The Best of Antibes

In this post, I am going to talk about some of my favorite places in Antibes.

First, we’ll start with food. Antibes is a touristy area, so there are restaurants everywhere. Most of them I have not tried, and I know the names of very few of them (I try to save money for travel weekends, when we have to eat our every night).

The best “french meal” I have had in Antibes was at a little Restauraunt called “Le Village.” I went there with a group from SKEMA (school) and we had a fixed meal, beginning withTomato Mozzarella. Our main course was Preserved Duck with Roasted Potatoes, and we ended with a Tarte Tatin for desert. The meal was amazing, and the restaurant seemed very authentic and was definitely more of a restaurant for the locals than a tourist trap.

While I don’t eat out at restaurants much in Antibes, I do love to go to boulangeries and cafes. My favorite place is La Goute-The, a little tea & coffee place that also serves bagles, salads, etc. They have fabulous cupcakes, an amazing café with speculous (a cookie, and also a spread), and the best part of the menu is their tea. “The des Amants” is my favorite, a black tea with hints of apple, vanilla and ginger.

There are a few really great chocolate places as well. My favorite is Jeff de Bruges, which is actually a chain of Belgian chocolate shops. So I guess it isn’t authentic French chocolate, but it is still pretty great.

Moving along to nightlife, the Hopstore is an irish pub where my friends and I go out. You can usually find it full of exchange students watching “football” games….until tourist season came- then they move on over to The Colonial pub right next door, which is a little more expensive, but less crowded with fun shots and cocktails. The bar is actually pretty new.

Some of my other favorite places in town are the beach and the Cap d’Antibes. Now that the weather is getting really warm, I have been able to enjoy spending time reading on the beach in Antibes. The Cap is my favorite place to run or walk. Yesterday I found a walking trail that stretches from a small but nice beach, all the way along the outside of the cap, along the shore. This trail was probably one of the most beautiful places in Antibes, and I wish I had found it sooner!

An addition to these few places, I love walking around old Antibes and the port, just people watching. There are so many people here from around the world, and the area is so beautiful that no walk around town is ever boring, especially this time of year.

Getting Ready to Say Goodbye

It is sad to think that this is my last week in Antibes! I have had such a fantastic experience studying abroad, and while I am excited to go home, I am really going to miss being in this beautiful town! Over the next couple of days, I am going to try to write a few blogs about Antibes and the Riviera, because I have barley posted anything about it, and because the French Riviera is an interesting place!

Provence, the region that the Cote d’Azure is located in, is known for several thing: lavender fields and production, perfume production, and olives (but I think that pretty much the whole Mediterranean area manufactures olives….). One of my favorite lavender products is lavender honey, and there are countless perfumes with the scent.

While wine is made pretty much everywhere in France, Provence is well known for its Rosés. I am not usually a big fan of Rosé, I prefer Blanc or Rouge, but I have tried many great Rosés since being here. One of my favorite things about being in the Riviera is that wine is everywhere. It really is easier to get wine that water here. Locals can often be seen with a glass of Provencal Rosé at a café as early as 10 am.

One of my favorite facts about Antibes, for me, is that F Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda Fitzgerald lived in a Villa on Cap d’Antibes (between 1922 and 1924). Ernest Hemingway later lived in the same Villa when he was still married to Hadley. The Villa is actually now for sale ($35.5 million). I’ve tried to find this Villa on googlemaps- I can go do the tourist thing and snap a pic- but the address alone was nearly impossible to find.

Antibes also has a huge yachting community, bringing in people from all over the world. (At the local bars, it is almost rare to see a bar tender that is actually French and not Irish, Australian, British, or from some Sandanavian or Eastern European country. Some of them don’t even speak French, which they can get away with because most of their customers aren’t really French either). This past weekend in particular brought in a tidal wave of yacht owners, because the Annual Antibes Yacht Festival was going on. You couldn’t walk a block without hearing at least five different British accents.

Which brings me to emphasize what a huge impact the British community has had on Antibes. This should be no big surprise considering that the British were the first to swarm the French Riviera as tourists, but it can still catch you off guard. When you walk past the BlueLady pub, the yacht-owner mecca, you temporarily think you are in London. Not to mention, the Brits have their own grocery store (Geoffrey’s) and bookstore (Heidi’s Bookstore), and every foreigner is automatically assumed to be English.

Well, that’s Antibes in a nutshell for ya! French people, Brits, wine & boats.

Last CEA Trip

This Saturday, our abroad program had our last excursion to the Island of St. Marguerite, just off the shore of Cannes. We took a boat to the Island, which is very small but famous for the prison which held the Man in the Iron Mask (L’homme au Mask de Fer).
We visited the prison and museum and were able to see the prison cell in which this prisoner of the state was held during the 1600s. Very little is actually known about this man, who actually wore a veil rather than an iron mask. To this day, non one knows who the man actually was, why he was imprisoned, or why he had to cover his face.
After visiting the prison, we spent a few hours on one of the island’s beaches before heading back to Antibes.

Paris (Easter Sunday)

Easter morning in Paris was a peaceful, beautiful experience. While I didn’t go to church, I enjoyed a quiet morning walking around Paris and enjoying “une café American” at the little café across from les invalids, while journaling. The weather was cool and sunny- the perfect springtime weather that you would expect for Easter Sunday. I had decided that, since I had already been to Taylor & Alyssa’s first sight of the morning, the Louvre, I would meet up with them later. I wanted to spend some time just enjoying the atmosphere, and even more than that, I wanted to see the Rodin museum. The museum is, with d’Orsay, a new favorite of mine. It was great that the weather was so perfect, because the museum is mostly outside, in the courtyard. Rodin, who is described as a second Michelangelo, designed many beautiful sculptures, including many depictions of Victor Hugo, and even a bust of George Bernard Shaw. He was especially famous for his “Flesh Marble” sculptures, which are much different than your usual sculptures.

After taking in the works of Rodin, I met the other girls at Les Invalides. We saw the tomb, and explored the Military Museum and armory. I visited this with mom and dad, as well, but still found the museum and tomb very interesting. It is so surprising how intricate things such as swords, guns, shields, etc were designed. Even cannons- all of these things were designed- quite ironically-beautifully.   I did not recall seeing so many examples of propaganda in the museum from my previous visit, and found myself taking pictures of nearly every newspaper cover in the museum- and trust me, there were a lot.

We headed towards the Eifel tower (as the weather and the wind got a little more bitter) stopping in a souvenir shop and then a café. We all got crepes: Alyssa and tried Caramel and Chantilly, Taylor tried jam. I loved this crepe. I cannot decide if I like this caramel crepe, or my usual Nutella and banana crepe more. (Both are to die for).

It was great to see the Eifel tower on a bright and sunny day, but the lines were over an hour and a half long, so we decided not to go up it. Instead, we killed some time walking around, and then went on a mission to find the only chipotle in France, which was on boulevard Haussman. We were surprised that many of the shops on this street were actually open, because they receive a fine for opening on Monday. Since so many things were open, we shopped a little before eating. It was so nice to have a burrito- it has been three months since I have had and kind of Mexican food! A far cry from eating Qdoba nearly weekly, like my family does at home.

That pretty much concluded our day, because we all had to get up for early flights the next morning. It was so nice to have a relaxed, yet fun weekend in such a spectacular city!

Paris, Je t’aime (Friday & Saturday)

Everyone thinks Paris is one of the most romantic and beautiful cities in the world, to the point where the whole thing seems cliché and overrated. Well, all it takes is one brisk walk along the seine, or Rue Saint Germaine or really any part of Paris, to prove that the city is exactly everything it is hyped up to be. Even the tourist sites don’t seem quite as   gimmicky as they do in other towns. The gritty metro is compensated for by the simple yet beautiful avenues, the buildings that are old yet somehow fresh. For every gritty tourist shop and street peddler, there is a trendy boutique or fashionable Parisian.

Our trip to Paris started Friday. My flight arrived at 10:30 AM, I hopped on the train, and explored for the day. For the most part, Friday was spent enjoying the atmosphere, but I also visited d’Orsay, one of my favorite museums.

I am not much of a museum person, but I adore impressionist, neo-impressionist and post impressionist art. Everything from Van Gogh to Cezanne, but my favorites are Renoir, Eduard Monet and Claude Monet. These guys are what d’Orsay is all about- even the building is designed to reflect the industrial revolution’s influence. I love being able to look out of the clock-face out onto the Seine. Afterwards, I checked into the hostel, and grabbed my first dinner in Paris: steak with mushrooms, and crème caramel for dessert!

The next two days, I spent with Taylor and Alyssa (Taylor, my roommate, who I have mentioned before, and Alyssa, another girl in our program). We started off day number two by checking out Notre Dame. You could tell that the church was preparing for its Easter Weekend activities. It was every bit as impressive as I remember it being, from my previous family vacation to Paris in high school. After Notre Dame, we walked to the Champs Elysees, and did some shopping and checked out the Arc de Triomphe. We went to see the Eifel tower, and then just barely missed the invalids- we got there right before closing time, so we had to put it off til the next day.

To finish the day, we went to Shakespeare and Company, one of my favorite two bookstores. I bought Hemingway’s “The Snows of Kilamenjaro,” in honor of the ex-patriot Paris community, who flocked around Sylvia Beach’s original Shakespeare and Company bookstore. One thing I love about this bookshop is that there is an entire section just for “the lost generation.” Underneath one of the tables is a place for you to toss donation to “starving writers,” and the story of Shakespeare and Company’s founder is written on chalkboards outside of the shop. It is the only bookstore where I have seen a queue to get in, and the only one I would deem worthy of the wait. After mulling over books and finally making our purchases, the three of us grabbed a beer at a pub down the street, and then went to bed so we could get up for an early Sunday morning.

Familiar Faces

This past weekend, my sister Jamie came to visit me in Antibes!!! For an entire week! And just before that, my friend Kristen visited as well!

Kristin was only here for two nights, but we managed to see a lot of Nice in her one full day, and it was so nice to see a friend from home!

And then Jamie arrived, only a few days later! I cannot believe that it has been two months since I have seen anyone in my family! I was so happy to hang out with my sister. Unfortunately, I had classes the first class of the week, but we still managed to visit both Cannes and Nice, and see a lot of Antibes (Antibes is pretty easy to see- it is beautiful, but not jam-packed with tourist sites).

Wednesday was my last day of classes for the week, so on Thursday we hopped a train and went to Lyon! Lyon was absolutely beautiful, it was a fairly big city, but it also had a quaintness to it. Lyon was so bright and happy, and was a much younger city than what I am used to in the Riviera. Students and young people were everywhere, and there were a significant number of shops that were open later than 7:00!!! Thursday afternoon was spent settling in, shopping and exploring Lyon. The next day, we new we wanted to do the tourist thing, so we headed to the adorable little old town, with its little used bookshops and picturesque architecture.

In the old town, we went to a cinema museum. I would usually say that this is Jamie’s kind of thing more than it is mine, but I enjoyed myself! They had all kinds of stuff, from one of Harry Potter’s wands to the plastic snake that Harrison Ford wrestled with in Indiana Jones. To be honest, it was kind of like a movie themed episode of hoarders- but it was still fun!

We ate lunch at a little creperie right across the street, where we had some fabulous lunch crepes and a sweet crepe for dessert. We also had some Vin Chaud (hot wine, or mulled wine). I have not had Vin Chaud often, but it is so good, and something I wish was more common in the United States. It is probably advertised on every street corner in France!

Next, we hiked up to see the ruins of the Roman Amphitheater and the the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière. The church was one of the most beautiful that I have seen, both inside and out.

And the next day, we took off to finish the week, with out last day in Geneva!

Geneva was much more relaxed than the rest of our trip. It is such a beautiful city, and the lake is stunningly beautiful. I fell in love with the bridges everywhere, and the little old town shops.

We spent most of our time just enjoying the atmosphere and stopping in and out of the little stores. It was the perfect city to end it, because there were not many big tourist sites, save a few museums that we decided to skip. It was so relaxing and laid back. Geneva was well worth the stop, just to observe its beauty, but one day was the perfect amount of time.

We ended our day with dinner at a little old-town restaurant, with beers and fondue! Fondue is very popular in Switzerland, and it was the perfect meal to end the lovely week with my little sister!

Spring Break Part III: Munich

All of the cities we saw on spring break were amazing, and beautiful in their own way. But my favorite part of the trip was definitely Munich (and the surrounding Bavarian Countryside). We were lucky enough to see Munich both in the snow, and in the sun, as the weather got progressively warmer during our stay, and the city was truly transformed once the snow melted!

The first day we were there we spent the whole afternoon in Munich, we visited BMW Welt, the Olympic Stadium from the 1970’s, the  Englischer Garten, and just enjoyed the city. We also popped into the Aston Martin and Mercedes dealerships…as you can imagine, this day was mostly spent lusting after luxury cars. We also climbed to the top of Peterskirche tower, which gave us some spectacular views of the city- I only wish it had been sunnier that day, but it was still beautiful!

Later that night, Lindsay and I went out to eat with my friend Guan from Hanover- I cannot believe it had been almost two years since I have seen Guan! We met up for dinner with her Couch-Surfing host and another friend, who took us to the Augustiner Brewery. I love German food, and was looking forward to eating REAL Wurst for sooo long! That, with a healthy amount of Saurkraut and mustard, absolutely lived up to, and exceeded, my expectations. And the beer was fantastic! After dinner, the five of us went out to explore Munich’s bar scene. Before settling on our bar for the night, we stopped by one that had recently been reconstructed after closing in World War II. And guess what happened during the construction? A bomb, from WWII, was found underneath the bar. The only way to remove the bomb was to detonate it. So they evacuated the area, detonated the bomb, finished the construction work- and now there is a bar right above where the bomb used to be! This was probably the most fun night on our trip.

Our second day, Alexa, Taylor and I went to Neuschwanstein Schloss, which is probably the most unique and mysterious castle I have been too. High up in the mountains, the setting is secluded, peaceful and pretty. The inside of the castle was bright and colorful- with intricate chandeliers, detailed woodworking and elaborate paintings. Swans, Ludwig II’s favorite animal, and the namesake of the castle, were everywhere, along with paintings representing the works of Richard Wagner, or moments in German history. The mystery of the castle comes about from the history of its construction and its patron, Ludwig II. Ludwig was “The Fairy Tale King,” a mad recluse who wasted the Bavarian Kingdom’s money away by building magnificent castles that he could not afford. His mysterious death- no one knows if he was killed, committed suicide, or merely fell into an icy river- is one shrouded by an aura of mystery.

We also saw another of Ludwig II’s castles, Linderhof Palace, which was modeled after the Palace of Versailles. The Castle was small, but detailed and immaculate, with its own copycat Hall of Mirrors.

Our final day in Munich was spent walking around enjoying the weather, and checking out one of Munich’s beerfests, “Starkbierfest.” I loved seeing the city in the sun, and it was a very relaxing, laid back, and inexpensive day! The beerfest was really cool- there were so many young Germans dressed up in traditional Lederhosen and Dirndle- yes, even young college kids get into it and dress up this way! Bavarian culture is very important in Germany, and I think it is so cool to see everyone embrace it!

Spring Break Part 1: Take Two

So I definitely forgot to write about my second day in Budapest over spring break! The second day, we explored the other side of the river. “Buda,” as this part of the city is called, which was probably the most gorgeous part of the city. We took the Buda Hill Tram to Buda Castle and walked through the museum. The little Castle District was so quaint and pretty, even in the rain. We did  not spend a lot of time exploring that area, because we had spent a long time in the museum, but we did see the Matthias Church and the Fisherman’s Bastion. There were some amazing views from this area. We decided to walk down the hill rather than take the tram, because the rain started to let up. We walked across Chain Bridge, and it was great to see the Bridge and Parliament close up during the daytime. I wish we had been able to see the Citadel and Gellert Hill, but we decided not to because of the weather and because of time constraint, as we had to move out of the hostel and catch an overnight train. We did get a nice view of the citadel from Chain Bridge, however.

Spring Break Part II: Praha

Prague was absolutely gorgeous. We got there bright and early on Wednesday, after taking an overnight train from Budapest, that arrived at about 6:30 a.m. We dropped our bags of at the Mosaic Hostel, found breakfast, and explored the city until we were able to check in. We saw the old town, visited the Old-New Synagogue, which is the oldest surviving synagogue in Europe. It survived World War II because Hitler planned to turn Prague into a sort of Museum of the Jewish People- though this is a sad and disturbing reason for its preservation, it is fortunate that Prague’s Jewish culture was able to be preserved. Though synagogue a fairly simple building- no gargoyles or flashy architecture- it was nice to see a building that has withstood so much.  We continued to walk around and saw Charles Bridge, which was absolutely gorgeous, and then headed back to finally check in to our hostel. We relaxed the rest of the day and finally ate dinner at the hostel’s bar.

Over the next two days, we continued to explore Prague, and the highlights included a beer tasting at Prague’s “Beer Museum,” a walk through Petrin Hill and Prague Castle, and the area on the other side of the river, which was very pretty, much like the center of Old Town. We walked through Letna park. One of the best places we ate at during the trip was Café Louvre, which sounds French, but is actually a traditional Czech Restaurant. It was very nice, but not very expensive, and I would recommend it to anyone going to Prague. The next day, we headed to Munich!

Spring Break Day I: Budapest

(Feb. 23)

I think it is safe to say that this spring break was one of the most interesting breaks I have ever had. Four friends and I started off the week by flying into in Budapest. We checked into our hostel, Aventura Hostel, where we stayed in their India themed room.  This was a really awesome hostel, much better than the one we stayed at in Rome. We ate at a Hungarian restaurant- I tried goulash, which was the only traditional meal I tried while in Budapest, and I’m glad I did!

The next morning, we got up pretty early and went straight to Starbucks- four months is way too long to go without stepping into a Starbucks. I’m not sure how I have made it this long – everything you’ve ever been told about French coffee being amazing is a lie. It isn’t necessarily bad coffee, but when you buy it, you get about one sip’s worth of coffee (as if that is supposed to tie this caffeine addict over for more than fifteen seconds). The Starbucks was conveniently right in St. Stephen’s square, so we got to combine our coffee run with St. Stephen’s Basilica.

After this, we continued exploring the Pest side of the city by walking along Andrassy Utca, a long street that was, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful parts of Pest. We saw the State Opera House and then the “House of Terror” museum. The House of Terror is in the location of the former Nazi, and later Communist, headquarters, where many Hungarians were held and tortured. This was probably the saddest, yet enlightening things we did in Budapest. From the museum, we continued along Andrassy ut. to City Park to see Heroes Square and   Vajdahunyad Castle, which were built for the Millennial Exhibition which celebrated 1000 years since the Hungarians’ conquered the Carpathian Basin. The monument l in Heroes square features statues of Hungarian heroes, hence the name, “ Heroes Square.” The Castle is significant because it was designed to include architectural styles from different periods throughout Hungarian history, making the castle both beautiful and significant.

To conclude the day, we decided to have dinner at “Spoon,” a riverboat restaurant on the Danube. To get there, we passed by Parliament and Chain Bridge, which were lit up and gorgeous. The dinner was very good, and before we ate, the waiter gave us shots of “Palinka,” a traditional Hungarian drink that is taken before a meal. There are a variety of fruit flavors (the drink is distilled similar to whiskey, but made with fruit), so Lindsay and I tried Apple and we both liked it (especially me)!

The River was beautiful at night, and dinner on the Danube was a great way to end our first day of spring break!