Easter Holidays - Èze

Èze is a medival French village located between Nice and Monaco. There are essentially 2 parts of it - Eze-sur-Mer down by the water front and Eze village situated high up on a cliff. Actually the area around Èze was first populated already 2000 years ago and has since seen many different people and cultures live there. It has been described as "The Eagle's Nest" because of its location high up on this cliff, 427m above the sea.

 The village is really tiny, but has a very famous top-luxury hotel (Chateau Eze) extending over almost half of the old part of the village. It supposedly has amazing rooms and views, but it was hard to confirm as it was securely "closed off". All traffic is absent and back in the days they used donkeys for carrying here.

There is a defibrillator station at the bottom of the climb you have to do by foot. I guess they've learnt from experience...

Easter Holidays - St Raphael

St Raphael is a small resort by the Mediterranean, between St Tropez and Cannes. After the hail and rain at the Gorges du Verdon it was nice to get back to heat and lovely ocean views. A stroll around town, dipping the toes in the water and dining at one of the many many sea front restaurant.

More sea food!

Bouillabaisse with rouille...yum!

St Raphael Port by night

Easter Holidays - Gorges du Verdon

 Les Gorges du Verdon is the biggest River Canyon of Europe and located in north of Provence. A small small rivery now cuts through the landscape for 25km and at parts up to 700m deep! The river is called the Verdon river and is famous for its Turquoise-Green colour.

At the end of the canyon the river flows into the artificial lake Lac du Sainte-Croix, with an astonishing colour of Turquoise!

Even though 1hr south by the Mediterranean it was 26C and sunny, we here managed to experience some awfully heavy hail, pouring rain, and storming clouds. So stopping for a hot cocoa at a small cafe with above picture taken from the terrace, not complaining despite the weather.

Recipe for an amazing pizza!

• Sauce Arrabiata
• Courgette
• Spicy Salami
• Feta Cheese
• Swiss grated cheese
• Balsamico caramelised red onions
• Green olives
• Rocket Salad on top

Recipe for an amazing weekend!

Friday evening: live concert with Fredrika Stahl at Le Chat Noir in Carouge
Saturday: Caves Ouvertes in Mont-sur-Rolles
Sunday: brunch at Le Cheval Blanc + biking out to the wakeboard club for a beer in the sun + market

Best Sunday Brunch!

Best Sunday brunch in Geneva you find at Le Cheval Blanc in Carouge. Food is amazing: charcuteries, millions of cheeses, salads, pies, breads, soup, English breakfast stuff, donuts, pastries, cakes, I could go on...! And all deliciously homemade in cozy atmosphere, really nice service (very rare in Geneva!), and now has opened the terrasses for the summer season. What more could you possibly ask for!?

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Easter Holidays - Monaco

Going back down memory lane was a great part of the Easter hols. Haven't been there since I left end of summer 2005. Unfortunately weather was not on our side and it was pouring down, strong winds, and high waves. But hey, those shiny expensive cars and yachts still look gorgeous in rain!

Monaco Train Station - built into the rock

Outside old job...

Soon time for this years MC GP...!

The tunnel curve...only for GP geeks!

The Casino from the back

The big ones measuring up against each other

The Casino

Hotel de Paris

Had to skip the Roche and royal castle, along with the beach due to the weather conditions, but still managed to walk through almost all of the principality.

Ending up in Aups - market shopping vintage ads!

On the way to Europe's Grand Canyon - les Gorges du Verdon, just by luck came into the little town of Aups. Parked for a wee while and found some lovely things!

 Found myself a stand at the market with all original ads from 20's till 90's. Like heaven for an ad addict like me! Finally was sensible and just bought a Worth perfume ad from 1947 and a MaxFactor Make up ad poster from 1952. Extremely satisfied and they are now decorating my bedroom wall!

Domaine Rabiega

In Provence just half an hour north of St Raphael you can find something as unusual as a Swedish owned wine yard. Domain Rabiega is a wineyard that has been in swedish hands since the 80's and (yet) managed to produce some well-renowned wines. First owned by same company as Absolute Vodka to later be sold to the biggest wine family of Sweden. They are especially known for their rose, the cuvé Clos Dière. On the premises they have also a restaurant and hotel. The restaurant manager is a Frenchie formerly working at Operakällaren, but the cuisine is all French, and all lovely! Beautiful restaurant!
Staying 2 night, including some wine tasting, and lovely dinner with the house wines. Can highly recommend it!

Lovely bedroom view

Dans les Vignes - the Hotel and Resto

Yummy big plate of fois gras!

NY yum yum!

Oh. My. God. So. Good.

 Fell in LOVE with the signature Red Velvet Cup Cake. Tastes of chocolate, but have this gorgeous dark red velvet color, incredible smoothness, and oh-so-tasty cream cheese frosting on top!!!

It's the one with red sprinkle powder on top. A definite no miss.

I actually did eat other things than pizza and cup cakes.


Had an amazing Chinese dinner at Spice Market in Meatpacking: ate  shaved tuna with lemongrass, Chilli Tapioca, Asian Pear and tuna sorbet, crispy squid with ginger, papaya and cashew, lemongrass and coriander soup, coconut rice, striped sea bass, char grilled kumquat and lemongrass chicken, dumplings. Wonderful place where you eat in traditional Chinese of sharing all. Go!


One evening we went to Mercer Kitchen in SOHO. Great seafood and Mercer burger! However, what's up with that the restaurants only have sea food dishes as starters?? Perfectly fine to eat for main/entrée too!


Rouge Tomate just by Central Park (opposite Barney's), very nice lunch. However NON-American standard portion sizes. Was still starving after. But then I demand a lot of food too...so maybe not entirely their fault.


I am in LOVE with Chop't! This place (chain actually) is BRILLIANT! Think I had lunch from there 3 times in 1 week! Pick'n'choose your ingredients and they'll chop it all up for you with amazing skills! Reminiscent of Japanese sushi chefs, Karate Kid and somehow Steven Segal back in the old movies haha! When he knew how to handle a knife with speed. And you can ask for as much sauce/dressing as you like - till you say stop! For a "saucoman" like me that is a dream. Hello blue cheese dressing heaven!


44 1/2 on 10th Av. has a lovely little backyard in beer garden style - home away from home feeling and gorgeous food! The striped sea bass came on order here again. NY definitely over-delivered on fish and sea food! Lived on it!

Easter Holidays - Pasta & Prosecco in San Remo

 But honestly, don't bother going to San Remo. Big disappointment. Can see it had its glory days in the 80s... Good thing we only stopped by for lunch. After lunch we took the sea side road towards Monaco and France, BEAUTIFUL views!

Easter Holidays - Turin

First stop on the Easter Road Trip was Turin. The road was long, long, long. With queues, queues and a troubling eye! However, the spirit was high, and the views gorgeous, and a real Italian dinner after the late arrival made everything good again!

Turin by morning

In Turin you can find the worlds 2nd largest Egyptian museum, so after a (few!) tasty little Italian coffees we headed to meet with the mummies! This museum is the only place where they have unwrapped mummies.

Egyptian eye liners!

It was an amazing experience being so close to pieces so old. You really felt the history close up, and could almost imagine their life.

Feeding well in US...!

Mmmm....

I fais la Fête du Travail...!

I never thought the Worker's Day 1st May was a party day. Here in Switzerland it is!! In the Parc just next to my house it was like a international street party/festival from noon already. With music, bands, foods, drinks, clowns and tons of festive people hanging out in the green grass!

Had Brazilian Caipirinhas, Peruvian Tamales, Portuguese beer and sausage...while listening to reggae music, South American salsa, live drummer band and seeing happy people spontaneously dancing to all this music! 

Lovely Sunday!