Festivals!

For some reasons, there seems to always be some kind of festivals happening in a certain part of the South. Apart from the circus festival in Monaco in January, there was a small scaled festival on love, chocolate and pastry in Antibes. And yes of course there was free tasting.

Then there was the Nice Carnival. To be honest, I was not quite sure why everyone was so excited about ugly humongous cartoon characters being all over the city, but perhaps French people really like parades that much.

Traditional specialty snack – Socca. Actually only the crispy layer on the outside taste good. The middle felt like it was not cooked through.

Another festival was rather random – Menton Lemon Festival. They made use of lemons and oranges to build landmarks from “Around the World in 80 days.”

No wonder it was so expensive to buy lemons around here (sigh) They must have used millions of it to create all the displays. It might sound boring but actually the atmosphere was quite enjoyable 🙂

There were live performances in accordance with the display, such as fire dancing near the Japanese temple, saxophone performance at the entrance, french comedy show, indian dancing and last but not least, fake Beatles performance at the UK section.

Actually the whole festival was rather hilarious… The crepe maker asked me to take a photo of him with the hat on.

Poor baby, frozen and did not understand what was going on.

Perhaps the idea here is that when you love life, anything or any day can be a celebration or a festival.

Once upon a time…

Amidst the rather “famous” cities in Southern France such as Cannes and Nice, there lies several captivating small villages that are really worth going. They might all look kind of similar at first glance, but to actually be there you can feel the subtle differences amongst the lay out of the village, the pavements, the twists and turns between the alleys.

Saint Paul de Vence

Traveling back to Medieval Ages, the entire village was erected back in the 14th-15th century but amongst the old fortress and cottages, the place was painted with a modernistic aura.

Right above the tourism office is a free art gallery. (With random black and white rocks that I have no clue about…)

Although art is not my thing, it really added a special coating to the entire village. Art galleries of different themes and styles were on every corner, each with a beautifully crafted sign hanging from the top.

Then there were always random art pieces, sculptures just lying all over the village, blending in. (Or standing out) Art is inextricably linked to the village, not a single piece can be left out.

It was as if I were in the Middle Earth of Lord of the Rings.

I know.. photos overload, but it was just hard to describe with words! See for yourself 🙂

Have a nice day! More on other villages tomorrow.

Eze

Now heading towards Monaco/Italy, there lies an even smaller village all the way up the top of a mountain – Eze. It is famous for even Nietzsche found the truth of life while hiking up the hill top. Of course I just took the bus up for I am no philosopher… I thought I could just go to one of the two and I would have seen it all, but the truth is, the view up Eze is very different.

From the top you can have a gorgeous view of the ocean (the weather was not perfect unfortunately…) and on one side you see the old clock tower.

Eze feels even older, and less touristic. There were so few stores (or perhaps it’s off season) and the style is slightly more reserved.

There were also metal giraffes in a hotel! (I love giraffes for reasons that I am not quite sure of) It’s like how I felt towards stars and chocolates and all other adorable things.

Arcachon (Bordeaux Finale)

Last day in Bordeaux! I was annoyed by mosquito at 3 am… and my leg decided to protest against the non-stop walking by having cramps at 5 am 😛 But of course, those small incidents did not stop me from taking the morning train to Arcachon! The only thing there really, is the largest sand dune in Europe! (500 m wide and almost 200 m tall O.O)

I was so lucky to have met another student who is studying abroad in Germany at the tiny bus – stop.

If not I could have fell from the sand dune, rolled down, broke my ribs, got stab by branches straight down my throat and no one would notice… (I wouldn’t look like this if that happened… somehow extremely windy that day, but also sunny so I will not complain 😛 at least it didn’t rain!)

But we were not the only ones, there was a group of high schoolers from Dublin for a French study trip. The teachers were really nice, and they made me missed high school. So much.

The sand dune was situated between a huge forest and the ocean. I did not understand how it just build up there but apparently it has been there for thousands of years. Another thing that I have learnt from my exchange in Europe is how magnificent and absolutely gorgeous nature is. I was so proud that I made it up and came back down without falling/tumbling/rolling.

After the girl left for her train, I scrolled around the “winter town” which was just local homes painted for tourists with random names like Mona Lisa.

I managed to arrive a park by looking at the map and an old lady approached me. She could only speak french but to my understanding, she wanted me to follow her to a nicer area. Once we left, she told me that park was not safe and dangerous people go there. (again, I tried my best to interpret her, we could not communicate verbally AT ALL). Her kindness however, shinned through our language barrier:) She showed me the way back down and I was disappointed to find the boat rides were all cancelled.

I still had some time before the next train so I went into a local supermarket and FOUND THE LINDT CHOCOLATE at a cheaper price so I bought 7 packs. When I checked out, the old man behind me asked if I like chocolates 😛 and then he asked if I am Russian… I wondered what happened to the way I look 😛

After huge effort to clear out the sand from my shoes, bags, jacket’s pockets and HAIR, I took the train home.

The last dinner at Bordeaux was completed in a “Michelin” recommended restaurant that is good value for money 🙂 It really was worth every euro I paid. If only I live here, I will come every week to try their menu.

When we arrived at 7:30pm, I was disappointed that there were nobody.

Menu in French, the lady was so kind to translate everything for us 🙂

Pumkin Puree Cold Soup

Appetizer A: it’s actually just ham and cheese on pastry but they managed to make it taste good

Appetizer B: Mushroom Soup with random delicious stuff in the middle. 😛

Main Course A: Baby cow.

Main Course B: (what my mom would get, so I got this) FISH the sauce was really good I loved my main course most

Main Course C: Knuckles!

Side dishes

Dessert A: Quite self explanatory I think, it’s simply impossible for anything chocolate to taste bad.

Dessert B: Cheesecake (It was really fluid, kind of like a sweet cheese soup but with peach at the bottom so the flavor is balanced out 😉

Dessert C: I can’t remember what this is but the top was definitely ice cream 🙂

By the time we were about to leave, the restaurant was bustled with hungry people.

Bordeaux Day 3 & 4

It is day 3, and it is a SUNDAY! While most things are closed on sundays in Europe, markets are still happening. That is where everyone goes with their family to scroll around, bond and enjoy some quality time together. So with that in mind, we started walking along the harbor and passed by the first “touristy” place, Place des Quinconces, which is one of the largest square in the whole of Europe.

Right in front of us was already the port! It was finally sunny and the market welcomed me with bustling chatters from the excited crowd. Food were fresh and they smelled good.

Oyster, Seafood grill and a chocolate cake for lunch.

There was also a street skating area – FOR KIDS. They were just so adorable. They fell, cried, got up and rolled again. They made mistakes, and they moved on and tried again.

What is it about growing up that made us lose this ability to look past things and carry on? When did I lose the courage to learn from trial and error?

Then we walked through the grand bridge and there were basically nothing on the other side…just like the dead city from I Am Legend. Walking back to Saint Michel church, I saw cheap but pretty strawberries again 🙂 1 euro for the whole bucket of edible flower. (my cousin used to think strawberries are flowers…)

At night my friend’s roommate cooked delicious Chinese food dinner that I haven’t had in the past month! 2 bowls of rice and my crave for Chinese food was still not quite satisfied. After dinner, I captured Bordeaux under the veil of the night. The lamp posts were green and pink, they even changed colors. The city was so different from where I used to live (Juan Les Pins) and the fusion of old and new was rather impressive.

After a good night’s sleep, I was awaken by the colored sunlight shinning subtly through the tinted glasses on the ceiling. Then I thought a nice brunch is the way to start my day.

Swiftly I scooped myself out of my blanket and left home in 15 minutes. Bordeaux said bonjour to me with drizzles and I found the cafe I had in mind. I figured a high sugar content meal is called for a cold, gloomy day, so I ordered a grande caramel macchiato with cookies, and crepes with cream and Nutella. Then I sat outside and wrapped myself in one of the green blankets they had there. The cream was divine, foamy and milky. One lick and I am emotionally soothed. Some of the cookie melted inside and some I just ate them. The crepes was generously filled with Nutella. It swirled down my throat and the smooth and thick Nutella entered my system. Such a fattening and comforting brunch. Just sitting here and listening to the sound of people passing by, the heels, the chatter, the rain drops, the sound of greeting kisses on the cheek…I think I found inner peace 🙂

No one to report to, no time constraints, it is just me and freedom. And a full stomach.

Then I headed off to shop! I haven’t seen any shopping malls in my town and I was so jealous at my friend’s place with such a central location. I managed to walk through one of the longest, and also most confusing shopping lane in Europe. Rue Ste Catherine, and arrived home safe. We cooked failed dinner, sort of burnt eggs and rice that was too soft, but it was still edible and the conversation distracted the quality of food.

Bordeaux Day 2

After a really nice long sleep, we woke up realizing that we have overslept. We had to run like crazy to the train station and made it on time, to Saint Emilion, YET another UNESCO!

I was greeted by some really interesting people but due to privacy, I should not get into more details. 😉

Turned out the train dropped us in the middle of nowhere, but thanks to GPS, we passed by a million empty vineyards and finally arrived a really old town.

The village of Saint Emilion. The weather was unfortunately quite cloudy at first …

Due to the rush in the morning, we did not have much time for a full breakfast, so the first thing we did was have lunch. Beef and Chateau Lacoste.

A caramel colored fluffy cat apparently wanted to join our little lunch. He was so nice to touch. There was a constant shifting of sunlight through the windows during our lunch.

Although we came when the sky was cloudy; when we left we all had to put on sunglasses! O;O 🙂

The initial planning of wine tasting didn’t work out so we went to a Church, built in 11th century, that was carved out of stone instead. It was an underground church with baby corpses. Extremely creepy, there were human bones, skeletons on the ground, which I dare not take a photo…

There was another part of the church that’s rather interesting. The paintings on the ceiling was so well preserved because they were making certain chemicals for the war back then. The black fume covered up and protected the paintings and after hundred of years, people scrapped the black stuff out and found beautiful and historic paintings underneath.

It is kind of like life, sometimes things turn out unpredictably better than you thought, just when you think certain things are unfortunate, life might just swirl it around and change everything for the better 🙂 – Stay Optimistic but be alert and count your blessings.

The next thing worth noting is the convertible BMW 😛 and the nice cup of coffee with chocolate (Leonidas, 3.3 euros for 82g!) while the boys have cigars.

As for dinner, we whipped up some quick food but of acceptable quality, and continued my planning… (remember how there is no break in between traveling, friends coming and schooling? x)

Bordeaux Day 1

After the enriching week in Spain, the only part of my body that was still functioning properly is my hair, all other pieces were either bruised, sore, fatigued or ALL OF THE ABOVE. Obviously, I have never taken into account resting time in between all the traveling, guests visiting and schooling and I am not the most robust person out there…Hopefully I will still be in one piece by the end of May, after all initial plans to visit 13-14 countries.

At night I had no choice but to sleepover at Nice airport. Though it was dimmer with more comfortable chairs to sleep on, there was also a hobo who slept around that area. It was mildly intimidating but hey, life is all about facing your fears and becoming braver!

After a long night and a delay due to captain’s sickness, I finally landed into the very different landscape of Bordeaux. From above, you could see the winding meanders stretching all across the green canvas of agricultural land. I did not see any oxbow lake though 😉

The world’s largest urban area to be named a UNESCO world heritage site welcomed me with pouring rain. During this whole trip in Bordeaux, I got more rainy days than my entire month in the South.

It was easy to find my way out to the city (perhaps I was getting better? 😉 unfortunately plan A of meeting my friend there failed. Thank god we do have a plan B.

Problem solving time: stay calm, don’t panic, look helpless and harmless.

I asked around and people were so nice to help me out with their google maps and I finally stumbled upon their fascinating apartment.

Note to self: ALWAYS have more than one plan at least for important matters. I mean it’s not like you have to carry a fire extinguisher around or anything, but just be well prepared.

Sadly, my plan B was flawed as I forgot to ask which floor or room number it was. so I just had to ring all bells and got replies like we no speak English…then finally I heard footsteps; the door opened and my friend was there! I don’t think I have ever been that happy to see him :p

After a hot long lovely shower, I was refreshed again. Yay, I’m getting more sturdy now: 3 hours sleep + coffee and food and shower and I am good to go. (Perhaps I will no longer be tofu by the end of exchange 😉

My friend has an Interesting house. It was old, wobbly and it was as if the entire mansion was falling apart, but it was different in a good way. The key, the door knob, the middle outdoor space, the fireplace, the irregular shaped kitchen all seemed very French to me.

The house is also in a ridiculous central location. I walked 5 minutes and I am at the Saint Andre church. It was definitely one of the most crippled church I have seen. But I liked it, it smelled and felt different. This church seemed to contain more stories with the greyish, peeled off pillars.

Then I also walked passed another random church. Seriously though, they are just everywhere. They are like the Starbucks in Hong Kong. I mean in terms of quantity.

I saw many lovely small shops that sell toys and children books etc that was really adorable.

I discovered a free musee d Aquitaine but it was just super horrifying. I didn’t get the purpose or the theme of it. I was practically the only one there and the atmosphere freaked me out.

At the end, the trading of slaves part was a bit heart twitching. Do you know only those slaves who were packed tightly in the ship has only 25% survival rate? Less than 3 people survive out of 10 slaves 😦

Then randomly I arrived at Plaza Victoire (Vic TUA) 😛

Bordeaux is just such a big city with big, wide roads. I almost got lost when I was finding my way home. I thought I just have to find back the church, and I will be home, but turned out I recognized the wrong side of it… The wind was ridiculously strong too like it wanted to blow me away. My tiny umbrella became useless and I decided to walk back, French style – with just a hat on.

For Dinner we went out to a black and white restaurant and had beef and duck with lots of salad and delicious fries 🙂 It was such an interesting restaurant, all they sell are beef/fish/duck + salad and fries, with JUST ONE SAUCE. But it was good, may be that’s why people kept coming still despite the limited choices.

The strong wind and rain wide kept hinting not so subtly that we should go back home so we finally gave up and called it a day. Well 4 more days, plenty of time left!

Barcelona Day 5

As our flight was in late noon, we planned to go to camp nou to shop for souvenirs for my dear brothers (NOT LOL) but we got carried away by the shops and wet market nearby and went back to check out late! Good that the staff was so nice he still returned our deposits and offered to store our luggage for free.

For brunch I had cafe con leche (latte, I could finally not add sugar to my coffee :O does that make me a grown up now?!), a slice of honey cheese cake and croissant xocolat.

The moment I sat down with my tray of food. It hit me…this is the end of my first trip in Europe. I know I shouldn’t be sentimental, I am only 19 and there is plenty of time for me to come back. But rationally thinking, when will I afford this amount of time to come all the way to Spain? Life is an ongoing wheel and once something has happened, the next moment it is gone and you are still moving forward and forward. All that’s left is the tracks of shadow

I bought boots and ham and struggled to fit them all in my backpack. At the end I resorted to wearing most jackets on myself.

After that I had to adios Spain and bonzoir France again 😦 I will miss everything in Spain and the casual culture of eating whenever and however you want.

The next day I dealt with housing insurance, groceries, laundry, homework AND internship application. Then at night I embarked on another journey to BORDEAUX. 🙂

Who knows exchange actually made me worked more efficiently than back home? I am as busy as before, but this is the delightful kind of busy.

It also marked 1/5 of my exchange O.o what the heck?!

Barcelona Day 4

The tiredness from constantly walking and being hyper finally kicked in but that did not stop us from making the most out of our trip. We determinedly left hostel at 9am again and stuck to our plan. 🙂

First we took 1.5 hours up Montserrat Mountain. Legend has it that’s where Gaudi got his inspiration. The cable car was sadly under construction so we took a small train instead. It was quite pretty up there. The mountains did remind me of Gaudi’s design (or may be I was clouded by this piece of information 😛 and it distorted my filter – TOK)

Since this was off season, we got to explore the place quite thoroughly.

People who likes hiking would no doubt like this place, but as said before, we were exhausted so we just went directly to the famous boys choir. We climbed up a statue that says “No climbing” 😀

I was beaming in Spain everyday. Weather does have a huge impact on someone’s emotions. Food, Weather, People – make sure I take that into account when I choose where to work in the future ^^.

The old couple were holding each other’s hands… how loving and kind even after all these years. Perhaps being around Europe long enough would eventually make me believe that love is not a myth. It is true and is here to stay.

The church itself was quite impressive, especially the plaza area in front of it. There was also a black faced Virgin Mary inside.

The boys were really young and cute. I imagined if we get to hear Angels sing, they would have sounded like them.

Here the hawkers all sell the same products (I don’t understand how they survive, no differentiation point at all!) and I bought 6 flavors of honey ! They were from different flowers and have different healing power. 😉

We had lunch near the arena and the pork intestines tasted really good. The cheese risotto tasted way better than it looked. But we were too hungry, and forgot to take photos of it 😛

Finally we have seen most of Barcelona and decided to just shop and walk to the port vell beach. On the way I found MALTESERS lolly stick. It made my day!!! There were other flavors but my stomach refused to cooperate with my desire 😦

We wrapped the day with a last visit to a nearby plaza. I was rather sad that it was the last night I have with Spain. 😦 I will definitely be coming back.

Barcelona Day 3

The 5th consecutive day of waking up before 8 (some days were 5am), this was even more intense than when I have to go to school haha.

Early morning we toured in Sagrada Familia, the only building that was named a UNESCO world heritage site before it was even completed. Third product of Gaudi, the Genius. Unfortunately he died in a car crash before he could finish this beautiful piece (it mattered to him a lot as he did have a close relationship with god.) strangely enough, it was STILL under progress up to date… The 18 euros we paid to get in was said to fund the completion of the cathedral. So I guess money well spent ?

The exterior should be nicer in summer where they don’t have all the annoying construction going on. Fascinatingly, the cathedral looked as though it was made of burning candles, of melted wax. I would not say the aura it emits was peaceful like most bright white churches elsewhere; rather it projects a solemn but strange and slightly dark emotions. Perhaps to Gaudi, religion isn’t always clean and white as sheets? Either way, the entire structure is again a flawless piece for sure.

Going up one of the tallest tower was faintly fearful and extremely windy. Going down the spiral staircases (remember how Gaudi didn’t like straight lines?) made me dizzy too.

Nonetheless, I got to really take in the finely designed interiors and observed the effect of shifting sunlights on tinted glasses. Unlike most other churches I have seen, the tinted glasses in this cathedral does not portray any bible stories; it was just resembling irregular shapes and juxtaposing colors that have a nice contrast.

JUST LOOK AT THAT, when you were inside this magnificent temple, it felt like anything can happen, all wishes can come true and nobody will ever leave you. It really was that magical.

Then we rushed to our second spot for today, mount montjuic.

It was a nice walk if you have the time, but if not I think it is skippable. The museum looked legit but if you are not into arts, like us, the montjunc is only fun for a stroll and taking funny photos.

Now I have to stress on lunch. We were recommended a place where you pay around 13 euros for buffet, including sushi, sashimi, grilled seafood and ice cream. I would say it definitely was worth the price if you can eat like we did. It was definitively the most filling meal I have had for the past month and although my stomach hasn’t been practicing much in France, it picked up my usual pace after some warm up 😉 There only limited sushi and sashimi but good enough to extinguish my thirst for jap food. The grilled shrimp, clams, fish and pork was good. I lost count after the 7 scoops of ice cream but it was unbelievable how hearty the favors are! It was just walls ice cream but of quite special flavors like local Katalan cake, coconut, cinnamon etc. on top of that I got to eat all usual ones like strawberry cheesecake, mango and lemon sorbet etc. I was on 200% full :p NOT healthy at all.

While one of our companion had to rest, I walked into an orange store with Annie because it says on SALE. After huge effort of opening the door, the sales lady asked how she can help us. As we turned around, we saw all the mannequins with a huge belly… OOOOhhh it’s a store for PREGNANT WOMEN. HAHAHAHA Embarrassing…

After that, we obviously needed some walking. So we started the longest marathon we have had in Barcelona so far, and made it to hospital de saint pau after 3 hours. Unfortunately we missed the opening hour by just a bit. Oh well that’s life.

Then we talked over mojito because it was still early, and we were too full for dinner.

This is an insider joke. One day we passed by a restaurant in Madrid, and there was a gentleman was holding a lady’s hand and you could really see sparks fly between lol. I love Spain.

Barcelona Day 2

It was yet another long day! We headed for Palau de Musica Catalana guided tour (11 euros an hour) This is again a UNESCO world heritage site which was welcoming and absolutely colorful.

The design is again closely linked to nature. As a theater, however, a lot of audio and visual conditions were also taken into account and apparently, even the type of materials that the chairs were made of can distort the concert experience!

The stage was designed where a local Catalan musician statue is on one side while Beethoven’s statue on another. Muses with instruments from all over the world were crafted at the background and roses were commonly used throughout the construction. The center ceiling was a transparent, color tinted glass that symbolizes the sun, where all things originated from.

When we left, we came across a car parade headingto Monte Carlo. So exciting, always something going on 🙂

We also passed by another gothic church which actually wasn’t that amusing anymore. It was like the 10th church we have seen so far. (I think in Europe, 90% of the tourist spots are plazas, palaces, fountains, churches, markets, and museums)

For lunch I got to meet up with Alice and we had an awesome brunch at milk with her roommates. It was nice to see familiar faces in a foreign country.

Afterwards, we went to Park Gueill, also a Gaudi product. It was very him and the absence of straight lines was again his signature.

There was also a lizard just randomly situated at the park. I got to say Gaudi’s children should sue Agnes b. for the lizard logo.

As we left, we ran into Priscilla and her friend! i mean come on, i know it’s a small world after all, but how did we just bump into the only person we know in a big city like Barcelona?

So it was time for dinner again but police told us that supermarkets were closed, right, it was a Sunday, I kept forgetting that. So no meat ball and we had to buy other things instead.

Note to self: yet again proven the importance of contingent planning.

It was still early so Annie and I went to a wax museum bar and had Cava and Moscatel in the jungle. There were waterfalls and floating nanny in the bar. ODD. Fundamentally though, the talk was really enjoyable as we turned out to have a lot in common 🙂

It finally rained on us on the way back but my mood was too good to be affected by mere raindrops.

Miss Tofu

My journey in life

Category: Western Europe