Côte d'Azur

Back in December my good friend Amy who used to live in Paris came to visit for several weeks during her school break. Amy had always wanted to visit the south of France so we decided to take an impromptu weekend trip to Nice to visit a mutual friend that lives there.

We took the 10 hour night train because we really wanted to get the most out of the experience and I'm pretty sure that I got so much out of it that there really is no good reason for me to take the night train again. Upon arriving in Nice our host met us up at the train station and brought us to her place. Being the wonderful host that she was, she immediately whipped up some crepes, fresh fruit and coffee for us. And after catching up for a bit we were off to the marché at the Cours Saleya. After that Amy and I walked around a bit, took in a few sights and then headed back to the apartment.

On our second day we woke up relatively early and made our way to the Matisse Museum (good), saw some ancient Roman ruins (good) and then checked out the Chagall Museum (can I have my money back please). We stopped briefly for a coffee, chatted with two old men who were impressed with Amy's hair and then boarded a train and were off to Monaco for a few hours. While there we visited the jardin exotique, the casino (of course) and the palace before heading back to Nice. On our last day in the region we visited the Russian Orthodox Cathedral (gorgeous) before boarding a train to Cannes. I really wasn't blown away by Cannes which is probably why I have no recollection of what we actually did while there. What I do remember is that my knee was killing me after walking around so much that I had to stop by a pharmacy to get some medication to alleviate the situation.

Dubai, Oh My!

One of my unofficial New Year's resolutions is "do more, think less". This may not sound like the best motto to live by for some but for me it's a truly useful reminder to not get all caught up in the constant analysis, processing and what if scenarios that tend to cloud my judgment and paralyze my decision making when it comes to experiencing certain things in life.

So do more, think less is exactly what I did when an opportunity presented itself for me to travel to Dubai. The old me upon considering the situation; alone, to an unfamiliar region, to visit a guy that I had only met once, would have never even considered it a possibility let alone been able to board an airplane. The new me however, looked up ticket prices, run a quick cost benefit analysis and was on my way. Life is all about experiences is what I keep reminding myself.

As for my trip, it couldn't have been better and all of the fears of the old me were for naught. My host was absolutely amazing, kind and generous and I can't possibly thank him enough for welcoming me into his lovely home. Dubai doesn't have the charm that old European cities like Paris and Rome have and I was initially put off by the somewhat its Vegas-esque, faux feel. Even though there were quite a few things that I didn't like about Dubai I have to admit that it is quite impressive what they were able to build and accomplish there in the middle of a desert. Whether or not it's sustainable is yet to be seen.

Mykonos in Photos

Click to enlarge collage

Click to enlarge collage

Santorini in Photos

Aix and Marseille in Photos

First Aix-en-Provence (click to enlarge)


Then Marseille (click to enlarge)

Aix-en-Provence and Marseille Visit

I have a friend in town from NYC that was also an assistant in Paris last year. Since it was another long weekend we decided to pack our bags and head south to Aix-en-Provence and Marseille for a short getaway. Aix-en-Provence was a deliriously quaint city with bright colors, friendly people and perfect weather.

My only complaint about Aix are the allergy causing cypress trees that could be found everywhere. My Flonase (Flixonase as it's called here) was no defense against those trees but like a good sport I modeled through it. Despite the allergies I would love to return and even take some time out to visit the countryside in the area.

Marseille on the other hand was a completely different experience with my friend almost being mugged within minutes of arriving in the city. Needless to say the experience made us feel a little uneasy about the city and we kept our guard up at all times. Marseille has its charms such as the Calanques, easy access to the Mediterranean, and the amazing neo-Byzantine architecture of its main cathedrals, but I wouldn't necessarily call it a charming city.

I would probably go back but only on the condition that I visited with someone from the area or that knows the city very well.

Being gone from Paris for two weekends in a row was just too much for me so I plan to stay put for while.

Bordeaux in Photos

By Day

By Night

In Vannes (Part 3)

In Vannes (Part 2)

In Vannes (Part 1)

1. Elevator buttons double as calculators.

2. They have huge stones aligned for miles in the neighboring commune of Carnac.



3. They use sheep to graze the area and I caught a picture of this little guy (he should probably be fired or retrained because I'm pretty sure that's not grass he's munching on).


4. There are some beautiful beaches.


5. ...and beautiful sunsets.


6. Every man (and some women) over the age of 50 can play the accordion.


...stay tuned for part 2 tomorrow.

Beer Budget, Vintage Champagne Tastes

On Saturday, in keeping with one of my New Year's promises to myself, I headed to Reims with two pals. Since I'm feeling kind of lazy (is it too late to blame it on a champagne hangover?) I'm going to spare you all the details of the trip. You can check out my travel buddies Juliet and Sarah's blogs for the full details.

The one unfortunate thing about my trip was that I discovered that I have a preference for vintage champagnes as opposed to the less expensive run of the mill variety.

Let the visits begin

The cave held about 25 million bottles of bubbly

1929 was a vintage year...go figure!

I almost knocked over all of the bottles as I knelt down to take this photo


Only two of those Mumm glasses had my name on them

Thank goodness for the bottle cleaning process

We were only rewarded after we had climbed 161 steps to exit the cave


Our handsome reward

Reward ourselves we did to the tune of about 3 glasses each

And as a parting gift we rewarded ourselves even more with 2 bottles of Pommery Wintertime Blanc de Noirs each. It would have been more but a girl's only got two hands.

Paris Christmas Revisited

Thanks for La Rêveuse and her helpful tip about Big Huge Labs Mosaic Maker I was able to make this nifty mosaic.

Click on image to enlarge

In Case There Was Any Question

Today is a twofer. In case there was any question after yesterday's post I present you with the following:

Photo copyright Millsy

Big thanks to my friend Dave in NYC for the care package. It fits!

Palm Trees in the 11th

I saw this peculiar site as I was taking a detour on my way home yesterday. I didn't investigate as to why the palm trees were there maybe someone in the mayor's office wanted Millsy to feel more at home while he's job hunting in Paris.

Rome: In Photos

I'll blog about my trip to Rome later but in the meantime feast your eyes on these photos that I took while I was there. If you'd like to see more click on the link to the slide show on the right.

Pantheon Dome

Roman Forum

Roman Forum

Colosseum

Italian Police Officer

Red Poppies

Sistine Chapel (M Unit made me take this photo even though photos were not allowed. After being yelled at by security M Unit's only concern was whether or not I got the shot)

St. Peter's Basilica Dome

St. Peter's Square

St. Peter's Square