Les Gorges du Verdon

Last weekend, Kirstyn, Emily and I took a trip to spend the weekend at our friend Mathilde’s house. 

The train journey was in itself incredible, as we took a tiny little train all the way up into and through the Alps. The sun was starting to set, and we saw mountains, valleys, wild flowers, sheep gamboling in the fields, and lots of old people who would wave at the train as it passed by the bottom of their gardens.

The next day we drove to the Gorges du Verdon – Europe’s biggest canyon don’t you know! They’re more famous though, for their incredible bright blue/green colour, which is just BREATHTAKING, especially when the sun is shining. After a picnic including some delicious quiche handmade by Mathilde, we decided to have a go on a pedalo. 

It was pretty windy…

But passing through the Gorge itself was an amazing experience which felt like entering another world. I haven’t adjusted these colours at all!

As Mathilde would say, ‘Perfect!’

 

Even this trip reminded me of the faithfulness of God, even in the small things. Before moving to Nice I was researching the region and looking at things to do here. I read about the gorges and had recommendations from various friends that they were a must, but being over 3 hours away and a car being necessary to get there, I had accepted the fact that maybe this would have to be something that happened another time. Yet, 3 weeks before I leave this place, I get the chance to go and see this awesome creation with my own eyes. Thank you. 

Sometimes I feel like I’m in Barcelona…

Here are a few visual highlights from my recent trip to Barcelona…

The Sagrada Familia – WOW. Gave me goosebumps just walking round it. If that’s what God-given talent in a man can do, then Heaven is going to be amazing (but you already knew that). I’d love to go back in 20 years when it’s finished – they’ve been building it for 100 years!

Me and my travelling buddy Kirstyn enjoying the sunset and the view over Barcelona (even if the town planners could have arranged it so that the sun set over the sea…we’ll let that one slide just this once)

Incredible freshly pressed juice at La Boqueria market, for the amazing price of 1 euro. I tried Kiwi, and Strawberry & Mango.

An amazing front to a patisserie on Las Ramblas, the main pedestrian street through Barcelona from Placa Catalunya down to the waterfront.

Wandering round El Gotic, the gothic quarter, was nothing like Vieux Nice, even if the streets are just as old and narrow. The feel was much darker, and there were lots of interesting shops and street art, like this one:

The park was full of performers, including one man blowing enormous bubbles. I’m pretty pleased with how this shot turned out.

April was also my last month of work! 7 months has flown by so quickly, and I’m staying here another month in the hopes of ‘Profitez-ing’ a bit more and also doing some uni work in the sun. I got lots of lovely leaving presents, including a card from the students titled ‘Good luck Katty’, with messages such as ‘I ❤ linking word’ and ‘thanks for your knowledge’. It has been difficult at times when the bus journeys have felt neverending, or just when what I say seems to go in one ear and out the other, but all in all, I have learnt a lot about teaching in these seven months. And discovered a deeper appreciation for the British education system…

Ventimiglia

Given that the Italian border is a mere 45 minutes from Nice by train, a couple of day rips with visitors who had never been to  Italy before had to be done. Friday is the day to visit Ventimiglia, as the otherwise quiet and sleepy town is transformed into a bustling market place (and French will get you pretty far in this border town, when your 5 words of Italian run out).

The indoor market is filled with giant jewel coloured fruits, vegetables and flowers:

 

 

Whilst the outdoor market sprawls for miles and can be divided into two categories –

The food sellers, giving out yummy free samples to all who walk by. I  bought some authentic Italian pesto for just 3 euro.

 

The rest of the vendors are selling much more markety things, along the lines of ‘This probably fell off the back of a lorry’. Genuine Chanel perfume for 5 euros, Longchamp bags for 2 euro…HMM. No wonder the French police are ready to hand out up to 10000 euro fines for people caught buying fakes. Add in people selling the same splat toys and iphone covers every five minutes and it can start to feel like you’re stuck in a Scooby Doo cartoon where the background repeats over and over again. After being approached by a shady man asking if we wanted to buy a Rolex (this actually happens, and he was wearing a big coat), market fatigue was declared and we set off in search of food. First time round, it was delicious ravioli in the old town with Nicola, Emily and Kirstyn. Round 2 was great pizza bought in the market place with the sis. And of course cannolis are a must…

I loved this old lady with her basket of knitting, it’s just such a chilled out lifestyle. 

 

Antibes (encore)

The past few weeks have been a steady stream of visitors here to Nice. It’s been so great to show people from home or from university what my day to day life here is like, as well as exploring new places and just spending great time together. (I just hope they had fun and that I was hospitable enough! As an aside, our apartment has never been cleaner…)

My sister arrives tomorrow and I can’t wait! I haven’t seen her since Christmas and I’m so excited to hang out with her and eat ice cream (in that order).

St Jean Cap Ferrat was one trip I took with Laura (from college) and Laura (from here!). We also went to Antibes for the day. I’ve already written about how much I love Antibes, but it still stands. A bit of a little England in as far as that is the language you will hear everywhere, as well as signs offering yacht provisions of caviar and kobe beef…but there is also a sandy beach, which is a rarity here, as well as beautiful views and an old town with city walls you can walk up on (the York of the Mediterranean, perhaps?)

This time we took a different turning and ended up with a great view of the Cap d’Antibes and lots of old men playing pétanque in the afternoon sun.

A perfect spot to sit and look out to sea and chat about life and dissertations (yuk).

Happy Easter

“Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!” Luke 24: 5-6

Happy day of celebrating the fact that Jesus died for us and for all our sins and rose again so that we don’t have to be separated from God but can enjoy and experience a relationship with him and life to the full! (Bit of a mouthful, so Happy Easter for short!)

Here are some pictures from a recent trip to St Jean Cap Ferrat, a beautiful peninsular to the east of Nice. The weather was perfect for walking all the way along the peninsular, experiencing (and dodging) the crashing waves, admiring the lighthouse up close (normally I watch the light sweep round over the bay from my bus stop every morning) and feeling very windswept and on the edge of the world.

Cactus graffiti - I'd like to think that this is somebody's Grandma and Granddad declaring their love for each other...

A staircase leading to the sea. We sat and watched the waves for a while and left behind a message for whoever would come after us; I wonder if anyone found it?

Krakow, the land of hipster birdcalls

Part II of our trip was a whirlwind tour of Krakow. The photoessay continues:

Krakow’s main square, Rynek Glowny, was a great place for peoplewatching. The indoor market in the centre sells all kinds of souvenirs – I am now the proud owner of a beautiful blue Polish old lady scarf.

The magic of Krakow was that it made me briefly like pigeons. They belonged there, and when these ones lined up so nicely for a photo I had to oblige. They look like happy Polish pigeons with puffed out chests and somehow not the English/French flying rats…

We were wandering the streets in search of food when we saw a wooden carving of a smiling Grandmother. Thinking this obviously = traditional Polish food, we stepped inside to find ourselves in a museum with marble busts of prominent old men with moustaches. This corridor led to a courtyard, which in turn led to a wooden shack filled with dolls like this one…

We started to get a bit scared to say the least! We actually had no idea what was happening, until we went through one final door and found ourselves in a dining hall! The food was so good that we went twice.

Such a beautiful church! It was breathtaking. The ceiling was my favourite part, it was dark blue and covered in golden stars. I like that God blessed people with such creativity and talent to build something beautiful that would bring glory to Him.

Krakow was also the city of pierogi, mashed potatoes, a surprising amount of R’n’B clubs, Jewish history…and this cheesy photo taken at Wawel castle:

The title of this post comes from the fact that if you say ‘Krakow’ fast enough, it kind of sounds like a bird signal…which was used whenever we saw hipsters. It was used a lot here.

Of course, Krakow is not far from Auschwitz, and we visited here. I’ll write about that in a separate post once my thoughts are collected on it.

Some Hungarian highlights

Our trip to Budapest and Krakow was so jampacked that if I described everything we did, you would probably die of old age. So here’s the visual version:

As in capital cities everywhere, all over Budapest you can see padlocks chained to trees, fences, bridges…lovers are supposed to engrave their names onto them, lock them to something then throw the key in the river and their love will last forever. Judging by the rust, these two have been together a long time…

Forget goulash, this is Hungarian cuisine at its finest. Cheese wrapped in chocolate. ( Before you judge, think chocolate cheesecake) So so so so delicious and sadly only available in Hungary. If you’re headed that way send me a box or five in the post.

I fell in love with the trams in Budapest, they’re so Eastern-European-Der-Vorleser-ish.

Pretty roof tiles on a church betraying Hungary’s Turkish influences.

Market traders taking pride in their displays.

The best night out in Budapest – In the Jewish district, plenty of ruin bars can be found. Built in the dilapidated ruins from the Communist area, these bars are sprawling, full of secret staircases and hidden nooks, piled high with Trabis, bathtubs, kaleidoscopes and films projected on the wall of horses learning how to swim. Naturally.

A poignant memorial of the Holocaust – shoes strewn along the riverbank mark the spot where many Jews were shot into the river by the Nazis. Someone had been here before us and left a white rose by every pair of shoes.

The Szechenyi (YES to spelling it right first time without looking) Baths, where we spent a very relaxing day in the naturally hot water, absorbing the minerals until we were prunes and people watching characters like these guys:

Legends.

Lush.

The sunshine is back and all is well. I’ve had the chance to discover some beautiful scenery on my doorstep. Molly’s family were visiting and were very generous and lovely and let me tag along on some of their outings. We took the bus to Eze which is a tiny village between Nice and Monaco, and we took the perilous Chemin de Nietzsche trail from the hilltop down to the sea. We weren’t quite aware of the state of the trail and its length when we set out, but it didn’t matter when this view accompanied us all the way down the hill:

Later in the holidays one of the teachers at my school invited me on a daytrip to ‘le Paradis’. Needless to say I was pretty intrigued! We hopped on a train and enjoyed the beautiful sun-soaked countryside until we reached our destination, Le Dramont, which was enveloped in a thick sea fog. Undeterred, we headed to a tiny cove and waited for the sun to come out, which it always does. From the cove you can see a tiny island with a castle built on it – this castle on L’Ile d’Or was the inspiration for the Tintin comic, L’Ile Noire (which actually takes place in Scotland).

Copyright Herge

Afterwards we went walking in L’Esterel which was just beautiful. Red rock and green trees everywhere. We sat still beside the pond and could hear the frogs croaking to each other. So much beautiful creation to be appreciated around me.

Carneval bingo

Carnaval

It’s Carnaval here in Nice, and so here is my top 10 list of people you will see in the city over the festive period. Feel free to use this as a bingo sheet!

1. Rich pensioners – this one is an easy start, as they are everywhere this fortnight! Arriving by the coachload from all over the continent, they sit and watch the parades. Look at the rows of silver hair:

2.Italians in their furs – never mind that the sun is shining and there are people sunbathing, those from the Rivieras, whether Italian or French, still feel the cold and wrap up in their fur coats which are (probably) as old as they are.

3.French old ladies who come to feel loved when a ‘handsome young’ man hands them a flower…and will also fight you to the death for that last gerbera. Good luck!

4. The lesser spotted French person in fancy dress – this does not happen outside of Carneval, so savoure-bien le moment.

5.Japanese women in kimonos – a challenge but spotted in the zone pietonne just before the bataille des fleurs

6. Us at Carnaval – us at the Bataille des Fleurs, catching flowers, throwing confetti, dancing in the street, pure joy!

7. Us not at Carnaval – I’m normally far too British to ring my bike bell, but Carnaval forces me to ding it incessantly – straying unexpectedly onto the cycle path being a tourist’s favourite hobby. Giving up on being able to get anywhere on time and locking the bike up.

8. Scary performers who will kill your flowers – and if your name is Laura, try to stick their finger up your nose. NOT COOL.

9. The Queen – she’s pretty hard to miss. Great Britain is the guest of honour this year due to the 2012 Olympics. Bonus points if you notice that Kate and Wills are riding on segways.

10. Behind the scenes – if you stick around long enough, or happen to be walking through place Massena late at night, you will see this highly co-ordinated team, cleaning up everybody’s confetti and silly string with giant leaf blowers.  Moving like a cross between a synchronised swimming team and a group of detectives combing an area for clues.

How many did you see?

La Rome française

Last weekend was the GBU weekend away in Nimes. The weekend got off to an eventful start with the man on the radio warning us, under no circumstances, to drive in the direction we were going in. Oops. We got off the road to avoid any potential dangerous south-of-France-inexperienced-in-snow drivers and hung out in a McDo for an hour. We eventually made it there safely, and it was great to see some familiar faces from the last weekend, as well as meet some new people.

Part of the programme was a trip to Nimes, where we ran about in the freezing cold for a photo scavenger hunt. From these photos you might think that I went to Rome for the weekend, as the Ancient Roman influences on the city are still pretty obvious. Les Arènes is an amphitheatre and a mini version of the Coliseum, whilst La Maison Carrée is like the Pantheon.

This was the altar of the church we were staying at. I really loved the bright colours of the painting, and the point where the colours break out reminded me of John 3:16 and also the lyrics from the song Spirit Break Out, ‘Can you hear it, the sound of heaven touching Earth.’ We were invited to join the worship of their Sunday morning service and it was very joyful praise. There was a man there who created a painting over a few worship songs; it was great to see a talent like that at work.

It was great to have some quality prayer time with the girls (Grammar tip: prayer in French is great for practising the subjunctive!) The subject of the future (summer and job stuff) once again came up, but I know that it’s in his hands. Just trying to listen and make being silent an active, not a passive activity before Him. He is good.