Day 2 A trip to Nice

I was determined to visit Nice on this trip to Monte Carlo, although been before I have only ever had time to drive through Nice but not to stop and look around.
As we had a free day today from the Tennis we decided to do Nice and am I glad we did, I loved Nice very much it has everything from a very old town,to a modern centre,the beach, a promenade the coast it has everything, the French riviera has it all.

We made our way first through the old town of Nice which had many winding,twisting alleyways which entise you down amongst the many shops,galleries,bars and restraunts.

Although this part of Nice can look run down next to it's glitzy,glamerous neighbour Monte Carlo but this is part of it's charm, I adore the brightly colored houses and shutters and the ever so French balconies even when they are adorned with washing makes this place more real and alive compared to Monte Carlo.

To be honest I find Monte Carlo a bit pretentious, although very beautiful I wouldn't live there with a lottery win a bit too stuck up for my taste,I find a lot of wealth very nauseating and I can honestly say that lifestyle wouldn't be for me.

We visited a few bars on our travels and soon headed down to the beach and a stroll down the promenade,sadly we didn't have time to walk all the way down as the promenade stretched for miles but it was a beautiful day and a perfect way to spend an afternoon.All to soon it was time to head back to our apartment, tired and hungry but full of plans to revisit Nice later in the year and spend a bit more time there as there was lots of things we didn't have time to do.

Tomorrow I head into Monte Carlo for the Tennis, pretty excited.

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Monte Carlo revisited

After such a wonderful holiday last year in Monte Carlo we decided to revisit again, this time having a full week rather than a few days.

The main reason for the holiday is to cheer on Rafa Nadal at the Tennis, hoping he can regain his title for the eigth consecutive year, but before the Tennis we are taking a few days sight seeing.

Our apartment is amazing it is enormous in fact it's that big I keep getting lost finding rooms, we also have two balconies, both with amazing views.One is a sea view and it is wonderful to wake up in the morning and eat your breakfast overlooking the sea on your balcony I could seriously live in this place forever.



Here's a few pics from our balcony of the sea.

As this is our first full day here we are trying to get as much in as we can.

This place is amazing to wake up and do your Yoga practice, so after a quick session and breakfast we headed off to Menton old town, this is a beautiful place with narrow streets and brightly colored buildings.

We rambled round these streets for a few hours before heading off to the harbour it was a beautiful warm day and the sun sparkled on the water.



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Januarys Reading list

Well finally decided to make an effort to get through more books this year, not that I don't like reading, in fact the opposite I love reading books the main problem for me is time, especially at home, by the time you get in its bath time, tea time, few jobs done then its bedtime, day over.

Iam however lucky I'm in a job where I can get a couple of hours reading in a day so I'm aiming to read a book a week at work and one a week at home so hopefully I can read two books a week.

This week was the last two Christmas books I decided to read, I only like reading Christmas themed books around the holiday period, so once January comes they feel wrong.

The first one I read was one of the 'Coffee House Mysteries'by Cleo Coyle apparantly there is a series of these books which are set in a coffee House in New York, I went for this on Kindle as most of the holiday reads at this time of year seem to be of the 'Chic lit' variety which is ok for a seasonal read but not really my normal cup of tea.

This book was number 8 in the series, I don't think you have to read them in any sort of order from what I can gather there is normally a new mystery in every book.

On a scale of 10 I guess I'd give it a 6 not the best mystery story I've ever read, but not the worst either, these are a cozy sort of mystery ok for a quick read, there were a few twists and turns in the book, but not enough to warrant a higher mark.

The story basically revolves around the coffee house owner Claire who fancies herself as a bit of a sleuth in her spare time, personally she irritated me found her way to nosey, but thats me. Of course when her friend the local Santa gets murdered she sets off on her own trail to find the killer.

The highlight of the book for me was all the wonderful recipes in the back of the book, there was loads from delicious Fa la la la lattes,coffe blends with different syrups, cookies, cakes, chocolates basically all the wonderful things you'd find in a really good coffee house.

Would I read another Coffe house mystery? maybe, did it make me want to go visit a coffee house and have a gingerbread latte? definetly.

My second read this week was also on kindle it was a debut novel by Scarlett Bailey called 'Night before Christmas' I saw this book on another blog and it was voted top holiday read of 2011 so I thought I'd give it ago. Definite one for the chic lit lovers out there, I read it because it was seasonal and I liked the cover, not exactly the best way to choose a book, but it works for me.

The story is based around the main character Lydia who finds a suprise engagement ring from her boyfriend and sets her off worrying if she wants to spend the rest of her life with this person.

They have planned a wonderful christmas in the country at her friends hotel along with four other of her friends and their partners.However nothing is as idyllic as it sounds as the story goes there are a number of trials and tribulations along the way.

I started reading this book a bit flippant thinking not really for me, but i soon found I was reading it all the time, a sign for me I am enjoying it, I found it laugh out loud funny all the way throughout.Corny and predictable it was but also funny and entertaing as well. Definetly a 7 for me and a worthwhile holiday read.

When do you take down your Christmas decorations?

I hate this time of year when you have to take down the decorations but once January is here I just think they look wrong.I know its not the 12th night and all that but from January 1st I am always itching to get them down,for me January is the beginning of a new year I don't want to see Christmas,think of Christmas as much as I enjoy it they have to go.

On saying that I will miss their subtle glow in the evenings their gentle twinkling on a dark winters night the house will look bare for a few days but it has to be done so today I took the bull by the horns and dismantled everything.

Wasn't to hard this year I had no tree didn't think it was worth the hassle with a 9 month old kitten.It was just twigs and fairy lights and both my fires decorated. Still if we didn't put them away we wouldn't enjoy putting them up again would we?

New Years thoughts and ramblings

Not a person for New Years resolutions as I usually have forgot them by midday on Jan 1st, however there is some things I plan to do in my life this year.

1. The usual get fitter lose a few pounds line we all use at this time of year, but seriously I'm getting serious about my Yoga and going to aim for a few classes a week and a few sessions at home, get stuck into my wii as well as I have both Zumba and Yoga on the wii.

2. Try to juggle my life a bit better and make some time for me last year my stress levels were high and I seemed to be running around like a headless chicken, all my own fault for not organising my life better.

3.Read more I have a ton of books on my to read list so going to aim for 2 a week and plan to blog about them as well.

4.Blog more I enjoy blogging and reading blogs but see No.2 never seem to have enough time.Getting my Vegan cooking blog up and running properly as well.

5.Going to take time out once a week to take photographs I enjoy photography but never seem to get my camera out enough.

6.Plan to try a new recipe every weekend.

Think that's enough to be going on with for now. Here's a pic from today's Sky thought it looked rather nice.

Happy New Year




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Paris at Christmas

Something else on my to do list, see Paris at Christmas.Always looks beautiful and festive.

Christmas is coming

Help just realised Christmas is virtually on top of us and I'm nowhere near ready (are we ever ready for christmas)Did make my mums Christmas cake last weekend dropped it on taking it out of the oven and it broke into pieces, so about to start again.

Love this time of year would just love some Snow to add to the atmosphere but hey I guess theres time yet.

I've still to bake my own cake I do a vegan version of the classic Christmas cake I made it for the first time last year and it turned out really well I was really pleased with it.The recipe is somewhere on my blog but will repeat it again.Also planning on baking a Vegan version of stollen this year as well.

Yep time to put on the Christmas music, decorate the house and get baking Christmas is coming.