Madeira

off to the portugese island this week, got a car hired and looking forward to some good walking wine, and cheese!

tragedy

saw a guy die on the beach at villefranche - on his own, no family or friends with him - not sure what happened, but was horrible.
sad.

another jazz bar!

went to one called shapko, where the house jazz band (good though they where) made me realise how special the prevous band at the cave romagnan had been

then went to kings bar, where some v average rock cover band where belting them out , and pulling all sorts of rock star poses!

oh, just found the names of the US guys - Cory Sherman, and Charles Kim - NYU 10

just looking at my notes, and i went to a bar called Pompeii - which i vaguely remember, and then on to a bar called Blue Whales and watched PSG versus someone else - cant remember!!

ive also written then i heard a good mash up of alphabet street and help!

Namu Quartet

that was the name of the band at the Cave Romagnan!

best night ever..

... well, i always say that - bit it was pretty damn good -
after the cycle road went for a wander and chanced upon a bar called cave romagnan - 22 rue d'angleterre - I heard some Jazz and dodged in and it was one of the best performances i've ever seen - and in i tiny little bar

the crowd absolutely loved it, and where cheering all the way through -

i think they recorded it, and i hope to track down a copy by writing to the bar

Socca

.... is a local chick pea pancake, which is pretty nice - had it in a place called Lou Pilha Leva - on rue centrale

pretty cool spot to have some food

Cycle ride to Monaco!

so three of us set off on what was one of the best bike rides i've ever been on - took in Villefrenche - Beaulieu-sur-mer, and then on to monaco and casino sqaure

saw 'the world' ocean liner there - what a ship, although looked pretty empty!

Cannes and night out in Nice!

took the train to Cannes to see what all the fuss was about - pretty nice place as it goes, but i was bored within an hour or two - bought a guide book in french to try learn a bit of the lingo, but ended getting the wrong one anyway

couldn't find an open loo anyway where at all, so faced with a desperate train journey i decided to drop into a bar, and wet my whistle and use the convenienc' s :-)

so went back to Nice, then met Sam - and we headed out for a few beers with two american guys he'd met - called Cory and - ??

ended up getttin pretty hammered with these guys, which was cool! but they where all 21 years old - freaky!

was going ok untill they started talking about whether Kanwe was better than Jay-Z!

err, i'll get y coat!

Waking in Nice!

Got a crackin nights sleep and woke up about 10am - excited about havin money, and being somewhere and not actually worrying about running out - as is usually the case.

so made a bee-line (via the bank) for Lafayette's - a big department store with a great food section. Picked up a few goodies, and then headed a general wander

also picked up a lovely bottle of red for about 3 euro's - Chateux La Comanderie Du Bardelel 2007 - and it was pretty damn good !

met a guy called sam in the hostel, young lad from buxton - on his way to spain to do some cheffing before uni

anyway - here's a painting of nice market (above)

London to Paris

took the 7:20 eurostar from Pancreas - bit early in the morn for champers, but still a great place to start a journey

ended up issing the connection in paris, but managed to change my train - and pick up a nice cold beer for the journey! (just the one - got a nice bottle of red to drink)

train was quite busy, overheard an interesting conv between an indian guy and his dad - talkng about their upbringing in kenya and then moving to france.

Had a little doze and then woke up in lovely hills with the start of the alps in view - then once we hit marseille it slowed down a little and hugged the gorgeous coast line through antibes and onwads.

Time for picnic and wine now, grabbed a coast side seat - popped the wine and kicked back with some nice snacks!!

went through cannes and landed in Nice about 8pm. Went to chez patricks guest house (very nice guy) and checked in for 17 euro's a night.

cos i wasn't getting paid till midnight i only had 3 euros left and had to watch everton get beaten by standerd leige from outside the bar.

So, sedate start to the trip, but Nice looks good!!