French Riviera - Part 6 (Gourdon, Eze, Menton, Villefrance-Su-Mur)

Some of the smaller places and also the places that we spent less time were Gourdon, Eze, Menton and Villefrance-Sur-Mer.

Gourdon was a town with less than 30 shops based within the mountains. Very scenic with spectacular views all round. It was very much an idyllic town with little shops selling parfums, old style lollies, dolls, and dried lavender from Provence.

Eze was another historical village on that we had a stopover at. Being pressed for time to catch our flight, we made a quick splash and dash at Eze. Similar to St Paul, it was perched right on top of a hill and this time overlooking the riviera. Eze was a bit more touristy, but definitely wanted to spend more time here.

Menton is situated 3km from the Italian border while Villefranche-Sur-Mer is a small seaside town tucked away from a majority of the tourists. Due to our time restrictions, we were only able to only take a glimpse of what the towns had to offer.

French Riviera - Part 5 (Nice)

Our last 2 nights was spent in the Boscolo Exedra Nice. We discovered the old part of Nice which felt more like a maze than anything. Each corner you peered around was either a square with restaurants and musicians, an alley way of bars, or a set of steps leading you on to more surprises. The other memorable experience was strolling along the coast while watching the sunset falling behind the Mediterranean sea. Can we stay for a few more days please?

French Riviera - Part 4 (St Tropez)

Keen to see what all the hype was about we took a 1.5 hr drive from Nice to St Tropez. After battling the traffic jams for half the time, we finally made it... to be slightly disappointed. It was a seaside town with local markets, but lacked anything really special. Our highlight was the artists showing and producing their own creations besides the water. We did also have to rush back for our spa treatment as well! 

French Riviera - Part 3 (Vence & St Paul)

Vence was the location of our B&B, La Maison du Frene. The place was run by a couple that had taken inspiration from their passion for art and haute couture to create a whole place that was an artwork in itself. Unfortunately, due to our frantic schedule to do as much as possible, we only had limited time to sightsee through Vence village itself.

About 10 minutes drive from Vence was the historic village of St Paul. It was picturesque to see the old village perched up on a hill in all its charm. Each path, alleyway, and archway had its own character that could only be brought about by the centuries that it has lived through. We loved all the local art in the village and was very tempted to buy some home. We did however buy 2 hats that we were quite pleased with! hehe

French Riviera - Part 2 (Monte Carlo)

Having visualised the Monte Carlo race track in my dreams the night before, I was all ready for race day. I have always told Marisa, that if there was one to go to, this was it! You sometimes had to pinch yourself to realise that you are at Monte Carlo watching the F1.

After watching Jenson cruise to yet another victory, we managed to walk the whole track in a time that was slightly slower than the Brawn GP car. We then celebrated our own personal victory with a classic French meal at Cafe de Paris and then some blackjack and roulette at the Monte Carlo casino. I would love to say that I had the charm of Bond, sipping on my Martini shaken not stirred and won big, but I will leave that for your imagination.

French Riviera - Part 1 (Cannes)

We finally got a much needed holiday on the French Riviera (not the ice cream place). Having flown into Nice in the evening, we quickly dropped off our bags at our bed and breakfast and made haste to Cannes. We had our fingers crossed to catch a glimpse of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, but to no avail. Instead we were greeted with all the extravagance of the rich. Walking along the Croisette in Cannes there were numerous multimillion dollar yachts, old men with runway-esque models by their side and too many supercars to note. All this and the film festival's red carpet was absolutely the perfect welcoming party for us to the French Riviera.

St John Restaurant & a friendly visit

My cousin and her hubby were able to take a break from their one year long travels to enjoy a proper British meal at St John's. The newly inducted 1 star Michelin restaurant and the 14th best restaurant in the world delivered wonderfully balanced set of flavours that captured Britain. We ventured and explored new ingredients and was pleasantly surprised each time. A sample of the menu was roast bone marrow and parsley salad, bloodcake, kid faggot, eccles cake with Lancashire cheese.

Brighton... Byron??

As it was Brighton Festival and a long weekend, we knew there would be a traffic jam heading down south, but we did not anticipate it to take 4hrs to get to a destination which normally would take 1.5!

Got there, had really horrible yumcha then went for a stroll on what they call a beach. It was overcast, but that was no excuse for crappy photos.

Very Expensive Legoland!

After our very long lunch, we decided to drive to legoland and lucky we caught it just in time as it was closing and lots of moms, dads, kids and their prams were gushing out of the gates! We manage to sneak in when the staff wasnt looking and took a few pics!

Trent was overwhelmed by how many kids and prams that were around. We spent a good 30mins there and as we left with the crowd we saw what was daily admission fees.....wait for it.. £36 for an adult and £27 for a child!!!!!!

We were so damn lucky not to have paid that....crazyyyyy!!!! Made our lunch seem all worth the penny.

The Fat Duck Journey (Part 2)

With 3 michelin stars and ranked 2nd in the world, the food is expected to be out of this world. Although the produce was fresh and aromatic, it was the journey and experience of Heston's innovative ways that take the whole concept of eating to another level!

He engages all your senses from tasting hot & cold in the one cup of tea, listening to the ocean while having raw fish on a bed of sand and not to leave out ice cream made on the spot with liquid nitrogen.

With some dishes, you would think twice before popping it into your mouth! Pommery grain mustard ice cream, green snail porridge, liquorice covered salmon and parsnip cereal!

We definately had a very enjoyable 5hr lunch, unfortunately Heston wasn't in the restaurant so couldn't meet the man in person, but he did leave us a signed copy of his 'In Search of Perfection' book as an apology gift for re-scheduling. We then ventured off to Legoland!

The Fat Duck Journey

The day finally came, after waiting 4months for our table, our experience at Heston's Fat Duck was fun, entertaining and will be very memorable. The journey took 5hrs to get through 14 courses, though it sounds all so formal, it made us giggle, while he took us down memory lane reminiscing childhood memories and having breakfast as dessert!