Cote d'Azur

Tony: After eight days of low stress climbing and a bit of sightseeing in Provence, it was time to clean ourselves up, put on our polo shirts, white cotton pants and boat shoes and head for a long weekend the French Riviera. I was really looking forward to it; six of my best friends from my previous two year Europe stint were flying in to meet us, as well as Julie’s best friend Deena.  I have to admit, it had the potential to be awkward as I hadn’t seen them for as long as seven years in some cases, but the conversation flowed as easily as the vodka and the weekend was awesome.  We spent our time hanging out on the beaches in Nice, and making the most of the restaurants with all you can eat mussels (five bowls Mehmet?) and free drinks in exchange for kisses from the waiter (Not me, I’d rather pay for mine, the guy had a pony tail). Good times.

I tried to stall everyone and make them miss their flights so they could stay and hang out with us, but sadly jobs, husbands etc thwarted me. Julie and me then did a bit of a tour of the coast; we paid 9 Euros for a fancy Bicardi Breezer type thing in St Tropez, got stuck in traffic in Cannes, almost drove off the road gawking at the scenery, and ended up in Cassis, a perfect little medieval town/fishing village. The attraction here, aside from the scenery, was the climbing in the Calanque (Mediterranean Fiords), with it’s perfect 200 metre bright white limestone cliffs above perfect turquoise water. The best climb of the trip so far was an exposed four pitch 5c climb above the Calanque of En Vau.

Now we’re in Gorge du Tarn, a very different but equally picture perfect climbing area set beside a river. No easy climbing here, so we’ll have to toughen up….

Julie and Haruko. And me, hiding behind a beard. Gelati was a feature of the Cote d'Azur. Especially this place, Finocchio. That literally means Fennal, but I think it's a gag, as it has another slang meaning in Italian...

Drinking Vokda on the beach. Nina, Haruko, Joaquim, Eva and Mehmet.

Me, Julie and Deena, above Nice.

(Thanks Laszlo for the photos, with the Paparazzi around I kept leaving my camera at the hotel!)