Barcelona 23-26April11 (1)

Excuse me for this period of stagnation as I've been settling endless administrative stuff due to our relocation. I was about to name some examples but realized the list is too long. Anyhow, the most crucial thing now is for Tasha to pass her blood test. I don't know if I have explained before but she has to have a certain level of antibodies against rabies before she can enter Singapore. She failed the first one so I have all my fingers and toes crossed for the second. If she still doesn't make it, I'll have to delay my return flight and things will get messy. And that is why I have requested for everyone to pray for her!! If it turns out well, she'll be quarantined at Sembawang pet station on arrival for at least 30 days. What a tough period it's gonna be for her...

Now that I finally have a bit of free time I shall squeeze in my loooong dated barcelona post.

If you don't already know, something foul happened to me when we arrived. I was getting onto an escalator to get out of the metro station when it stopped very abruptly. Naturally I got a shock and asked if S was ok. Fine. So I carried my luggage and walked up. We reached a shopping center 5 mins later to buy something and only then did I realized that my iPad was stolen from my backpack!!!! Tracing back, I could only reason that a man behind me on the escalator pressed the stop button and opened my bag the moment I jerked forward. You wouldn't believe how bloody pro he was..I didn't even notice/feel anything. What a rotten start and sure enough we went through the 4-day holiday with much moodiness. So I don't care how many times others have said it but when you're in Spain PLEASE BE CAREFUL.

Ok, you know how food always manages to cheer us up so we decided to go ahead with our lunch reservation that day (we actually cancelled a 2-star lunch just to make up for the lost iPad). Thank goodness the restaurant fared well! I'm supposed to keep this post short so won't go into details but I'd definitely say it's worth trying. On a separate note, Spain is such a pork country I tell you..we couldn't resist buying truck loads of Iberico & Serrano ham =D

Name: Cinc Sentits

Location: 58 Aribau, Barcelona, 08011

Expenditure: 46€ pp for 6-course tasting menu, excl. wine

Since we're on the subject of food I'll take you to another place that's more hippy and sells superb tapas - something I love Spain for! This casual restaurant is tucked away in a small street off Barcelona's main shopping area and we wouldn't have found it if not for S' Spanish friend. I suspect it's featured somewhere given the number of "guidebook-in-hand" tourists I had spotted. But fear not. This place is nowhere near touristic and we ate with so much happiness! People were staring at us because of the sheer amount of food we ordered. Haha. If I remember correctly they don't take reservations so go early to avoid crowds. Grilled asparagus, mushrooms, and roasted artichokes are must-tries.

Name: Cervecería Catalana

Location: C/ Malloca 236, 08008 Barcelona

Expenditure: <50€ for 2. cheap!

After the satisfying meal, we walked 10 mins to Casa Batlló - a famous building by Antoni Gaudí. We learnt much about him during this trip and absolutely adore how he newly defines "out-of-this-world" in terms of architectural designs. You'll know what I mean after showing you just 2 of his main works that we managed to visit. Again, to cut short my post, please google if you're interested to know more.. You CAN'T miss this.

More of his impressive stuff coming up in part 2...

Honfleur/Le Havre/Etretat (15-16April11)

The day after we returned from the South of France trip, we drove 2 hours up north with Charmaine to Honfleur for a lunch at Sa.Qua.Na, our favorite restaurant in France. I have to mention this place again because I love it too much. They offer a menu of either 5 courses for 65€ or 9 courses for 95€ whereby the entire table has to be served the same menu. However, I can safely tell you that the 5-course menu is more than enough. Both come with an amuse-bouche which is the pancake/tart-looking thing in the photo below. A weird, heavy amuse-bouche one might say, but when you put it in your mouth, you'll be utterly surprised at the lightness & fluffiness of it! The tinge of truffle aroma is just heavenly. Thus we have crowned this the single best dish of the restaurant which is to.die.for and to.crave.for. Their slow-cooked fishes and pigeons are also awesome. Do look back on my previous post (tagged Honfleur) for more descriptions made during my 1st trip there.

Afterwards, we headed to Le Havre via a 2km-long bridge called Pont de Normandie. Le Havre, which translates simply to "the harbour or the port", is "a city of the Haute-Normandie region (declared in 2005 a UNESCO World Heritage Site) with a port that's the second busiest in France (after Marseille)". We stayed a night there but I wouldn't recommend going there at this time because much of the city is undergoing construction to make way for new tram lines. The only thing we did was to walk around the city center (where the shops and bars are) which was quite charming. You can read more about it here.

The following day, we drove another 45 minutes from Le Havre to a place called Étretat. It is best known for its cliffs, which I was most attracted to because Claude Monet illustrated them in several of his paintings! Here are 2 paintings which you can compare against my photos :) The ones on the left is called Porte d'Aval and on the right Porte d'Amont with Manneport behind it. I hope I got them right.

Left: Source [http://givernews.com/?Balade-en-normandie]
Right: Source [http://www.culture.gouv.fr/public/mistral/joconde_fr?ACTION=CHERCHER&FIELD_1=AUTR&VALUE_1=MONET%20Claude&DOM=All&REL_SPECIFIC=1&IMAGE_ONLY=CHECKED]

We "trekked" up the Porte d'Aval for a better view of the beach, the cliffs on the other side, and the town. Love it. To end the visit nicely, we had shellfishes and wine at a restaurant by the beach. The mussels were quite bad though so choose the oysters and the likes instead.

Marseille/Lyon (13-14April11)

A popular attraction in Marseille is the Notre-Dame de la Garde, an "ornate Neo-Byzantine church situated at the highest natural point in Marseille, a 162 m (532 ft) limestone outcrop on the south side of the Old Port. As well as being a major local landmark, it is the site of a popular annual pilgrimage every Assumption Day (August 15). Local inhabitants commonly refer to it as la bonne mère ("the good mother")." according to Wiki.

By the time we reached, the Notre-Dame had already closed - a real pity because I've seen images of the interior of the basilica and they looked outstandingly different from the other basilicas in France. Oh well. At least we managed to catch the sunset and was rewarded with a panoramic view of Marseille. Hmm ok can't really say 'rewarded' because we drove up the steep slopes to reach the basilica. Kudos to those who walked up!

Last photo: just a random drawing on the floor by a random person asking for help to be fed.. 

Vieux-Port of Marseille

This signifies the end of our trip. 7-hour drive back to Paris but the torture was negated by a wonderful lunch in Lyon. Stopped over at a 2-star restaurant which I had decided on because of its really cheap (compared to other 2-starred restaurants of course) lunch menu! This menu changes from time to time. Food was very good so I highly recommend it!

Name: La Mère Brazier

Location: 12 rue Royale, 69001 Lyon

Expenditure: 150€ for 3 pple incl. 1 bot of wine (lunch menu at 33€ 2 courses & 37€ 3 courses)

Aix-en-Provence/Cassis (12-13April11)

Okay I really shouldn't procrastinate anymore especially since I've returned from my South of France trip for almost 3 weeks, and that my Barcelona's story is awaiting. Doesn't help that I've just started my French intensive course at Langue Onze. Classes take place everyday from 9am-1pm ; it is indeed intense! I was attending private lessons at this school with Anne until we stopped in February as she had to start work. I decided on this torturous activity only because, as most of you should know by now, I'm heading back to Singapore for good in 2 months' time. And so this would be my last chance to learn the beautiful language in the country I've come to love. I can't even express how badly I'll miss this place......

Anyway, back to the trip. We drove to Aix in the evening and went straight to the famous Cours Mirabeau. Everyone in France has been telling me that Aix-en-Provence is really beautiful but I thought it didn't look as extraordinary as I'd expected. Perhaps it was because we didn't have enough time to fully explore the area. Nonetheless, we still appreciated the clean streets, the neat buildings, and the narrow streets (deeper in) with charming lil' shops. Made an impromptu decision to dine at a place which then turned out to be one of the best tapas bar we've ever been to. Crowded even on a Tuesday night. We had to wait about half an hour for a table. Worth every single minute of it. Oh and that's also one thing that surprised us - for such a small town the night (dining) scene was really vibrant!

Name: Tapas Café

Location: 6 Place des Augustins, 13100 Aix-en-Provence

Expenditure: 45€ incl. wine

Took a friend's recommendation and drove to a small town called Cassis. Even before reaching our destination, the anticipation that built up during the scenic drive there was incredible. I took so many pictures and all of them look so good I had a hard time reducing to just 8. I LOVE THIS PLACE. We were also lucky that weather that day was PERFECT. No doubt judging from the colors of the photos. We took the Route des Crêtes which runs along the cliffs and up the mountains. When you go higher up, there are several points where you can park your car, get out, and soak in the landscape that surrounds you. We also saw a few campervans stationed there and their owners enjoying picnics. Quel bonheur! The town center of Cassis is supposed to be an excellent place to have a coffee and relax but it wasn't easy to find a parking lot so we let it pass. We then returned to Marseille via the highway instead of the scenic route.

Monaco/Nice/Cannes (11-12April11)

Returned to Monte-Carlo the next day for lunch. We love the drive there from Nice not only because it's scenic, but also because it's part of the Monaco Grand Prix circuit! Great feeling to pass through the same tunnels and round the same bends :) We never knew Monaco was so mountainous but now we do and we love it. A principality in all its exclusivity.

Over at the restaurant, we had the best frog legs ever. The egg carbonara starter was also superb! Wanted to try their cheaper 35€ bar menu at first but we didn't know that it had to be indicated before being seated. Ended up in their main dining area where we could only order the lunch menu or a-la-carte. That's alright since the food was good. But yeah, take note. I also wanted to try his first Japanese restaurant in the world (called Yoshi & located in the same hotel) but it wasn't open. Perhaps next time!

Name: Joël Robuchon Monte-Carlo
Location: 4 Avenue de la Madone, 98000 Monaco

Expenditure: 127€ (incl. 2 glasses of wine) *they have lunch menus from 39€

Back to Nice and it's finally time to explore this place. The pebble beach & clear waters looked very inviting but dogs aren't allowed on the beach so we couldn't take a walk there. Sigh! Walked along the pavement instead but still nice to admire from afar. Took a turn into the city center and strolled around a bit. All in all, we didn't really like Nice as we found it too touristic & uncharismatic. We were outta there in a few hours.

Cannes is slightly better but also nothing much around except the beach which, unfortunately, a large area of it is reserved by beach bars & restaurants, leaving only a tiny place for the public. The Inter Continental hotel looks like a really grand place to stay though! Maybe the next time we're back...