Field Trip Folly Episode 5: Carnaval de Nice

Bonjour mes amis,

This weekend, CEA took us on an overnight adventure. First stop: Nice, France for the Carnaval and the famous Bataille de Fleurs.

The weather wasn't gorgeous - 55º and foggy. The beach looked even more unreal without a clear horizon line to divide the sea and sky. Doesn't it look peculiar?

We found some cover under the canopies of the market stalls erected again the mist. Many vendors sold tiny fruit trees, including kumquats and mandarins.

Others sold impressive looking fruits, vegetables, and other typical fare.

When the weather let up, we headed to the shoreline.

I fell in love with the chunky pebbles that make up the beach. Naturally, I picked though them for a while, attaching myself to some smaller ones. My rock collection is reaching dangerous levels!

I can't get over how classically gorgeous my friend Melina looks here protecting her hair from the wind and rain. There is a certain type of woman that can pull off pin-up, and she is definitely it! 

The colors here were a photographer's dream, I tell you...

Before heading off, I found this gem: a simple "hey you" from a clever stranger. Thanks for making my day, random writer!

Commemorating 100 since the first world war, this Statue of Liberty replica stands just near the same beach on the Quai des États-Unis.

Guilty pleasure time! Mcdo to give us the greasy energy needed to......

....take the elevator up to the top of Castle Hill. How awful are we! To be fair, we were on a cramped schedule...

The views were just beautiful.

For some reason, the colors of the building and the sea look so much more brilliant from an aerial perspective.

The main attraction, the Carnaval parade and Bataille de Fleurs, started as soon as we came down. It featured 20 floats covered in flowers, most of which are grown locally in the French Riviera.

The costumed actors jet bouquets out into the crowd. Getting ahold of one is quite (difficult read: dangerous) as zealous spectators trample each other to hoard even the most common branches of mimosa. I was really disappointed with the spirit of the crowd. Even children were being elbowed out of the way by adults carrying huge bouquets.

Otherwise, the festivity was quite interesting. 

Us gals had a blast! Check out some of the floats and attractions:

Though I'm sure how he ties in to the "King of Gastronomy" theme, there was this massive botanical beast floating around.

A hula troop,

samba girls,

 and space princesses?

Even a smoke-spitting dragon!

With a few crushed toes, we even walked away with a few flowers.

Thanks for the unique experience, CEA! 

Pretty Little Details: Nice, France

Bonjour mes amis,

Though I haven't spilled the full details about my fabulous weekend adventure with CEA, I wanted to share some of my favorite shots from our first destination: Nice, France. Enjoy!

Gorgeous Poires confites at the market

Provenciale Heirloom Tomatoes

Salt and Pepper

Cheep cheep!

My absolute favorite shot of the day. I LOVE the layers, the contrast of the red jacket. and the motion from the birds

Zen, despite the brewing skies

Love locks at the lookout

Had to leave my mark

Weapon of choice at the Bataille de Fleurs

My gorgeous friend Melina keeping her hair dry in style

Streamers

Ordem E Progresso

Catch of the day

Thanks for browsing,

Field Trip Folly Valentine's Day Edition: Pétanque in the Park

Happy (belated) Valentine's Day everyone! I hope you were able to have some quality time with whomever it is you're fond of.

I was surprised this morning by a bouquet sent to me by my sweetie, who coordinated their delivery all the way from the U.S.

He is so good to me! Soon, I'll have big, fragrant lilies perfuming the house. I love that man...

In the afternoon, CEA arranged a pétanque lesson with our excursion buddy Georges. We invaded the park, 30 strong, to the surprise of many an old joueur.

He explained the rules, which are somewhat similar to those of bocce ball, or even marbles.

Then he played a few practice rounds before setting us free, heavy metal balls in hand.

First, you divide into teams of 3 people, with 2 balls each of a similar shade of patina, and a recognizable pattern of lines on each one. Next, you draw a circle in the dirt, with a long strip of field in front of you. Then you toss a little neon indicator ball between 6 and 10 meters ahead of you on the terrain. This becomes the target.

Once the indicator ball is lobbed, each player tries to land their ball closest to it. The play is passed to the team whose balls are further from the indicator, so that they may attempt to "beat" the closest ball. For example, Player A on the black team plays first, tossing his first ball. Then, player 1 on the silver team plays, but lands her ball farther from the indicator than Player A's. Player 1 plays again, with his second ball. If this ball still lands farther from the indicator that Player A's, Player 2 on the silver team will play. If her ball lands closer, play is passed to player B on team black.

Sounds complicated, huh? Try gathering all of that in French! After all 3 players on both teams have thrown their balls, points are added up based on whose balls are closest to the indicator ball. If the first closest ball is team silver's, and the next closest is team black's, team silver scores one point. If team silver has two balls closer than any of the black team's, they score 2 points, etc. Play continues this way until someone scores 13 points.

You should have seen some of the Frenchmen playing their games with their rulers, ball-fetching magnets, and custom ball sets! I can bet you that many of them had been playing pétanque for 20 or more years. Still, it was fun to play with the amateurs!

Best of all, CEA surprised us with an enormous raspberry mousse cake and champagne. It was such a sweet gesture that made my Valentine's Day sans Matt almost bearable. Almost. ;)

But seriously, it was some dang good cake!

Thanks for reading.

Field Trip Folly Episode 3: Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, Fontaine-de-Vaucluse, Gordes

CEA took us on a 4-part adventure, today. We started the morning off in Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, a quaint town built on top of 5 interlacing branches of the Sorgue river. The village is famous for its antique markets, canals and water mills.

Lavender stand - Isle-sur-la-Sorgue 

Blue-green canal

Contrasting colors

La Sorgue elle-même

Moulin à Eau 

Diverse Market Fare

Water seekers

7km upstream awaited our second stop, Fontaine-de-Vaucluse, where the Sorgue river gushes up from the earth at astounding rates. This water undulates into a seemingly still pool before crashing downstream in a torrent of white water rapids, and gently cascading falls.

Cliffside cave - Monts de Vaucluse

Moving Upstream

Moulin

Cascade

Climbing down after a cliffside picnic

The source

Coin coin!

A surprise stop on the way: Pont Julien, a charming 2000-year old Roman bridge that is STILL standing; the oldest in the region. We had just enough time to ooh and ahh before heading to our last destination.

Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily

Not a fan of heights

Gordes, considered one of Les Plus Beaux Villages en France, is perched on the southern edge of the Plateau de Vaucluse. The limestone buildings (including a castle) nestled into its the cliffs date back to the 12th century, and make for an incredible view.

Les Filles

Say "Fromage!"

Luberon Valley as seen from Gordes

CEA Spring 2014!

Street-level ditch/amazing scare-people spot!

Chocolat chaud with a view 

Thanks for tagging along today! Let me know what you think in the comments!