Provence... Fayence... South of France

"Kick back, relax... enjoy the sun"

After having driven through three cities, we finally arrived in the South of France. We drove up to large gates leading into the Four Seasons Terre Blanche Resort and my was it a grand entrance. As we drove into the resort, we passed the spa which was its own property and hidden by the french trees... very private. Then we pulled into the driveway of the main building and we were welcomed by the super, friendly staff. After having checked in, we were driven on golf carts to our own villas - absolutely fantastic (including the ride there as we were passing the bushes of lavender and the many flowers, making the scenery quite something.)

Our first night for dinner we stayed in the hotel to eat and had a tasty  meal. Accompanied with a cocktail of lavender juice, the first dish was an anchovy tart followed by a dish with king prawn and pea soup. It was very simple but deliciously unique at the same time.

The next morning, breakfast was brought to us and set up in our room - eggs your way, bacon, mushrooms, assorted patisseries, jams and ketchup, and a hot pot of tea. It was a great way to start the day. We then headed to the market in Fayence, the town just next door to our resort. With myself only able to speak the french language, I had to order a roast chicken and pork (with crackling of course) from a kind woman who was manning the rotisserie truck. As we walked by we could not stop the aroma of pork, chicken, and ham that were laid out. Bringing everything back with us, we opened a bottle of champers (as you do) and had lunch in the room. Brilliant.

We spent the day at the pool which had an amazing view of the town of Fayence. The hills were covered in old houses and villas, and the sky was clear of clouds... it was a hot day! We were offered drinks and ice lollies throughout the time we were poolside. The infinity pool was great for where we were as you could see the hillside and everything below. The afternoon was perfect.

That evening, we were booked to go to Eric Maio's Restaurant, a 1 star michelin chef out in Fayence, and had a set meal. We started off with an olive hors d'oeuvre - olive tapanade with breadsticks, cones of salmon, cucumber, chives and an olive pate on crouton. For the amuse bouche we had Creme of Girosoll, next Red Mullet with an exotic fruit salad, and finally Roasted Maigre with giro mushrooms. The start of the desserts was a deconstructed lemon tart and it was a great tasting one at that! And the final dessert was a fruit dish with a sort of crème brûlée topping. The Petit Fours were homemade marshmallows and nougatine, white and dark chocolate truffles. A fun night and a unique experience.

The next morning we were leaving to Barcelona, a long six hour drive... we passed by a large lake and notice pedal boats and paddle boarders. We got out of the car to take some photos of the lake, we really didn't want to leave the country.

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Monte Carlo

"life of the rich and famous"

Monaco is super small (actually one of the smallest countries in the world) but filled with many tourists and well those who want to be seen. Monte Carlo and its infamous casino, is always surround by many and few play in the decorated building. There is a balcony where serious customers play as they overlook the sea... quite fancy.

We decided to stop by in Monte Carlo for lunch and had a delicious meal at Cafe Paris.

The quick stop in Monaco let us drive past Cannes and Nice right afterward, before we would hit the South of France to Provence. Enjoy!

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Milan darling...Milan...

"Shop shop shop... shop 'til you drop!" 

Milan was quite a small city but filled with fashion. This city had people dressed up and dressed down. We were lucky enough to be staying at the Four Seasons in Milan (this was the start of the Seasons tour)  and the service was superb. Although my ankle had been twisted at this point, I still hobbled around to Jimmy Choo, TOD's, Versace and more... I ended up buying shoes (how ironic!) The food was absolutely amazing - the pasta is to die for and the pizza APPARENTLY is to die for as well (yes that's right... I never had any pizza whilst in Italy and that's because we went to the same restaurant for lunch twice by the name of Bagutta because it was that good! Paper Moon is the name of the pizzeria just up the road from Bagutta.) 

Ermenegildo Zegna is a huge hit in Milan too with the men's fashion (with 6 floors of suits, shirts, ties and more!) The streets were mostly cobbled and plenty rode on vespas to get to and from. We met up with a good friend of the family's, known through the wine business, Marchesi di Grésy's own Alberto. We went to dinner at a small restaurant on a corner with jazz music being the entertainment for the evening. Sitting outside meant getting bitten alive but for the food and ambiance, it was definitely worth it.

Once in Milan, we knew we had a long road trip to get to Provence and from there a six hour drive to Barcelona... but we were excited and could care less of what there was to come for the rest of the trip.

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Stockholm

Quite the city, Stockholm is not just clean but a beautiful place to be in if you're wanting to just take in the sights and the view. Just on the water, the Old Town is a great place to walk around in as there is much to see and do - plenty of shops on all the small, cobbled stone streets. You can smell the waffles from a mile away, and the cafés are a great hangout. The locals are very friendly and can tell you pretty much everything about Stockholm from its history to getting directions to any place. The food is great but definitely hidden. My family passed by a restaurant attached to a small hotel in the Old Town and was only open during certain seasons of the year - in this case sumer time and winter time. In the summer, the restaurant venue is on a rooftop with a barbecue and few tables, serving mainly meat dishes. Every night is different - the night we chose to go had Pork, so the entire pork was served from chops, to loins, to belly and more. It was a fun night with great food and family.

It wasn't hard to keep ourselves busy as there were so many cultural things to do - museums are a big thing there and a few palaces/castles too. The Archipelago was definitely a hit with the tourists. People would take a ferry that would come pretty much every hour or half hour on the hour/half hour. It was great as we got to travel through the Archipelago. We stopped on an island called Voxholm, which was a tiny town but was about an hour's away from Stockholm. We stopped at a hotel restaurant and ate the herring which reminded us of Amsterdam and it was tasty!  Try the local beer too. We also went to the museum that held an old shipwreck - The Vasa, which sunk in 1628 and has since been brought back up to the surface and is being preserved in the Vasa Museet.  It was a grand exhibit and worth seeing whilst in Stockholm.

We also celebrated my aunt's birthday at a restaurant called F12 - 1 michelin star - and it was a fantastic meal. The wine pairings were superb and we just had a lot of fun. The duck confit in our set menu was delicious and the butter and various breads tasted  The staff were very accommodating and the food was a lot of fun. Also, afterward you could take a stroll into the Old Town if you were feeling full, the summer is a great time to be in the city but it does get chilly in the evening as you are right on the water.

Stockholm definitely was a unique place to visit, be sure to find out what Tem Toms are and to have a look at the food market there (for you Vancouverites, it's an upper class version of Granville Island).

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Amsterdam!

"bikers and bitter-ballen"

That's all you need in Amsterdam - but if you're a tourist, I'd recommend not cycling through the streets of this small city. Life in Amsterdam is so very different than to anywhere I've ever been to before. The people are real nice and tolerate tourists - especially when you're looking for a café and cannot make up your mind about what you'd like to try next (if you know what I mean.) My family spent 4 days in this cobbled stone town, and it was a great way to start off our five week trip in Europe/UK.

You'll find that everywhere looks similar. I definitely felt like I was going in circles at one point as every road was attached to a canal. The upscaled food was scarce but we managed to find a couple intriguing restaurants such as the Five Flies and Le Garage, where we had memorable suppers.

Get to Amsterdam before that law is in place! The poor tourists are no longer going to be able to purchase the "good stuff" for long! Guess it's a good thing? Then again, you're in Amsterdam... what else are you going to do? Oh right... the red light district. THAT was definitely a once in a lifetime "moment."

And whoever came up with them deep fried, meat balls?! Ingenious!! I spent a couple days searching when all I had to do was walk into a bar and look at the menu - only to find the one and only bitter-ballen! Oooh were they delicious. I then made sure that I would have a bitter-ballen or two before leaving the city. Luckily our hotel made extra delicious ones - ballen with fish! Stick to the meat, that's the best.

Amsterdam proved to be a fun city - there was much to see: the house of Anne Frank, the Picasso museum, the Heineken factory and much more. If you're in Europe and are looking for a weekend getaway, Amsterdam is the place to go.

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