La Fête Nationale aka Le Quatorze Juillet

It's Bastille Day! Or as the locals call it, simply "le quatorze Juillet".  Arrived back from Baux des Provence thinking nothing would be happening on 13 July, to find Villefranche in full party mode!

After wandering down to the waterfront for an aperitif, we (me and my new Villefranche posse!) discover people starting to gather on the waterfront in place of all the usual restaurant tables which is a bit of a clue something's about to happen.

As soon as the sun starts to go down, boats fully decked out with flags and lights start arriving and throwing huge armfuls of flowers into the waiting crowd. Something to do with the pirate history of the town - apparently they used to give flowers to the village once a year - or something like that. I couldn't get much sense out of the waiter when I asked him what the significance was. But that was after my third vodka so maybe it was me...

And then the fireworks started - a fantastic display and all set to really cheesy 80s music - brilliant! Rob - their opening song was "It's Raining Men" - not sure if that had something to do with the pirates but I thought of you.

And just when we thought it was all over we toddled off home only to stumble across a street party in the middle of the old town - double brilliant!

A really smooth (and really large) black DJ working his tunes. I love Europe in that you can be in a small French town and just run into a street party with some musician doing his thing at midnight.

How cool is that?!

Marvellous Marseilles

Headed for Marseilles yesterday, en route to meeting up with Geoff, Rachael and Andy.  Marseilles is about a two-and-a-half hour drive from Nice, mostly on le autoroute, but still a nice drive nonetheless.

Stayed in a fabulous little place perched on a rocky outcrop along the coast from the central city.  Good to see the French are willing to brave the rocks so as not to interrupt the sunbaking.

The view of the moonrise across the bay from my room. Tres terrible.

And a fishing boat heading out early this morning.  I could sit here all day and watch this view!

Villefranche-sur-mer or Villefranche on the sea

I took to the water yesterday and perused Villefranche and surrounds from the bay. (No that's not my boat - unfortunately.)

This was all in aid of an effort to locate Nellcote - which thankfully I did.  I have no idea who owns it now but it's still pretty gorgeous. Although how none of them staggered off the edge and drowned after yet another drug fuelled all-nighter is beyond me.

Although I think these guys had a few technical difficulties on the way home last night...

Opposite the town of Villefranche across the bay is Cap Ferrat - an exclusive enclave of the rich and famous which boasts summer holiday residences by the likes of Elton John, and is home to the famous Grand Hotel Cap Ferrat where Brangelina stay during Cannes.

As if having your own private jetty isn't enough, this one comes complete with its own bronze statue.

And this one definitely wins the big deck competition.

Big boy's toys

It was interesting being in Cannes the other day and witnessing the literally millions of dollars floating around on the water. The first 'ship' that piqued my interest was this baby - the 'Radiant'. It was apparently commissioned by Russian media tycoon Boris Berezovksy who wanted a rival to 'Pelorus' owned by his arch enemy Roman Abramavich. It is 360' long - the naval ship is only 605' - and as well as the standard features for a yacht of this size - helipad, gymnasium, cinema, spa - she has one of the highest security specifications ever conceived. Berezovsky ordered a personal “escape launch” – a speedboat with turbo-charged twin diesel engines capable of exceeding 75 knots. She is also equipped with an arsenal of sonic guns that fire low-frequency sound waves that can burst the eardrums of approaching assailants, and a military water cannon capable of sinking an approaching boat at more than 100 yards.  Paranoid much?!!

Meanwhile back in lil ol' Villefranche, the Disney cruise liner had just pulled in.  It's so big it completely dwarfed another cruise ship moored behind it which you can't even see in this photo.  I included the marina in the foreground so you can see the size of the goddamned thing.  And yes, those are mouse ears on the funnels.

Other smallish offerings on display included the 'Shubra II' at a mere 195' long with a crew of 18 and sleeping 14 (gotta love that there're more crew than guests).  The fuel capacity is a mind-blowing 159,000 litres - it would probably cost NZ's annual GDP just to fill 'er up.

And just when I thought it couldn't get any better, this monstrosity arrived late this afternoon.  Yes, it really is metallic purple with tinted windows and is called '007' - spelled out in words as well just in case you didn't get it the first time. Classy. 

In the navy

So while we were having dinner in Nice, it turns out the table next to us is the Commanding Officer and two colleagues from a US naval ship moored in Cannes. Somehow Shelley wangled us a private tour of the ship, so here we are!

Being a bit of a pacifist myself it was all a bit weird... but I was impressed.  The boat is an LSD (I didn't dare crack any jokes) which stands for Landing Ship Dock.  The whole bottom deck of the ship can drop down to allow other boats to be floated in and out.

As well as their standard crew of 300, they currently have an additional - yes, additional - 400 marines currently on board, along with a lot of their gear.  Currently the bottom deck has around six tanks, two ducks and other assorted vehicles including around a dozen or so jeeps, humvees and trucks.

They seemed remarkably relaxed about showing us around and completely unconcerned about taking photos and asking questions.

They even let us wander around the bridge - this is the CO's chair, just in case you were in any doubt about who's in charge.

And these are to make sure you know they're not there for the sightseeing...

It's all in the market-ing

I finally discovered the fresh market yesterday - I've been looking for it for a while! (Then again it did take me three separate attempts to find the supermarket, navigation not being one of my strong points.)  Even in a relatively small town like this, there are always fresh markets and it's such a delight to wander around and buy fresh of what's in season as well as nuts, olives, cheeses, spices and flowers.

The fresh market runs every Wednesday and Saturday and in between I buy produce from a local stand at the top of my street run every morning by Gina, who doesn't speak a word of English but packs my bag for me.

Then there's Bernard in neighbouring Rue Eglise who has a good selection of fresh fruit and veges, all kept watch over by his mother who also doesn't speak a word of English, but always asks you how you are.

Opposite Bernard is a wacky little epicurie which has a great selection of cheese, fresh pasta and general goods but most importantly the best wine selection in town. I'm a regular.

As well as the fresh markets there is also a brocante every Sunday at both the Octroi and the main square on the waterfront.  Brocantes are everywhere in France and I suspect the ones here are more expensive than most as they cater to the tourist market but fun browsing nonetheless, and the people watching is even better.

Then just in case you'd run out of things to spend your money on, there is the regular 'every day' market which runs Monday through Saturday at the square and designed for the tourist and visiting cruise ship crowds, selling sarongs, jewellery, bags, clothes and shoes.  I'm sure it won't be difficult to force myself to pick up a souvenir or three!

Meanwhile back at le plage

Having been a rainy day the day before, the beach was jammed yesterday. Unfortunately no-one seems overly keen to get the puppies out - lucky I'm there to save the day!

Now that European school holidays have started, the tourists are really piling in. Yesterday at the beach I heard Italian, German, English, Scottish, Australian and some unidentifiable Scando language, as well as French.

Happy Holidays was also back in town yesterday, and this time it brought a friend.

Went for dinner in Nice last night with Shelley, my landlady, and a couple of her American friends who are also staying in town. After dinner she took us to her favourite gelati shop that does the most incredible mini desserts. In an impressive display of self-restraint I limited myself to a photo... and none of them had any alcoholic content.  What's the point of sugar with no alcohol?