Pétanque & Pastis

Paris Séjour: Bois de Boulogne

The Bois de Boulogne played an important role in our Paris séjour, since it was close to the apartment we rented on rue des Belles Feuilles in the 16^th.  First of all, every morning we ran a couple loops around the lake in the park for our daily exercise.  Then, one day we rented a row boat and spent a couple of hours rowing all around the lake, nestling up to the bank under a weeping willow tree for a pique-nique of Asiatique delights that we had purchased at the elegant Président Wilson Market that morning.  And, finally, one evening we hopped onto the small lake ferry for the two-minute crossing to the bucolic island restaurant called Le Châlets des Îles (Tél: 01.42.88.04.69), where we had dinner on the terrace overlooking the lake.   

Morning Run in Bois de Boulogne

The Président Wilson Market in the 16^th

Rowing in Bois de Boulogne

Hiding under a Willow Tree in Bois de Boulogne

Sunbathing Turtles in Bois de Boulogne

Restaurant Le Châlet des Îles in Bois de Boulogne

Modena – The City of Balsamic Vinegar

Actually, Modena is also very well known for cars, with the Ferrari factory located very nearby in the small town of Maranello.  It also boasts several car and motorcycle museums, and plays host to recurring motoring events during the year.  But our focus in Modena, as in everywhere we go actually, was definitely the food.  This was actually just a short stopover on our way to Parma from Bologna, to pick up some Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena to take home with us, and since it was lunchtime, it was a good time to try out some of the local cuisine.

After walking all around the center of Modena under some beautiful arcades and checking out the beautiful churches and majestic buildings, and visiting the colorful market full of all our favorite Italian goodies, we decided to stop for lunch at da Danilo (Via Coltellini, 31 – tel: 059.22.54.98).  We started with an antipasto of salumi and parmigiano reggiano, and went on to have one of the best pasta dishes I’ve ever eaten – tortellini stuffed with ricotta & herbs and sitting in a wonderful sauce of, what else, Balsamic Vinegar di Modena.  And everything was washed down with a half bottle of Lambrusco, a sparkling ruby red wine, which is, of course, another local specialty.  We finished with an Affogato (vanilla ice cream with espresso poured over it), which always tastes better in Italy.

Market Day in San Remo, Italy

Tuesdays are Market Days in the seaside city of San Remo, Italy, which is about an hour’s drive from Antibes.  The Tuesday Market is actually a huge street market with stalls selling clothing, household items, jewelry, etc.  They also have an indoor food market with all the Italian goodies that we love.  So, our first stop in San Remo was the food market, where we bought lots of peppery pancetta and big beautiful chunks of Parmigiano-Reggiano.  Of course, our timing wasn’t great, because now we had to carry around our purchases while we shopped at the outdoor market all morning.  Oh well…

Colorful Sanremo, Italy

San Remo, with its population of about 56,000 people, is the capital city of the Italian Riviera, and is also known as la Cittá dei Fiori, the City of Flowers.  San Remo is actually how Americans know the city, but the real name is Sanremo.  We always find the city colorful, the shopping good, and the food wonderful. Today we had another great lunch of one of my favorite specialties on the Ligurian coast, Trofie al Pesto, of which I can never get enough.  And, I think that LPM may just possibly be a new convert to this irresistible dish.

A Taste of Antibes

La Petite Maman’s first full day in Antibes included breakfast from our neighborhood boulangerie (L’Ilette 2, av Chênes Salis), where every item is a work of art; climbing the small, hilly streets of Haut-de-Cagnes, where we had lunch and perused the stalls of the Journée Antiquités Brocante (antique market); and visiting the Chapelle de la Garoupe on Cap d’Antibes, where we took in the beautiful views of the Mediterranean surrounding us.

The Village of Haute-de-Cagnes

From Chapelle de la Garoupe on Cap d'Antibes

Following the Gorge du Verdon

Our first order of business today was to drive over to the nearby Lac de Ste-Croix, a portion of the river Verdon which was dammed up to create the reservoir which generates the power supply for much of Provence.  The high fluorine content gives the lake its inviting greenish color.  We rented paddleboats at the lake, and paddled our way from the lake, under the bridge that separates the lake from the river, and then into the river Verdon, guided by the rocky cliffs of the Gorge du Verdon at our sides.  We never saw any power boats on the lake or the river, only canoes, kayaks, and manually-powered paddleboats like ours.  We didn’t see any good spots to get off the boat and pique-nique on land, but people were swimming nearby and pique-niquing on their boats. 

Jumpers at  Lac de Ste-Croix

It was also fun watching people jump into the water from the bridge when we were returning to the lake.  You have to look closely to see the two bodies in mid-air on the right-hand side of the bridge.

Chateau d’Aiguines

On our way back home, we took the southern route (D71) along the Gorge du Verdon, which was more scenic than the northern route we took on our way to Moustiers.  We stopped at Aiguines for an alfresco lunch in the main square.  Aiguines is a picturesque village overlooked by a 17^th-century chateau with a colorful tiled roof, and a nice area from which you can get great views of Lac de Ste-Croix.

Gorge du Verdon from Balcons de Mescla

There were lots of places to stop for taking in the scenery along our route on La Corniche Sublime (D71).  The Balcons de la Mescla was one such place, with stunning views of the Gorge.

Pont de l’Artuby

It was also from the Balcons de la Mescla where we got a great view of le Pont de l’Artuby.  As we walked across the 182-meter-high bridge, we noticed some enterprising sales people offering << saut à l’élastique >> (bungee jumping).  Strangely enough, we didn’t see any takers.

The Village of Trigance

Another stop, this time at the small fortified village of Trigance with its stone houses and its 11^th-century fortress perched on a rock overhead.

Sunday Market at St-Vallier-de-Thiey

The last stop of the day before getting back to Antibes was much closer to home at St-Vallier-de-Thiey, where we happened across a colorful Sunday Market, just in time to pick up some essential items for tonight’s aperitif.  Olives are always the perfect accompaniment to Pastis.

Sunday Tourists in Madrid

We started our day with a visit to the vast Sunday Flea Market known as El Rastro, which has been around for about the last 500 years, in one form or another.  Like other markets of this type, it was colorful, lively, and elbow-to-elbow with shoppers looking for a good deal.

Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza in the Palacio de Villahermosa

We hit the museum circuit once again today with a visit to the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, the last of the “Big 3” on our list.  Approximately 800 works from the collection of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Family are presented in the Palace of Villahermosa.  Nearly every art movement in Europe over the past 500 years seems to be represented, from Renaissance to Baroque to Rococo to Neoclassicism to Fauvism to Realism to Surrealism, etc.  Some examples of what we saw include:  in the area of Rococo, François Boucher’s, La Toilette; in the area of Fauvism, Maurice de Vlamnick’s, Blue Vase with Flowers; in the area of Realism, Edward Hopper’s melancholy & lonely, Hotel Room.

Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas

We hopped onto the Metro and disembarked at the Ventas Station to check out Madrid’s beautiful Neo-Mudéjar style bullfighting ring, and to maybe see some bulls or a bullfight.  The bullfighting season runs from March to October, so we thought that maybe the timing was in our favor for getting tickets.  The place was teeming with people celebrating the Feria de San Isidro, which runs from May to June, and celebrates Madrid’s patron saint, Saint Isidro.  During this fiesta, there are bullfights every day and tickets can be hard to come by.  We stood in line for a while, only to find out that the bullfight was completely sold out, with lots of other hopeful spectators canvassing the crowd for available tickets.  I’m not sure that I was all that disappointed in missing the bullfight, but I think it could be quite fun and interesting to experience the pomp and pageantry of something so beloved by so many Spaniards.

Market Day in Amsterdam

After breakfast, Dave headed to work, while I headed to the Monday morning Noordermarkt, which is spread out in front of the square surrounding the Noorderkerk (North Church) in the Western Canal Ring.  This square has been a market site since 1627, when it sold cookware and old clothes.  Today it is predominately a flea market selling cookware and old clothes … and records, antique furniture, fabrics, jewelry, etc., etc.  It was much more lively and more extensive that I had imagined, stretching beyond the square and down along one of the long side streets.  The Noordermarkt Flea Market is every Monday from 9:00am to 1:00pm.  The Biological (organic) Food Market takes place here in the same square every Saturday from 9:00am to 4:00pm.

Continuing the Market Day theme, I meandered through the entire horseshoe of canals to the De Pijp district in the Eastern Canal Ring to Amsterdam’s largest and most well-known market, the Albert CuypMarkt, which is open from Monday to Saturday from 9:30am to 5:00pm.  It runs all along the street called Albert Cuypstraat, named after the Dutch landscape painter, and you can find everything here from cheese, to flowers, to fish, to sausage, to clothing, to shoes, to furniture, to yarns and fabrics, and so on and so on, along with some of the best prices in the city.  The permanent shops behind the stalls, on either side of the street, are also fun to peruse through.  The market can get pretty crowded, especially on weekends, but today was not bad at all.

Shopping & Dining as the Romans Do

Pat took the train into Rome this morning from Lido di Ostia and met us at the Piramide station.  From here she led us into the Trastevere neighborhood to the big event of the week, the Porta Portese open-air market, which runs all along the Via Portuense and is open on Sundays from dawn until about 2:00pm.  We joined the masses of locals and tourists alike to rummage through the stalls of new and second-hand leather coats, clothing, antiques, kitchenware, books, etc., etc.  We each reigned triumphant as we left with brand new (slightly-used) leather coats for 20€ each.

The village-esque quality of the Trastevere neighborhood makes it a great place to wander about aimlessly, seeking out espresso bars, gelaterias, wine bars, and colorful trattorias with amazing antipasti bars. 

Le Marché de Truffes in Grasse

Today we spent the day in Grasse in order to attend the 10^th-annual Marché de Truffes, hosted by the well-known hotel and 2-Michelin-star restaurant, La Bastide Saint-Antoine.  We were able to sample some of chef Jacques Chibois’ truffle creations at a ridiculously low price.  Our lunch included a frothy mushroom cappuccino soup, a dish of Israeli couscous pasta, and a creamy brie with crusty country bread – each dish totally covered with finely shaven black truffles !  We washed it all down with free glasses of a young, red Vin de Pays des Alpes-Maritimes from Domaine La Vasta, called Vin des Baous.

As we walked along in front of all the vendors, each one tried to tempt us with the intoxicating perfume of their truffles.  But, how could we possibly resist this colorful character ?  At 90€ for 100 grams, we settled for two small truffles – just enough to cover two plates of pasta for dinner tonight.

Bloemenmarkt in Amsterdam

In times gone by, the flower merchants would sail up the Amstel River and moor their small vessels in the Singel Canal to sell their cut flowers & plants directly from their boats.  These days, the floating boats have been replaced by floating stalls which now float permanently at the Bloemenmarkt.