A taste of Venice

This week I got the chance to check out if I could find the bloke that sung "Just one corneto" and I did. He seems to be everywhere in Venice doing his thing in the choppy gondola infested canals and him and his mates are delighted banging out tunes for the in awe tourists. But times have moved on and now he's reinvented himself into a floating 3 piece band, songs in tact, costumes in place but ice-cream no where to be seen! At least not when i was there while the clouds ruled the sky and the rain raised the water levels over the islands many banks.

This time it was work and not pleasure. Well kind of! You can see from the video and a lot of fun was duly had. Monster, the biggest job board in the world were having their European annual conference and I was forunate enough to be asked to attend on behalf of Microsoft in a small group of 40 clients who attended from some of Europe's bigger IT companies like Google, Symantec, Ebay, etc. The event was about watching some presentations, the clients providing some positive and constructive feedback and celebrating a good year and having some fun. It turned out to be a great two days where I met with some fellow recruiters and had a chance to discuss some of our issues and get to know each others businesses a little more. All very generously on Monster's tab.

I didn't get too much of a time to ramble although I couldn't resist taking a taxi boat at 11pm at night with the Google representative, a fellow Irish man, called Dara, leaving our fancy 4 star highly recommended Molino Stucky Hilton hotel and venturing on to the almost deserted main island. My first impression was it's Sevilla or Barrio Gothico in Barcelona except the roads or rivers and their is cool bridges all over the place. The highlights for me where watching some people eating on the rivers flooded banks with water up to their ankles and waiters delivering food in wellies, the Rialto bridge and the impressive Piazzo San Marco. I didn't get a chance to pick up a fridge magnet for my collection but hope to go back again some time, maybe for the mask carnival in March!

Cote D'Azur and beyond

3 weeks ago I decided a break from work was in order and thankfully with short notice my manager gave me a green light to take some time off. After flirting with the idea of visiting Tunisia, Algeria or Syria I finally decided a trip to the famous Cote D'Azur was in order. And on reflection, what a good idea that turned out to be.

It always amazes me what you can see and do in a week. In our case we took an excellent 1 day cook course in Chateau De Berne in Lourges, which was 120 euros per person for 3 hours with an amazing Michelin chef who thought 6 of us how to prepare an an excellent fish soup called Bouillabaise accompanied by floating island marangues for desert. I now know how to gut and fillet Saint Peter's fish which the French love and Dourada. Learning from a Michelin star chef was a definite experience I want to do again. In the space of a few short hours you can learn so much from someone who knows what there talking about and gets you to do the things yourself. Also packed in was a Ros[e] wine tour and a Fraganard perfumery tour both in the Var region. I now at last know the differences of eau de toillete and eau de cologne and also why Rose white wines from the south of France are the best from around the world.

This trip started with a flight to Nice with Aer Lingus at a very early conjunctivitis 6.30am that was the same time as RyanAir but 50 euros more expensive. Im always happy to cough an extra few bob in AE which usually pays off when i come back with bags over the weight limit which i did on this occassion again and got away with with AE but wouldn't with O'Leary's crew. As I said we packed in more action than a sardine manufacture would pack into a can of the little rippers for their Christmas special edition. Condensed into the week was a visit to Monaco's port, Monte Carol's famous casion, DolceAgua's famous bridge (in Italy's beautiful north west), Eze's famous mountain chateau and famous cactus garden laden with amazing statues looking out to sea, Saint Raphael's wonderful artist and writers cobblestoned mountain village retreat (the perfect place for my mates Ben and Murph to hang out in), Gourdan's cascading roadways and amazing little church, Nice's famous boulevard de Angleais and WW1 and WW2 memorial site, Canne's slick walkway and old men basking at the seas front and Agay's quiet and serene get away port off the beaten path down near the Estreal mountains where I hung out for 3 full days.

All done in a 240 euro a week Peugeot that cost us an additonal 70 on diesal.

What I liked about this trip was the excellent food at quite often affordable prices, the 15 to 21 degrees weather and the amalgam of countless amazing beautiful portrait images everywhere you go. Everywhere you look on the cost there are a potpourri of tiny little boats in a port or on the horizon, beaches dot the cost line everywhere and their is an obvious fecundity of herbs, flowers, vegetables and grapes which gives a very rustic feel to the countryside as you drive by. In particular lavender seems to be everywhere. For me the must see place was Eze. And with 4 restaurents in the village one that has a Michelen star and its neighbour having two you wouldn't be dissapointed with the food if you're prepared to dive into the pockets a little!

What I didn't like about the trip was the signals for driving were quite bad especially in Nice. It is easy to get lost and get into trouble especially with the occasional bizar French traffic sign that an Egyptian hyrographic specialist would have trouble translating. Also, a pain in the ass was the 24 euro for 10 hours are more parking in Nice which was day light robbery. While restricting your flexibility a little the train system is really good in the south of France so most of what we did could probably been easily done. Also, a little unnerving even for that time of year was the amount of tourists in the region. I'd say stay well clear of the main sites in June, July and August unless you want to dive straight into large numbers. Instead try check out the more inland offerings and just hit a town on the map that no one knows and see what you find.

A bientot