Getting to this point!

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A week in France

Week 1 has been a mixed bag.

Our first night back in France began at a hotel near the port, where we went for a nice evening stroll before dinner and saw this beautiful restaurant perched above the water:

Everyone who knows me knows how much I love my little place in France. It’s a small plot of land that is part of a big caravan park called the Domaine du Pin de la Legue. My grandmother owned it before me and a few years ago we finally had to remove the 1967 caravan that had been on the plot and we began to build something new. Sadly, the project has not been completed due to poor construction by a builder who couldn’t be bothered to finished the job, an architect who wasn’t able to manage the project, and a company that couldn’t be bothered to intervene even though they recommended the builder and the architect. For the last year we have been trying to find a replacement builder but it is common on the French Riviera not to be able to find good builders and when you do, they are too busy to dedicate much time to small projects.

Anyway, when we arrived, we’d already been made aware that there was a problem with the roof and stagnating water that could lead to a mosquito egg haven. Not good. Mosquitoes are very bad here when they get going. We did manage to get a new builder to come around and help with that problem, which is resolved for the short-term. The pitch of the roof is non-existent, apparently, so that is a new problem that must be dealt with.

So the week began in this way.

Also, I had a very important presentation that I had to do with a team I had been leading at work on Thursday. The presentation went very well and it was a delight working from our office in Sophia-Antipolis. Very modern site with wonderful environmentally friendly achievements.

We had mixed results at restaurants for dinner throughout the week. We are always trying to find somewhere new that is affordable and reliably good. So far, we confirmed what we have already found out in the past. Ranking in order from best to worst:

1. Restaurant Les Plaisirs in Peillon – nothing beats this for price, freshness and quality of the recipes. Plus, Romain the chef is a friend and a true artist when it comes to combining flavors.
2. Les Voiles in Saint-Raphael – This is only our second time at this restaurant but it was just as good as the first. The service is very good and the food is delicious.
3. La Table d’Yves on the outskirts of Fayence – a bit pricey but reliably delicious if somewhat fancy with weird 70s elevator music. A wonderful view looking up to Fayence and a weirdly big parking lot for a smallish restaurant. Owned by husband and wife: husband is the chef and wife manages the dining room with several other waitstaff.
4. L’entree des Artistes in Frejus – owned by two brothers. Reliably good food that is not too fancy.
5. Les Moulins de Saint-Aygulf in Saint-Aygulf – there was nothing specifically wrong with this restaurant. The food was good but on the fancier side with some flavors not quite working and it was quite pricey. The waitress was good and very attentive so we can’t fault that.
6. Le Barque Bleu in Nice – I’m just going to say this place is “meh”. It was ok, the service was ok, the food was ok. Nothing was outstanding or terrible but I wouldn’t recommend it.
7. Restaurant Le Tequila in Frejus – this one is actually on the commercial center next door to the Domaine. It’s not good. The food is mediocre and on the pricey side. Each year, we go there once and I say that I really don’t ever need to go back. It’s always a bit disappointing, sadly.
8. We can’t even remember the name of the worst restaurant in the Port of Frejus. The mussels made me sick the next day and there was nothing redeeming about this place.

Friday, I took the day off from work and spent the day exploring the region around Etang de Berre.

Etang de Berre is essentially the entry point for petroleum into France. It’s a bit of an odd one, I admit. But I was using my grandmother’s Michelin Guide from the early 70s and I was sold on the descriptions of the towns surrounding the lagoon. We started in Martigues, which is self-dubbed the “Venice of France”.

This town was a consolidation of 3 small medieval towns into one. We could see the old original charm, some new work, and some modern buildings, which all combined into a bit of a mixed response. This set the tone for the day.

Next we came to Saint Mitre les Remparts. It took us a bit of time to find the actual ramparts. Something funny happened while we were there, some locals asked us if we were actually visiting the town, as though they had never seen tourists before.

Next we visited a very ancient archaeological site: Saint Blaise. This was really pretty cool. We ran into a volunteer there who was doing some digging and he explained that this site was as important as Glanum (near Saint Remy) but it is in the wild.

Anyone who compares the two sites will understand this. Saint Blaise took about an hour so we quickly were running out of time and had to race to Miramas le Vieux, where we ate two very large ice cream sundays.

After that, we made a quick drive-by of Flavian’s Bridge to get back to Frejus for dinner at L’entree des Artistes.

Today, we began with a drive to Nice to pick up Chuck’s friend, Alessandro, for a further drive to Dolceacqua in Italy, where we met with Alessandro’s Instagram friend Paola, who showed us around the town. I’ve been once before but Chuck had never been. It’s an interesting place.

Next stop was Isolabona. This is another little town.

We ran out of time unfortunately and had to race back to Dolceacqua to drop Paola before racing to Peillon for our lunch reservation at Les Plaisirs. In Peillon, we had a wonderful meal…

…and then spent some time wandering around the village:

Finally, the week ended with a short visit to Nice, where we left Alessandro after seeing his beautiful photography books and zines.

 

Getting to this point!

Very impressed by my colleague, who has raised money (by walking) to go and help others. Good luck, Julian and enjoy this special moment!

Miles for Moldova

About a year ago, a couple of us were in Moldova with the aim of seeing whether a group could go and be useful, and to work out what we could do.

A year later we are a day away from going back. Which is very exciting! We have a local team of eight of us – Nic, Pete, Dave, Steve, Janet, Debbie, Marco and myself, (although Deb and Marco will be supporting us from home), our preparations are almost complete, and we are pretty much ready for a very early Friday morning start.

A huge thanks to everyone who has supported us, financially and in your thoughts and prayers. It has made a massive difference. One thing is for sure that 6 of us going from the UK to Moldova can make barely any impact on our own. But with God’s help, and a local team that we will…

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2.75 Days in Edinburgh and the rest of the week

I was very, very lucky in getting the chance to attend a work conference earlier this week that I’d been hoping to attend for several months, when another colleague had to pull out and I was able to take his spot. Thank you to those whom rallied to put my name forth!

Edinburgh is a place I have been to several times but for very short stints – like a few hours or 1 day at a time – so I was very excited to spend some more time there, even if most of it would be spent in a conference.

We arrived on Sunday and went straight up to the castle to walk the Royal Mile and then down to Holyrood Palace, which I had never seen before (or don’t remember seeing it previously). It was a beautiful clear day, so we decided to try to make it up to Arthur’s Seat. We ran out of time due to a dinner event, but half way up, the views were amazing. The Scotch broom was in full bloom and the scent was incredible.

Dinner: I have to mention the amazing and wonderful whisky tasting we had at the Cannonball Restaurant & Bar, with whisky provided by Glengoyne Whisky, which means “goose valley”. The restaurant had prepared a tasting menu to go with the three whiskies we tried and I freely admit I did break my vegetarian commitment to try, for the first time, haggis. It was good and went very well with Glengoyne’s 10-yr old whisky, which they call their entry-level whisky.

We thought it was smooth and drinkable. Neither smoky, nor peaty. We finished the tasting on a lovely chocolate truffle. This was the best part of the evening for me – everyone knows how much I love chocolate.

I’d hoped to include the following activities: whisky tasting and some kind of walking tour that include historic buildings, and/or a museum but even better would be a small gallery. When I look back at the last trip I took to Glasgow, what I loved most was my visit to the Mackintosh House for an Art Lover. Wow. I’ve love to go back to that again.

So we got the whisky tasting in. And that was it from my list – other than the nature walks. But, hey, I love my nature too so that is more important than anything else in a way.

Traveling to Edinburgh by train was a relatively pain-free experience.

Train booking tools are a bit out-dated compared to plane travel booking tools so trying to book seats where you want is challenging. England needs to rectify this. However, once on the train, the seats are large and comfortable. I worked most of the way up and down, but still saw some wonderful North Sea views in both directions.

One thing to mention about the conference in Edinburgh was the dinner at the Museum. The highlight were the bagpipers.

And the dancers:

Once back in London, we returned to our crazy hectic lives. I had another conference to attend in Hammersmith on Friday and this morning we packed for our trip to France and Sweden.

Re-Entry from Portuguese Camino

The return from the Camino was both anticipated and dreaded. I suspected that returning to the hustle and bustle of London would be challenging, after the time we experienced on the Camino, and comforting, in that we would be somewhere familiar.

We slept quite a bit upon our return. I’m so glad we arranged to have a spare day before I went back into work. It gave my feet yet another day to normalize.

Being back at work was interesting. I missed being with Chuck and the ease that we found together; being quiet and still, and then enjoying the journey together. The office is full of activity that is constant and there is no time to reflect. One interaction after another means that one has to be fully aware, all day, of other people, their expectations and their emotions. Work can be a very emotional place for some people.

Aside from this re-adjustment on a social level, there was the adjustment on the physical level. I found, in heading back to the gym, that I was much stronger than when I left. Especially in my upper body. I think walking with trekking poles really helped strengthen my arms and back. Pushups were much easier – although still not my favorite exercise 🙂

What I miss most about the Camino is being outside all day. After a few days into the Camino, we found it very claustrophobic to eat inside, especially during the day. I miss nature too. In London, we are very lucky to have a front row seat at some of the most beautiful city parks…so I am not complaining too much about this aspect.

Last night, we met cousins for dinner and I took a 4 mile walk to get there. It was absolutely gorgeous and reminded me of why I love living in London.

Sadly, we had one of the worst pub meals I have ever experienced and I feel truly sorry for tourists coming to London who would experience the food we endured. I say this because the particular pub we visited is right across from Hampton Court Palace (which has one of the most beautiful parks around-see below) and therefore is probably a pub that is frequentled mostly by tourists.

After dinner, we went for a quick walk around East Mosley, which has a very cute little shopping/cafe street. The sunset over the Thames was lovely:

Re-entry accomplished.