helloooo!
how is everyone doing? this is post holiday week 2, and i am kinda getting back into the momentum for work, and i don’t know why, but i am so so so so occupied again with an endless to-do list and appointments and events and rehearsals, story of my life! i still have hundreds of photos sitting in my harddisk, and i decided that if i did them in chronological order, i will probably never get to the end of it. so i’m just gonna jump around random days and events, and today, my blog entry is situated in Nice, France!
yes, Nice is very nice. #punny hahahahaha.
and just how did we suddenly pop up in Nice, when the last time you heard from me, i was in Turin, Italy? actually, it’s really very simple. Nice is just at the borders of France/Italy, and it only took a 6 hour train ride for us to get from Turin, all the way to a different city in a different country, Nice!
thanks to my uber resourceful travelling partners, we had already settled on and made reservations at a super nice bed-and-breakfast hotel called Hotel L’ Auberge Des Baous, or The Frogs House which is located on one of the perched villages on a mountain near Nice, named Saint Jeannet. yes, it is really very random, but we had an amazing time there! i’ll probably talk more about our mountain experience in more detail next time, as this post is about our day trip down to Old Town, in the heart of Nice!
we woke up bright and early for a wonderful home made breakfast by the owners of the house, all ready to embark on our day trip!
Fish and myself, and the super amazinggggg spread we had for breakfast. i’m wearing the super love Pockets of Posies Romper in Pink! it’s perfect for romping about in style, with its lightweight fabric and super comfortable fit! teehee. love the cute florals on it too! size M fits me snugly at the waist!
check out all the awesome food we had for breakfast, i miss it already! everything is so fresh and tastes doubly good when taken in the chilly morning air on the mountains.
one of the owners of the Frogs House, Corinne, makes her own jam and it is delicious! so so so much better than the commercial jams that we have, that taste overly sweet and artificial. the three jars here contain rhubarb jam, apricot jam, and zucchini jam!
the fresh baked bread is so good too, from the local bakery! each of us can easily polish off 5 or 6 pieces each!
homemade apple juice as well that is refreshingly sweet and also has just a hint of honey in it.
Fish loves the apple juice 😀
my jam packed slice of bread! sooooo tasty ;__;
after enjoying our excellent and hearty breakfast, it was time to head down to the village bus stop to wait for the bus that brings us down to Nice!
one of the many adorably cute dogs in France/Italy. i can’t stop laughing omg whenever we look at its mournfully cute face!!! reminds me of Jayne and her cute pug too!
bought bus tickets from the driver for 1 euro, and off we go!
on the bus down the mountains! took us about 45 minutes or so, before we reached the bus interchange at Niceville to get on another bus that brings us to Le Vieux Nice, Old Town.
asking for directions from one of the locals. despite our non-existent French language skills, we somehow managed quite well with English and all forms of non-verbal communication! good job Fish! 😀
we started catching glimpses of the insanely blue Mediterranean sea from the bus! if you didn’t know, Nice is somewhat of a resort town as it’s situated just next to the seafront, and while we were there, it was the summer holidays and the entire stretch of beach was soooooo packed for miles and miles with people! eeks.
arrived at Le Vieux Nice with no mishaps, and the first thing that caught my eye when we alighted from the bus: the famous Fenochio gelateria! i was googling and reading up on Nice the night before, and this ice cream parlor serves a mega huge variety of flavours, including exotic and outrageous flavors like chilli chocolate, black olive, avocado, and more!
a peek at some of the ice cream flavors!
it was a blazing hot day so we got ourselves some ice cream 😀 settled for the “normal” flavours, banana, hazelnut, salted caramel and melon! 😀
in one of the alleys of Le Vieux Nice. we wanted to visit the Cours Saleya flower and food markets, which we were told is one of the must-see attractions in the Old Town.
here we are at the Cours Saleya flower market!
and the first thing i bought was a huge floppy straw hat to ward off the unrelenting sun rays! slathered on so much sunblock and i still turned at least two shades darker after all the gallivanting about and climbing mountains while on holiday 🙁
beautiful flowers being displayed on sale! they’re not cheap though.
other than blooms, there’s a huge variety of produce for sale at the markets, including jams, spices, oils, fruits, vegetables as well as souvenirs and trinkets!
fresh produce!
jams for sale.
there are also artists who have their artworks displayed for sale while painting on the spot.
we bought some of these deliciously juicy and sweet cherries!
more beautiful blooms.
Woon shopping for some jams 🙂
flavoured salts? these were selling alongside herbs and spices, so i guess they are for consumption!
getting some souvenirs to bring home!
queuing up to buy ourselves Socca for lunch, which is some kind of pancake made from chickpea…
the lady was selling her Socca in style, haha. mafia in black and shades and red lipstick and she was slamming things around alot and basically just kind of ignored all her customers until she felt like serving them. hahahaha.
there was this huge pan with one giant Socca on it which was then cut up into pieces by the scary Socca lady!
hmm.. it didn’t taste like much, haha. just tasted like flour and oil :S
Woon and i!
we took to the streets for some shopping after we were done exploring the markets! they have got these strange naked-men-kneeling-on-top-of-poles along the streets… weird? haha.
two pretty little girls being very intrigued by something.
we stumbled upon a small leather shop, selling some really beautifully made bags and shoes.
the leather smith at work.
weaved leather bracelets
and i got myself this pair of cute purple sandals, the very kind leather smith even adjusted it to fit me perfectly. handmade and customized to fit, for just 35 euros (or thereabouts)! wore them straight away, because we wanted to go to the beach!
and yes, i kid you not when i say that every inch of beach was packed with people clad in their swimwear and just soaking up all the sunrays. the sea is REALLY beautiful though! anyway, no one wears a one piece swim suit in Nice one. everyone is wearing a tiny bikini, even if they are not tiny. hahahaha :X
HELLO WE ARE AT THE BEACH!
super blue waters!
we ventured to the edge of the water, but obviously we weren’t dressed for any swimming so we had to settle for wading around with the water at knee level haha. would have loved to jump right into the cold water to get some respite from the sun!
the beaches there are covered with gravel and stones instead of sand though, so it’s not all that comfortable to walk around on.
instax! 😀
back to shopping, this was in one of the random quirky stores selling colorful and cute household knick knacks! plastic bib, anyone?
my first “big” purchase of the trip! :))) we went to Emporio Armani and i got watches for YZ and i. our first “couple” watch haha. for our 5th anniversary which passed while i was in Italy, so we didn’t get to celebrate it!
took me quite some time but i finally decided on these beautiful black X rose gold watches for YZ and myself. happy! 😀
we had to get back in time to catch the last bus back up to our village on the mountain, so it was time to go!
Fish in my hat hehhehe this shot of her so pretty! we were super tired out after all the walking around, and ended up snoozing on the bus ride back “home”!
we enjoyed our last dinner in Saint Jeannet cos we were departing to head back to Milan the next morning 🙁 had reservations made at Le Petit Grillon, one of the most popular restaurants in the village, as recommended by Benoit and Corinne from the Frogs House. the menu for the day is written on the huge chalk board behind them!
cute dog that looks like a soft toy with its owners sitting a few tables away from us. the restaurant is tiny and only has alfresco dining, which is very very nice in the evening because of the cool evening air on the mountain!
random flower shot.
grilled wild boar that was absolutely delectable. the French really pay attention to their food and it shows, even this tiny restaurant on an obscure mountain served amazing food!
we ordered a salad because we saw the words “foie gras” in it, but it turned out to be a foie gras pate (super gao and too much for us) as well as chock full of goat cheese and blue cheese which none of us could really stomach ;( what a pity because it would probably have been delicious to a cheese lover!
amazing fish that was seasoned to perfection, and somehow reminded me of local food, which was a welcome taste after days and days of pasta, pizza and bread!
chocolate fondant cake, and panna cotta to round off the meal. the food in France is seriously amazing! i would love to go back to France to visit other cities and areas, and taste more of French cuisine! what a pity we only had those few days in France, but nonetheless it was simply amazing 🙂
that sums up our day in Nice, and i hope you enjoyed looking at the photos/reading!! :))) i want to blog about our trekking/mountain climbing experience next!
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something more related to the present: an outfit photo with new acquisitions hehehe!
the Selene Crochet Cropped Top which is upcoming (launching next week!) and super gorgeous Swish it Fishtail Skirt in Coral Pink launching tonight! wearing a size M for both items!
i am in love with the skirt, hehe. wore it for a Heroine Make photoshoot last week too, together with my worn-to-death Springfling Bralet! it is super swishy and makes me feel like a fairy! plus it’s extremely flattering too and the coral pink hue is lovely!
spot the brand new Prada Saffiano Lux Tote in this really beautiful hue of lilac that i got from Milan ❤❤❤ i got it for a friend initially but she managed to get someone else to buy it for her already so it’s either gonna be mine, or i’ll be selling it instead! it’s selling for almost 2.5k in local Prada stores, and i’ll be selling it for less than 2k for sure. still deciding whether to keep or to sell, so keep a look out on here! 😛
also, these new pretty lace heels were bought at a steal from ZARA in Italy. they are soooooo pretty i had to buy them despite my exploding luggage!
i have so much i want to share here, so do come back soon for new updates really soon! ❤ au revoir, til the next entry!