A Pinay in Europe

If there was one place I would like to be in yesterday, 29th July, that would be a resounding PARIS!!!

Yesterday was the last day of the Tour de France and I was glued to the télé (’TV’ in France) watching the colorful cyclists bike their way round and round the Champs d’Elysées and back to the Place de la Concorde at least 8 times! Eight times because they had to tackle the required number of kilometers before a winner is declared. The winner is a 24 year old guy from Madrid, Spain and how composed and good looking he was yesterday, as if he just came out of the shower, a face so impeccable and nary a sign of fatigue!

Anyway, it was not the winner whom my eyes were glued at but rather, the breathtaking bird’s eyeview of Paris! And everytime a historical monument or a famous place is shown on TV, the TV commentator switches into that of a tourist guide informing the televiewers the name and history of such and such a place!

I am always utterly amazed about the beauty of my favorite city, especially that magnificent avenue, the Champs d’Elysées, for me the real symbol of Paris.

This year’s Tour de France started in London 22 days ago, crossing through Belgium then back to France. I haven’t really been following the game religiously but everytime I stumble into it while flipping channels, seeing those beautiful regions of France shot from a helicopter camera never fails to astonish me!

My mother used to talk about our very own Tour of Luzon in the 60s and how she used to get out of the house to watch the colorfully-clad cyclists drove past the avenue near where they used to live.

They should resurrect this friendly competition in the Philippines, not only to encourage sports among our PC/cellphone-obsessed youth of today but also to promote local tourism. The private sector and the Department of Tourism could work hand-in-hand in making this idea into reality and like France, make it a tradition for all generations to come. But no cigarette nor liquor advertising please!!

Some images of Tour de France 2007 from A.S.O./Amaury Sport Organisation:

No Comments yet »

It’s crazy out here in the south of France, throngs of people wherever you go, traffic is a nightmare and restaurants/cafés taking advantage and raising their prices, like, for a cup of coffee, it’s 3euros! almost everything is expensive so we’d rather stay put in the house and do some D-I-Y’ing and gardening.

Yes, we’re back in the other house where as early as 6am and lasting till late midnight, you can hear the noises coming from holidaymakers having parties, frolicking in their swimming pools…

in our neighbourhood in the Var (half an hour to St Tropez), half of our old neighbours are gone for their summer holidays, replaced by holidaymakers who come from other countries in Europe. It is very common here that someone’s house/apartment/villa is rented to strangers - families, friends - on a weekly basis, a surefire way of making extra money because the south of France is a very popular summer destination. It is cheaper to rent a house for a week than staying in hotels and they can cook their own food, do whatever they want…

Btw, it’s very hot here, going on 40degC…i see my neighbours doing their chores in their swimsuit, and i myself is in swimsuit while typing this

No Comments yet »

the town hall ready for the National Day celebrations

a road named in memory of a villager shot by the Germans in WW2

the snowcapped muntains around Tende

view from the hilltop cemetery

the most photographed door in the village

No Comments yet »

Without further ado, let me introduce to you my first purchase!!!!
(applause! applause!!!)

photo from welcometoscana.com

Italians call one of them: la caffettiera
In English: coffeemaker

For all coffee lovers travelling to Italy, this is the perfect buy! i assure you, you won’t even look at Nescafe again after finding out how real coffee tastes like!

I bought a 9-cupper size (8euros) because our old one makes just enough coffee for two!
Boy! do we love it so much that we take it with us wherever we go!
life is not worth living without a cup of Lavazzo in the morning

No Comments yet »

I went for a fix of retail therapy today.
I finally came to the conclusion it’s the lack of it that is currently causing these withdrawal symptoms. Hence, being another Friday market day in Ventimiglia, it’s time to go for treatment With the hubby on the other side of the English channel on business and car parked at the airport (yours truly’s car is temporarily indisposed - calendar is fully-booked to afford a trip to the garage  ), the only way to get to my shopping paradise is to take the half-hour journey by train.

the train as seen from the village’s main roadThe train station is a good ten-minute walk from home and to get there, I have to walk through the village square where, at that moment, is holding our very own little Friday market. I say “little” because it comprises only about three long tables:
- one, displaying organic vegetables and fruits in season. The sellers, an Italian couple, hop from village to village with their homegrown produce, on market days. Ours is held every Friday.
- the other, laden with few catch of trouts and few grams of prawns
- and another table filled with marinated olives, an important produce of the valley.There are also few pots of flowering plants in one corner, a permanent sight in all village markets, the French being obsessed with their flowers!The market is busy that morning, surrounded by dear old neighbours who see hubby and i, in view of our being eternally away, as permanent tourists in our own home!

We give each other the usual bisous-bisous and the typical “how-long-are-you-going-to-stay-this-time” interrogations and “drop-by-our-house” open invitations. I love my neighbours, no mistake about that, but I had to duck away quickly lest i miss my train and will have to wait for another couple of hours for the next one…

My worse fear happened! While scurrying up the long climb (some 20 degree angle all the way!!) to the station, my dear dear train came speeding right before my eyes!! Oh no!!!

 I missed my train!

On checking the station’s timetable, the next one to Ventimiglia is not due for another two hours but there is one to come in 2 minutes, but… ooopppss!!!! going to the opposite direction!

That opposite direction ends in Tende, the last French town on the Roya Valley off the Italian border. To give you a geographical idea of the place, Tende is 20 minutes from our village, add another 20 minutes and you arrive at the famous Italian skiing resort of Limone, still travel two hours further and you reach Torino (Turin).

I had to think quick! ….shall i go… shall i go not…. heck! I could do with a scenic ride!

It turned out, it was a splendid decision!

What was usually a normal train plying the Nice - Tende circuit has now gone touristic, without extra cost, giving commentaries in both French and English of the beautiful scenery unfolding before every passenger’s eyes! (i’m telling you, even if you are just going for an errand, by taking this train and listening to the guide’s narration, your imagination will be transported back in time, as far back as the Roman ages!)

Every summer, from 1st june to end of september, the French train circuit from Nice to Tende and vice-versa is transformed into a touristic train route taking the passengers into a spectacular journey of one of the most beautiful railway landscapes in Europe! This railway line , reaching a height of 1000 meters comprises of tunnels and viaducts rising above the canyons overlooking the fast-flowing Roya river, the Roya-Bevera valleys, dotted by medieval hilltop villages, castle ruins, baroque churches, olive trees and a gentle spread of alpine, mediterranean and near tropical vegetation.

the baroque-style bell tower of the 17th century Church of the Visitation, Fontan

the old town of Tende                                                             the viaduct of Tende

The train finally reached Tende. as usual, it was a free ride! Yes, this fabulous trip didn’t cost me a centime. there was no controller to prevent that from happening!

Even if I wanted to, nobody sells tickets in our village train station. We have a station building but it’s just that,  a building! It stands as an empty building all year round except in July when it gets transformed into a holiday camp for SNCF (French national train network) employees’ children.

Why there is no ticket counter?
Because it costs more to set it up than it actually earns.
Out of the 200 inhabitants of our village, only two take the train and in both cases, only twice a year. The first trip is in November when they go to their second homes in Nice to spend a warmer winter, and the second trip, in May, when they return to the village to escape the throngs of tourists that crowd Nice in the summer.  Therefore, selling only 4 tickets a year is a joke for SNCF! (of course, this is only a joke, you nitwit!!  )

Even with the presence of a campsite that gets fully booked in the summer, still it doesn’t improve the figures. Holidaymakers drive down here in their motorized caravans or cars so who needs trains.

How then do I buy a ticket?
The only way to buy a ticket is from the controller who inspects and sells tickets at the same time, but then, his prolonged absence makes me suspect that he could be one of the two people who goes to Nice in the winter and back to the village in the summer!

More information on the Train des Merveilles at www.regionpaca.fr

No Comments yet »

The Friday market with the old town majestically perched in the background

A faint glimpse of the last French town of Menton on the left, seen here from the beach of Ventimiglia

Parmesan cheese anyone? only 12euros a kilo!                    The vegetable market

some accordion music for some change (centimes)!

No Comments yet »

Vallée des Merveilles, Parc National du Mercantour

It’s good to be back! This past week has been very hectic, what with all the hill hiking, concerts, village hopping and July the 14th (France’s National Day) celebrations to hack!
I’m suffering from nature and culture overload, i swear! but truth of the matter is, i am aching for more 

The Vallée des Merveilles is just on our doorstep. We need only to walk around the village and voila! a wealth of beautiful things - living and non-living - await us!

the beauty of hill hiking is being able to marvel at the wild flora and fauna which are free to enjoy!

left to its own devices, nothing could stop this pine tree from growing!

old abandoned houses are also a memorable sight!

No Comments yet »

Barely have we unpacked our bags from our Greek odyssey when our feet started to itch again. It’s not so much as aching for another
holiday but we just had to take a break from the non-stop de-weeding of that jungle which used to be our garden. Well, what do you
expect when you leave it unattended for months on end, de-weed it upon return, then leave it unattended for months on end, and the
cycle goes on and on.

hence, this morning, without further ado, we started the car and took the two-hour drive to our home in the mountains. Albeit the
long journey, driving on the autoroute of Provence-Cote d’Azur never fails to mesmerize us.

…that lovely stretch of coastline is like a dream! one that you see only on postcards, on films, on paintings! The azure blue waters of
the Mediterranean sea framed by rocky promontories is a sight to behold! Add to that, the vegetation consisting of cypress trees,
olive trees, nerium oleanders and plants that are unique to that part of France. Lavanders, agapanthus, bougainvilleas, giant cacti and
so much more - all these make us realize how lucky we are to be living in this part of the world!

view from an autoroute stop overlooking the bay of Cannes

…we were going past the forest-y autoroute of Mandelieu, the village next to Cannes, and we were shocked to find a huge part of
the woodland burned to the ground. all we could see are black figures of what used to be beautiful cypress trees.
Forest fires are very common in the south of France, the hot climate dries up the land so much that a mere tiny butt of cigarette thrown
carelessly could ignite into a big inferno. We could still smell the burnt vegetation.

….We’ve been seeing a lot of gendarmeries on the highway. Some of them randomly stopping cars and container trucks particularly those
bearing foreign registration plates. It’s particularly that toll gate nearing the Italian border where the police are more active. It’s not
only drugs that they are after. they are also seriously stopping the entry of fake goods. Imitation Louis Vuitton leathergoods, such as that,
are highly sought after by some French who would rather have them cheap than buy the real thing. they purposely travel to nearby
Ventimiglia and San Remo searching for black men from Nigeria or similar African country openly selling their fake wares. But guess
what, the Italian authorities are simply turning a blind eye!

…Cars bearing plate numbers with the letters GB (Great Britain), L (Luxembourg), I (Italy), E (Spain), NL (the Netherlands), PL
(Poland), CZ (Czech Republic), + (Switzerland), B (Belgium) etc are just about everywhere. Personally, it’s the Belgian cars that we
regard with utmost suspicion, having developed a phobia in just getting near them. who wouldn’t after our car becoming the target
of pooh-throwing while we were in Brussels! Some mornings, the hubby would find some dog pooh maliciously splattered on the
driver’s side door or a tail lamp deliberately smashed. Belgians are known to have this congenital hatred towards the French but
devotedly coming to France to have a share of the warmer climes which their country unfortunately will not and never will have! (but
Global warming seems to be a blessing to them lately!)

 …you see a car moving in a zigzaggy fashion and undoubtedly the registration plate is Italian. you try to get away from it for as far as
you possibly can before it’s too late. looking on the road ahead seems to be optional among Italian drivers. besides, they probably
suffer from attention deficit disorder where roads are concerned! they are endlessly gesticulating – be they are talking to
a mobile phone or to the next person. one hand, later on to be joined by the second, will be waving on the air as a natural part of
expressing their mind.

…as soon as you pass the Monaco exit, you will notice a proliferation of Monagasque-registered cars. One such car we saw
stopping at a toll gate had the female passenger looking like Audrey Hepburn coming to life! I love the way that lady’s hair was
coiffed! I swear, she could be a celebrity or some sort!

…Getting into the Italian territory is another dream come true! It’s not only about the spellbinding sight of the hillscapes and all, but
the awesome good looks and handsome figures of mountain climbers looking like they are doing a film shoot for an Italian movie.
In reality, they are real workers, climbing the steep rocky hills to install giant metallic nettings around the rocks. Nearly half the
rocks along the coast are now supported by these nettings as they are dangerously crumbling down to the ground and have already
caused fatal accidents in the past. This laborious work is to keep the rocks as intact as possible, to withstand yet more centuries to
come so that future generations could continue to behold these beautiful hillscapes which have been standing there since the stone age.
(Note: stone-age carvings on the rocks are found in this region bordering France and Italy)

Village stop

Breil sur-Roya, Roya Valley, France
Part of the Parc National du Mercantour

the tuesday dry market in the square

students taking on summer kayaking lessons

No Comments yet »

What a shame! I missed the first episode of Koh-Lanta (TF1 France) last week where its 7th season is being filmed in El Nido, Palawan. Luckily, there are still future episodes to feast from!

Here is a translated excerpt from Linternaute Télévision magazine

 Denis Brogniart recalls his very moving experience of their shoot in the Philippines. On the landscape side, it’s the most beautiful season for Koh-Lanta ! The underwater life is magnificent, the water so clear, the cliffs so abrupt and the rocks so dark, particularly splendid.”

..a magical backdrop

The crew of Koh-Lanta is not the only one who fell for the charms of El Nido, the région of Palawan where they are filming this season. A Robinson Crusoe adventure, the scandinavian Koh-Lanta was already filmed there twice, first in 1999, then in 2006.

Amazing Race, an American reality TV, has also used El Nido as backdrop, and that brought them luck because that particular episode has received the Emmy Award that year!
http://www.linternaute.com/televisio…oir-plus.shtml

 image from TF1

 (the following week…)

Koh-Lanta Palawan
7th Season

Last night must have been my-most-ever-feeling-patriotic-moment that nearly moved me to tears!

Why? because our beautiful Philippines, in general, and El Nido Palawan, in particular, was shown in France (and Belgium and other countries that can receive the TF1 channel) via the 7th season of Koh Lanta. I thought it is the most beautiful beach scenery I have ever seen, more idyllic than The Beach of Leonardo di Caprio. I was particularly impressed by the cinematography as it showed the exceptional perfection of the white powdery sands, the clear waters, the staggering beauty of the beach and the hilly landscape. It’s like…paradise!!!

With the program still to show 15 more episodes, (one candidate is voted out each week), more and more nature and sea lovers from Europe (and let’s say from all over the world because of the expats who live and work here) will suddenly swarm our country and Tourism will eventually rise to its all time high….more employment will be created….and more of our kababayans will have a share of the pie!

so you see, it’s tourism that may eventually improve our economy after all!

..breaking a record! Koh Lanta is continuing to attract televiewers. Last 29th of June, the first episode has broken its own record by registering 8.4million viewers, nearly 40%, whereas the first episode of the 6th season fimed in Vanuatu has only attracted 6.1 million French viewers!
……Linternaute

No Comments yet »

Saw this gigantic yacht moored in Venice.

 The World is the world’s largest private yacht—a floating residential community owned by her residents. The residents, currently from 40 different countries, live on board as the ship slowly circumnavigates the globe—staying in most ports from 2 to 5 days. Some residents live onboard full time while others visit their floating home periodically throughout the year.

The World flies a Bahamas flag and has a gross tonnage of 43,524 tons. The vessel is 644 feet long, 98 feet wide, and has a 22 foot draft, 12 decks, and a maximum speed of 18.5 knots. The crew numbers is 250.

The ship has 165 residential units (106 apartments, 19 studio apartments, and 40 studios), all owned by the ship’s residents. The ship carries between 100 and 300 residents and their guests.

The World has many facilities similar to those onboard a regular cruise ship, but are unique due to the residential nature of the vessel. Her amenities include a small grocery store and delicatessen, a boutique, complete athletic facilities that include a golf simulator, putting green, full sized tennis court, jogging track and fully equipped gym.

There are five restaurants that supplement the full kitchens in all apartments and the ever changing variety of dining ashore as the ship travels. For on board entertainment there is a movie theatre, library and music performances.

In addition to shore excursions; classes have been offered onboard in dance, navigation, language, cooking, arts and crafts, music, computers, and photography. In addition, The World provides high-speed Internet access in each residence.
(Wikipedia)

No Comments yet »