Celebrating the 70's - A chronicle of time and temperature

  Sunday 24 and Monday 25 November 2024 A big couple of travel days on the train from Nice to Paris which was a comfortable six hours on the TGV. Our Paris station, Gare de Lyon was a taxi ride to our overnight two star hotel within walking distance of Gare de Nord, because we are departing there on the Eurostar to London tomorrow.  This was another good train trip at just under 300 kph and 2.5 hours. Alyssa was waiting for us at St Pancras and we had a long and lovely lunch in Searcys Brasserie and Champagne Bar, a very nice and well presented restaurant within the station. Very reasonable bill at the end – until you realise it’s in pounds! The train to London Bridge, then to Marden in Kent was seamless and Johnny collected us for the 20 minute drive to Kilndown, where we will be house sitting with Truffle the naughty dog for a couple of weeks. It has been interesting to reflect on the various train journeys we have taken throughout Italy and France. One of the great advant...

  Friday 22 and Saturday 23 November 2024 Friday was a lazy day with a walk around the market and a taste of socca, a thin crepe made with chick peas and delivered to the pop up stand by a chap on a bicycle, with a giant sized crepe pan and welder's gloves. So cute. The day ended in a sunset drink at one of the ‘on the sand’ bars. And when they say on the sand, it is literally on the water’s edge. At one stage we had to put our feet up on the table as the big wave brought foaming water up past us. Friday night, Flashy went downstairs to the hotel’s restaurant to have a look at the Opera evening. This is where two opera singers pretend to be waiters and serenade the diners with a couple of numbers from well known operas. Well, blow me down, the joint was full. He did manage to get a table at the back and have a burger and a wine and soak up some culture. Saturday and it’s our last day in Nice. We have been here six nights in what has been clear blue skies, crystal clear turquoise ...

  Thursday 22 November 2024 Laundry day today at the local laundromat, then off to La Merinda de Nice Restaurant for lunch. This is the other restaurant that we visited 15 years ago and, yes, the same chef/owner is there and the menu is pretty much the same. It seats 24 and has four sittings over lunch and dinner.   It used to be that you couldn’t book, or just turn up either. You had to call in to the restaurant in person and make a booking. No credit cards accepted either. Well, the only thing that has changed is that you can/must book on line and then you get three or more reminders by text to which you must respond. If you’re 15 minutes late, too bad -lost booking! They still don’t take credit cards – cash only. We forgot about the cash thing until we sat down and ordered, then saw the sign at the bottom of the blackboard menu! A nervous count of the euros, surreptitiously under the tablecloth and we reckoned we had enough if we only had one glass of wine. Double check w...

  Wednesday 20 November 2024 We walked for an hour this morning to La Reserve de Nice Restaurant for lunch. We had a wonderful lunch there in 2009, when we were in France for our 20 th wedding anniversary. Dinner on that occasion was at three star Guy Savoy in Paris, which cost us a year’s salary! It was just a couple of weeks before we went to Nice and sort of set the bar. However, we raved about La Reserve back then as well. We were not disappointed this time either. The same chef is still in the kitchen. Can you believe it? He’s been there 20 years! We settled on the menu du jour - entrée, main and dessert. Starting with very good negronis as aperitifs, we watched the 50 knott winds blow spray all over the windows, as the restaurant is perched on the cliffs.   An excellent Provence Rose was chosen to accompany the courses. The meal was: Carpaccio of St Jacques with harlequin sauce and caviar. Plenty of sourdough bread on the table and a €9 bottle of water. Goodness, cock...

  Tuesday 19 November 2024 The morning brought an improved Lady P (hungry!) and another nice blue-sky day. So, off to the restaurant for our inclusive breakfast. This has shades of 1990’s travel, where you stayed in hotels, had a tariff that included breakfast and gorged yourself on the buffet. Well, some will relate to this! The buffet was, as expected and magnificent. Hot, cold, continental, full English, American coffee and a proper barista giving you cappuccinos. Healthy stuff and lots of sweet treats. Shame she was a bit reluctant, eh? Flashy made up for it though. A change of attire today, with the better gear coming out and the jeans etc, going into the wash bag. We are on the Promenade des Anglaise after all. Ten thousand steps saw us relive our last visit here. In to the old town to the market, the place we stayed last time, the glace bar where we had lavender glace and restaurants we visited.  All this is glorious sunshine. Getting boring, eh? A beer and a coffee s...

  Monday 18 November 2024 An easy travel day today with a train to Genova, then a change there to Ventimiglia on the border, then a French train into Nice. Everything was going smoothly. The 50 or so primary schoolchildren, with matching orange caps and stressed teachers, boarded at Genova! Luckily, they scrambled through our carriage and disappeared further down the train. Time for a picnic lunch in Ventimiglia with our cooked chicken and salad in focaccia, sitting in the carpark and then back on the SCNF train to France. We went one stop – Menton and on got the Police Nationale. The train does not proceed and the armed coppers ask to see our passports. There are more police on the platform and clearly, something is happening. Next thing you know, a tall young chap with a chin beard is led off the train. Interesting. The media did mention a heightened security presence in France. We’re no sooner on the way again and a dodgy looking character with a back pack gets on and sits nex...

  Sunday 17 November 2024 We went for a walk to the top street this morning - 81 steps up! Except we took the public lift. The little Lounge Bar was serving coffee, so this met met Lady P’s addiction, then as it was after 11.00 am we walked down to our usual waterfront bar the Camogli Wine Bar, got our usual table and had a vino and negroni. This time we also got the water pistol to shoot the pigeons who like to land on your table. Flashy got one. Looking to establish how good/better northern Italian pasta is (they use eggs) from southern (peasant, no egg) pasta, we went to the also famous Pasta Fresca Fiorella, pasta take away. They line up out the door for their fresh pasta too. You can buy it to take home and cook or get a bowl of freshly cooked with a variety of sauces, then sit on the step in the street and eat it. We were the last customers served at 1.01 pm and had to settle for green ravioli with walnut sauce and green tagliatelle with meat sauce. It was the best past...

  Saturday 16 November 2024 Determined to see something of the town in the dark today, we adopted a different strategy. A late rise, no breakfast. Lady P for a long hill climb and Flashy to relax. Then at 11.30 am a walk in the once again, glorious sunshine (but 9C) down to the seafront for a stroll, look at the little market and buy some of the town’s world famous focaccia from Revello’s. They sell it hot out of the oven in slices and the crowds line up out in the street. Even now in the off season, the locals and visitors alike queue up for this delicious treat. While Lady P joins the queue, Flashy sneaks off for a double gelato. There is just enough left for her when she emerges with the bread. Down to the fishing fleet anchorage and we spy a boat selling fritto misto from the back (aft deck). So, for €12 we get a cone filled with fresh prawns, fish and calamari. All lightly coated in flour and fried. Bloody delicious! This we had sitting on the dock of the Bay, with a cold Mo...

  Friday 15 November 2024 A bus from San Gimignano to Poggibonsi and three changes of train along the way, got us the 223 kms to Camogli, by mid-afternoon. The route took us through Cinque Terra, where we had been before and we recognised the seaside villages, through glimpses from the many tunnels along the coastal train track. True to form, Comogli is another picturesque village hanging off the cliffs on the Ligurian coast. Luckily our apartment is serviced from the street by a public lift or a monstrous set of steps. We took the lift, only to discover more steps to the apartment. Just can’t avoid hills and steps in Italy. A walk around the seafront identified a few restaurants and shops open. Afterall, 3.30 pm is just Italian lunch time. So a couple of negronis and a glass of wine took us to sunset at 4.45 pm and as the chill set in, we went back to our apartment for the nightly G n T medicine, determined to come back out for   dinner in the dark of 8 pm. On our wal...

  Thursday 14 November 2024 We found a wonderful little café today for breakfast with the locals. The cruise ship Americans with the little bloke with the flag on the stick – he gets around, eh? They went elsewhere. Excellent cappuccino, cannolo and ham and cheese roll.  Then a painful hobble around the outside walls of San Gimignano ended with a coffee and the purchase of a shirt in the local market. By this time, it was almost lunch and our mate Kevin, from La Chaine des Rotisseurs in Cairns, now living half the year in Florence, arrived to collect us.  We are now back in three layers and puffer jackets because despite the clear blue sky, the temperature is in single figures and the wind and shadows are, how shall I put this?   Very bloody cold! Lunch was at Bottega Torciano, a 10 minute drive down the road. It specialises in Florentine steak. That is a 1.5 kg T-bone, cooked rare. We shared this and had some healthy grilled vegetables and potatoes – about three...