly, last look at the former city door before going back to the metro.

DAY 4: Saturday 27th December
We went to a huge mall called Euroma 2 where the majority of the stores are brands. In fact the prices where just too high for us. Anyway, we had a walk there and spent some time watching the shops.
In the evening, we all went to an Indian restaurant (delicious!) and straight after my mum, Greg and I got our last real Italian ice cream (even if it's winter!!!). It was huge, tasty and great! :)
To finish the evening, Marco brought me to see some of his friends. :)

DAY 5 : Sunday 28th December
Very early in the morning, my mum and my brother left for the airport. End of the winter holidays for them... already! A quick goodbye and back to bed for another couple of hours as we came back at 3am from his friends evening.
We went for a walk in Porta Portese and then back home to pack, have lunch and finaly leave as well toward the airport... feeling blue...

These 5 days were the more relaxing I have had this year and my time in Rome was just wonderful between the discoveries and the family. I really wanna go back again... But I threw a penny in Fontana di Trevi, so I will!

European Tour: Paris - 4 days

Back in Paris for a couple of days. Home sweet home as we use to say!
Originally it was to take my internship oral exam but it appeared to be more to see again the people I know than to have a studying stay.

I did the typical "duties" (consulate, doctors...) and then took advantage of all my friends, even the one I wasn't expecting to see. Ok, let's say it, I was never home!! I think I may have seen my mum for 3 hours out of 4 days!!

Anyway, to all the one I saw, thanks for your time, it was good seeing you again. And for the others, we'll plan to see each other soon.

The weather was not that bad up there and I even got the chance to see the opening of the Xmas market... At least that as the decorations in my street were really shitty! So desappointing!
Anyway, it's not bad beeing back in Nice. Not that I was getting bored in Paris (I didn't have time!) but there was a little something different...

Oh!! And I received my Christmas present from my mum!!! A brand new camera!!! Lots of pictures coming soon!!!

Discovering the region...

...And discovering it by all means!

After having been to Saint-Paul de Vence by car with Cécilia, having visited Monaco with my mum and having done scuba diving in the Mediterranean sea, I took advantage of a day organised by the region of Var to discover more!

After a workshop in the congress center of Saint Raphaël and a not that good lunch served in a seminar room of the closeby hotel, we went sailing on a catamaran for about 40 minutes. Just the time to reach Port du Poussaï were the excursions started.

As a start, we decided with Cécilia to be adventurous and we loaded in a buggy trip.

Actually, before seeing the buggy, I thought the vehicle would be similar to the ones I drove back in Dublin on the golf course so I was pretty confident on my capacity to drive it (as, as you can remember, I was a golf buggy driving master!).
But the buggies from Dublin were far different from the ones we were about to drive there. Way more quiet! These ones here were sport buggies! A sort of engine I had never seen before. So I lost a bit of my confidence when I saw it but then, the "teacher" explained the way it was working and I felt completely disarmed: the wheel was hard to manage, there were tiers, a handbrake...

But I still insisted on driving the engine (Cécilia didn't want to drive anyway!)
He distributed a pair of glasses to all of us saying we would need it at some stage because of the dirt on the way (which didn't really make me confident) and he checked we were all well cinched to the buggy's sit (which affraid me a bit more!). And there we were, ready to go!!!

We had to stay in queue but as soon as everyone left, the first problem arrived: the buggy didn't want to start! The motor wasn't turned on! Haha!!

After a couple of minutes and some meters covered, I felt more and more confident and realized I was not that bad in buggy driving.
Despite that, Cécilia got a panik attack on the way up the hill. This was probably due to the fact it was her first adventure experience after the canyoning event so that scared her but she breathed and finally controlled her fear feeling.

Up and down the hill, back to the start point. Great experience and great sensations. For me it was more than anything getting the driving pleasure back and feeling more confident in a car... or some sort of! :)

To calm down the adrenaline and finish the day trip, we ended up on the beach for a petanque game. It was fun and relaxing and nice doing some traditional activity.

I realize that I have never done so many things in my life than since I'm here: scuba diving, going to the Spa, touching an iguana, driving a buggy, etc... My life here is just... INCREDIBLE!!!

Botanic gardens

After a morning feeling blue, Cécilia brought me to Parc Phoenix.

This park is half a botanic garden half a zoo (well there are some animals but not that many). We goofed around there taking pictures of everything that appeared to be nice to us and agreed on coming again well dressed one day for a shooting session. This place offers really nice spots and the light can be awsome at some moments.

In one of the greenhouses, there was an iguana that was quietly waiting on the floor and looking at the visitors. It was not standing in a cage or a closed environment so we could easily go close to it and touch it. And that's what we did!

We approched it, and after the first moves, a bit scared I must say, we started realize our friend was actually really cool (in all senses!). His skin was soft and he wasn't a bit disturbed by our presence and the fact everyone was touching him.

We took plenty of pictures and finaly left him alone... all the more that the parc was about to close!

Here is a little memory of that day:

Italian Fashion

This week-end we decided with Cécilia to go to Italy in an industrial area where shopping is cheaper. From my side I invited Noémie to join and Cécilia decided to bring Christelle with her so on Sunday morning (it was actually midday already when we left), we drove to Serra Valle.

Serra Valle is situated a bit further than Torino. To go there, we took the highway up to Torino and then changed direction toward Serra Valle. The thing is that it normally should take 3h to go there. How come after 4h we were still on the way?? We took the wrong way!!!!

Finaly, at about 4pm we arrived, starving as none of us have had lunch and with the firm intention to find something to buy just to make the trip worth it! We got a piece of pizza and a coke in an italian fast food and started to goof around the branded shops: Versace, Prada, Guess and so on. All there with incredible prices! Well, of course it was way less expensive than the normal price but I still can't understand people who spend 150€ just for a pair of jeans!

We moved from one side of the area to the other taking the little train and enjoying the tour: picture, (wasted) movies, and laughters.

Anyway, I came back as well with a bag: at Pitarello, my beloved Italian shoe shop, I found a pair of boots at 74€, all in black leather. Just beautiful!

And it was already time to go back. This time driving on the coastal highway and in fact, in 3h we were home.

Next shopping adventure in Italy: probably during spring 2009!

Special thank you

After 6 months here in Nice I have a special thank you to say.

Dear Cécilia,

As soon as I arrived you took care of me: you helped me find an appartment, you advised me on various subjects, you gave me things to decorate my studio... and little by little you became my very good friend.

After a couple of weeks, I felt so at ease with you that we started going out together and made activities: scuba diving, bars, movie watching etc...

You helped me in the bad times as well. When I felt lonely, when I lost faith and when I felt bored, you were always there to chear me up.

We're working together and spending time outside the office together and after 6 months I'm still having as much fun as the 1st day!!

Because of all this I would like to tell you how much I appreciate your friendship and support.

Thank you for being there.

Relaxing days

Here we go for other news.

Cécilia is finaly allowed to drive again so here we are, the both of us, on the way for other discoveries!

This week-end we decided to go to La Havane. It's a Cuban club next to my place, very nice and exciting. When you go in, you just change atmosphere. The music, the decoration, the dishes, all is made to make you think in 2 seconds you took the plane and changed country: Cuba's there!

So we enjoyed the great restaurant (not so great for our purse), the typical drinks and the nice music and danced part of the evening.
Talking about the different excursions we could organize, we came up talking about the 1h Aquapass we got offered from one of the hotels we work with: the Mas d'Artigny.

This hotel, we visited last Tuesday, gave us as a present an entrance to their Spa and a 10% discount for one of the massages they make. We used the discount to make a present to our manager (a 1h Tibetan massage + 1h access to the hammam, chromatic swiming pool and relaxation room) and kept the Aquapass for us.

So after our virtual trip to Cuba, we came to my place to pick my stuff up and went to Cécilia's one. I slept there so the next morning we could get prepared and leave soon to Saint Paul de Vence and then the Spa.

Sunday morning: Visit of Saint Paul de Vence Village, couple of pictures, cosy restaurant (I know, again!) and then direction the Mas d'Artigny for the Spa.

The 1h Aquapass got transformed in a 2h delightment. Hammam, chromatic swimming pool with the relaxing music UNDER the water and relaxation room where we just fell asleep!!

At 7pm, the lady from the Spa came to wake us up and throw us out. We had to leave this magnificent and relaxing place and had not a single problem to fell asleep in our beds.

On this Monday, Cécilia and I had just one word to say: ZEN.