There is one great fixture around public areas at the French Riviera that got my attention when we were there. Take a look:
Sac – o – mat is widely available and this is one thing that I’m wishing would be made available here in the US too. As you may have figured out by now, this is a dog waste bin system.I didn’t try to pull out one for experimentation’s sake, but I found out that the dispenser mechanism allows for one bag to be pulled out a time, and you can automatically tear off a bag and effortlessly tie it by means of two lugs that is already provided.
Any responsible dog lover who respect others and nature would love to have this. And this will definitely keep parks and pavements free of dog droppings.
One restaurant that we frequented when we were based in Nice, France for the duration of our Riviera vacation was La Pizza. They serve a good selection of Italian dishes. The restaurant was always brimming with guests whenever we were headed along Rue Massena.
The first time we dined, I was dumbfounded to see our waiter writing our order on the table cover made of paper. I was pretty amazed at their system which led me to think that they may have a different document management system in place altogether. My husband and I anticipated that our order won’t come as expected, and somehow expecting the worse.
Boy, we were wrong. Even if he left the list of our order on our table cover, he came back with the food as per ordered, nothing was missed. He must have a very sharp memory.
Just to satisfy our curiosity, we wanted to go back and have another dinner. Again, the order taking part was the same. This time, it was a different waiter and he dutifully listed our order on the table cover.
We got hooked! Not only with the food but also the guessing game we played every time we dined – will the order come as ordered or not? We always got what we ordered. Their system is mapped out and properly executed. Clever!
My trusty Canon camera (SD 850 IS) worked hard for me on our most recent European trip. In spite its age (now three years old) it still takes great pictures even if its capacity is limited. My husband has been prodding me to try my hands on the more complex DSLR’s but I can’t commit to it. All of the three years that I have owned this little Point and Shoot, I still have not acquainted myself with all the features. For me, who needs a cumbersome gadget when I can get by with less?
I was mesmerized with the simplicity of these buildings inside Monaco-Ville.
I had a feeling that my husband can subsist on baguettes every single day of our vacation in France. In fact, that was his first choice of food for our very first meal. For dinner though, I insisted on typical French Italian dishes which he didn’t mind at all. But for lunches and sometimes brunch he would always opt for baguette sandwiches. I have to say that they were indeed delectable, and while he enjoyed them immensely I was equally in love with my crepes : banana-nutella crepe specifically.
This trip indeed got me re-acquainted with my love affair with crepe. Back in 2003 when we went to Paris, it was then that I discovered my affinity to great tasting crepes. Now that we’re back, I vowed to get myself either an electric crepe maker or a crepe pan so that I can make my own crepe and not to wait for the next trip to France to indulge on crepe again. My only question is that: will I be able to make equally great tasting and nice looking crepe? I assume that some kind of a skill is needed to efficiently make a perfect crepe.
It was just a matter of time when my husband finally decided he wanted to break his baguette lunches. I couldn’t believe we were looking for Chinese food in the middle of the French Riviera (lol). And indeed we succeeded and located a restaurant nicely tucked in the middle of French cafes around Place Massena in Nice. This reminded me of our Italian vacation, when we wanted to break away from Italian fare and searched for Chinese resto in Milan.
The food was decent and it was enough to satisfy our palates.
That is what Tourettes-sur-Loup is known for. Blame it on the small purple flowers that normally abound beneath the olive trees. They are later on sent to the perfume factories in Grasse, or used as ingredients for candies during a festival held every March. Tourettes-sur-Loup sits atop a sheer cliff overlooking the Loup valley.
There are many interesting shops lining the streets that are often owned by small artisans selling their own art such as hand-woven fabrics and one of a kind pottery. Sad to say, the shopper in me left the village empty handed. Even if I was interested in several potteries, I just couldn’t see myself paying for the shipment back home.
The city is rather unusual as it was built so that the walls of the outermost buildings form a rampart – three towers rising above the village.
After a day of mindlessly walking around Boulevard de la Croisette in Cannes, I’m pretty sure that an ultimate fat burner is not what I need. I must have burned all the fat in my body in a day.
What did I see?
Just take a look. In this two mile long promenade, you’ll never have to wonder if there’s anything that may catch your fancy. Right here, you’ll see the most famous address (the Hotel Carlton), the Film Festival Hall (who doesn’t know the Cannes Film Festival?), the Gare Maritime, the Port and Old Town (Le Suquet) and endless luxury shops. It is here at the H boutique in Cannes, where I got the second “no, not one piece is available; in fact, we have a two year long wait-list” response from one of the SA’s. Frustrating and disappointing to say the least but that didn’t bring me down. After all, I was there to see the sights, and not to mop in one corner. Getting my most awaited anniversary present from there would have been just the icing on the cake.
