Everything Nice in Nice

Cheesiest blog title ever. I couldn't help myself.  I feel like we have been gone for so long, and we still have another full week of vacation left.  I think it's because on our past trips, we have always had an agenda to follow.  When we were in Paris, Rome, London, even Dublin, we always had a checklist of things we wanted to see and do that kept our days busy.  On this trip, we've done a whole lot of wandering and roaming the streets and back alleys.  It's our favorite thing to do in Europe, and it's made this trip really relaxing.  We slept in this morning, proceeded directly to a cafe for espresso, and then headed to the market down by the water in Nice. (Eric said I should tell you that except before that, we stopped at McDonalds for a second (double) espresso.)
 
Nice is absolutely beautiful, even though it was overcast today.  The weather has been so much warmer than what we have had in our past Euro-trips. All I can say is that Europeans sure do know how to put on a market.  I would LOVE to have the produce selection at home that I have here.  I stocked up on lots of fruit for the next day or so - I'm "breaded" out at the moment.  Didn't think that was possible? Me either.

Next, we headed to an amazing little antique market.  If it wouldn't have cost us an arm and a leg to ship items home, we would have spent a significant amount of money today.  There were some incredible pieces that we were drooling over - hello chippy paint, come to mama. After that, we wandered around and shopped for a bit, and then headed up to the top of Castle Hill for some AMAZING views of the city and of the coastline.

I honestly never realized what a large city Nice is before we got here!  After we got our fill of views from above, we headed down to the beach to enjoy the scenery, salt water, and fresh air for a bit while we rested our legs.

There were tons of rocks on the beach that people had written on and left behind as a momento.  I happened to have a Sharpie in my bag (is that not normal?), so we wrote a little message of our own and tossed it into the sea before we left. Eric even dipped his toes in for a moment, although the water is still pretty chilly.

You can sort of see our rock that I wrote on near the middle of the photo, at the very bottom.

We had dinner tonight at a restaurant called Oliviera, which is one of the best in Nice and came highly recommended. It's interesting because each dish is paired with a different olive oil, infused by the owner himself, even down to dessert.  The food was fantastic, but the service was lacking, honestly.  We had a reservation and still waited over 20 minutes to even get a bottle of wine to the table.  Someone described a restaurant recently as "a victim of its own success," and that describes this place perfectly.  I would still recommend going, but the owner needs more staff to be able to handle the reputation that they have built.   We must have watched him turn away at least 30 people tonight, no joke, because he was booked solid. If you're interested, he puts up some of the recipes from the restaurant online so you can make them at home. I had the Aubergine Oliviera, as well as the Tartare Mediteranne. (Aubergine is just eggplant, simple as that.)

Pierre Update: As most of you know, Pierre sleeps in his own bed in his own little room (i.e. laundry room or guest bathroom) at our house at night.  Well, Eric's mom has informed us that this week he decided he wanted to sleep outside in their garage with Stormy (their little basset mix). He has been barking incessantly if they bring him inside until they let him back out to sleep in the garage. He knows exactly what he can get away with at Grandma's, and I bet we won't hear a peep out of him when we get home. Little stinker! At least he's happy and having fun with a pup playmate:)

Anywho, we must have walked at least 30 miles today, and my legs are aching, so I'm off to bed.  If you try either of the above recipes, let me know! They were delicious, and we're excited to try them at home too. 

Anniversary in the Provence

We spent our second and third days in France village hopping around the Provence region, from market day in Gordes, to Roussillon, to Manerbes and Lacoste, to Loumarin, to Bonnieux, to Apt, to Saignon....and then back for some garden time with Toby and sparkling wine before heading to dinner.

On our morning walk into Gordes

Goult

Path to the Chateau Lacoste

Eric at the top of the Chateau in Lacoste, overlooking the valley

Abbaye de Senanque in Gordes - imagine it when the lavender fields are in bloom in June!

Eric and Toby in the garden at Mas Galinelle

Our third wedding anniversary was on Wednesday, the 24th, and hopping around these small villages was the perfect way to spend it. We had 5 euro (total) sandwiches from a boulangerie for lunch, and then a ridiculously nice dinner at Le Clos de Gustave in Gordes, and both were phenomenal - the perfect mix while traveling in Europe.

Happy Anniversary to us, from the best B&B owner ever.

Amazing color in Rousillon

Wandering with the remains of a fresh squeezed OJ and an eye out for antiques

View from our picnic lunch on our anniversary in Loumarin

Castle exploring in Loumarin

Most of the roads that we traveled were extremely narrow - as in, the size of one lane in America. But for two cars.  You get the picture...

Add in mountains, and you're sure to have an entertaining drive. I wish the photos did the size of these roads justice. There was a lot of cringing and gasping on my part going around curves, but Eric was a champion driver...I'm glad I was not responsible for that aspect of the trip (so was he).  I was, however, responsible for map reading, and I'm proud to say that we only got semi-lost once!

Last stop of the day in Bonnieux

I really should do an entire post just on our meals in the different villages. If there's one thing we don't skimp on when we travel, it's food.  The food reflects so much of the culture of each region - it's almost entertainment for us to go to dinner.  The Provence region of France is very big on "farm to table," so most restaurants don't even have menus available, as they change every day based on what is fresh and in season.  

Lamb Shank at Le P'tite Cocotte

Sea Bass with a broccoli pesto puree

Puff Pastry with Snails

Beef Stew

Sea Bass at Le Loup Blanc

We drove to Nice, France this afternoon and are enjoying some time on the Mediterranean Sea! I wasn't sure what I was going to think of this city (it's larger, and I anticipated it being a bit too "posh"), but it is just lovely. Plus, I'm in love with our little hotel room, Le Petit Trianon, with it's provencal/minimalist decor and it's little balcony over the square.

You can't really tell in the photo because of the bright lighting, but the sea is just over the top of those trees at the end of our street.

 Several of you have emailed me with travel questions about upcoming trips you are planning - I got them, don't worry! I want to wait to reply to you when I get home and have time to give you a complete answer that will actually be practical and helpful to you. And if you have more - let me know! Always happy to help if I can.

I'm sure there is plenty that I've left out, but I'm off to get a good night's sleep before market in the morning. Will be back with more tomorrow from Nice!

Bonjour de France!

Bonjour from France!  Eric and I have hopped over the pond for a much needed vacation.  I'm going to take a few minutes to blog from time to time to avoid photo overload when we return, and this way, you all can travel along with us!

We started out with a minor mishap. We were supposed to fly into Munich, and then have a small flight from Munich to Lyon, France. Well. The German airline employees planned a strike. A one day strike, that just happened to be on the day we needed to fly to France. Flight canceled.  You know, just a major itinerary change less than 4 hours before we were supposed to leave.  So, we ended up flying direct to Paris instead, and then took a train into Avignon, where we picked up our rental car and headed into Gordes to our adorable little B&B.

Tartinne lunch in Avignon

Sandra and Pierre, who own Mas Galinalle,  have been so amazing. Right now, we're the only guests here, so we have roam of the whole place to ourselves.  Their home is nothing short of gorgeous.

There is a 15 minute walk up into the village of Gordes from Mas Galinelle down a windy little private lane.  When Sandra told us to "just follow the stone wall" until we saw the town, we knew it was going to be good.   As you can probably tell from the photos, the "walk" into town is no leisurely stroll - it's legit climbing a mountain.  But it's kind of nice because we feel like we really earn our dinner every night, you know?  Thank goodness we're in shape, that's all I have to say!

We spent the afternoon wandering around the town, and then got somewhat of an early dinner.  We were exhausted and I was running on zero sleep - I can never sleep on planes.  Sandra told us about a little restaurant that she and Pierre liked called La Trinquette and said that there was a tiny balcony with a table just for two that we should ask about. We did, and it was incredible - in views, service, food, and wine.  The owner was our waiter (love a good small business), and he could not have been more friendly.

After dinner, we snapped a few photos at dusk and walked back to our room, where I think I fell asleep mid-conversation with Eric. A good 12 hours of rest, and I was ready to roll the next morning.

Of course, we miss our sweet Pierre (who is vacationing with his grandparents), but there is one added bonus of staying at Mas Galinelle...

That would be Toby, the St. Bernard. He's at least 2 inches taller and  20 pounds heavier than I am, but he is such a doll.  He tried to follow us into town the first day we were here, and we had to return him home, but at least we're getting our share of dog love!