Tag: France

French Connection – 2025

A month. A Week. A Day. 

France is sometimes lost in Translation. Sometimes lost with the network. 

France – Cannes, The Big question was also. 

Canne We Do It? That became Cannes We Do It. 

The week, that had all the moments of drama and the beginning of the French Summer.

Went off in a slow Flow. With many “Visa rejections” and new challenges unfolding. 

France was an experience again. After 7 Yrs not much had changed, Yet only it was Cannes instead of Monaco this time. 

This was the Grand Prix, Lion and the film fest all rolling into the Carpet of Cannes. 

Nice – If you have read that has Nice it was indeed nice to meet the city. That connects so many other cities within less than an hour.

 A city with a beach, a view and a drone show with 2000 thousand drones too was witnessed here, thanks to a local Indian who we met that day. 

The Indian food by Noori’s Anaz was the highlight of our Nice trip! 

Meeting our group every day for Dinner at Noori for the 4 days we were there felt like a home away from home, With so many more connections we came across. 

Monte Carlo after 7 years – The memories of the streets, where we walked around and bought magnets, the venues ( Le Meridien and Monte Carlo Square) 

Oh! Not to forget the Hermitage tour-Bought back memories of all the wedding functions we did there for the first time, I had visited the South of France. 

The Baraat holding area, The Welcome lunch and the Rituals. 

The only thing the hotel has added is a Japanese Restaurant recently and renovated the Pavilion restaurant.

Menton! 7 Yrs later we do it… and No! We still haven’t done the lemon fest this time too! 

The city is citrusy in colour Orange &  Yellow. 

You will come across a lot of Orange trees and Lemon Stores, where you can taste lemon in sauces, Dip, Jams, Syrups and Paste. 

Eze! The Medieval city and the walk to the top. 

Felt like a Harry Potter city with stores, and cafes built in the medieval city.  It wasn’t Eze-eee! 

The city had buses that would hourly travel to the main village and Bolt/Uber that would take about 15 minutes minimum before it gave in their verdict of approving or denying us a ride.

Provence- The lavender region! Had a lot of violet and lavender fragrance around. 

The two cities: Aix En Provence,  Avignon and Arles each were different. Avignon & Arles felt more like Italy, Rome-like architecture the city was built with. 

Arles also had a mini Colosseum, that overlooked from a cafe. 

Aix en Provence was beautiful with small boutique stores and weekend flea markets. 

Marseille: One of the most underrated cities in France. And we were told to be watchful in the city. 

The city felt like Brazil, the Le Panier district felt like São Paulo Penirinos district and Narrow lanes were built on a hill with cafés and boutique stores. 

The city had all the Rio De Jinero feels. 

The Pardo District and Beach. Felt like the Copacabana beach, A long stretch with a view and shades of blue with mountains as the backdrop. 

The cathedral of Notre De Dame here in Marseille was a beautiful ride to the top and worth viewing the cathedral. 

The Longchamp Palais in the city was another beautiful park that felt inspired by Italy. 

Marseille was too big a city, we hadn’t expected the city to have so many sides to it. 

Paris! A long wait! A decade later… 

The city was now going through the restoration of the Notre Dame that was affected by the fire, the dazzling lights of Effile Tower were the highlight of the trip! And we sat through a long time just viewing the Structure, that has made the city a popular dream destination for many. 

The Walk on the Champs Elyse’s and ride across the Arc De Triumph still felt this is Paris! 

We did travel to a few more neighbourhoods around Paris, but the trees, and the energy at the champ Elyse’s was very different from the other parts. 

Oh! This time too we did a few touristy things. 

The new addition is Bacha cafe now in Paris, the experience was good. But nothing like the Marrakech one! 

The Angelina Hot Chocolate: The 45-minute Queue for the experience had to be done once. 

I felt I had better hot chocolate at Pierre Herme and Valrhona cafe. 

We did visit Lenotre too, the team that we worked with on a recent project in Cannes. 

And tasted some amazing desserts. 

48 Hrs in Paris were more than enough. 

Curise Control 2024 Getaway.

Having travelled by Air, Train and Road the only mode of transportation left to experience was to travel by Sea, The cruise experience, was one of its kind. We were very sceptical about travelling and experiencing the Cruise and the Sea Sickness, How were we going to manage on the ship for so long and how do we go about the whole journey?
Fortunately, We bumped into the Man who would make the whole cruise experience seamless and memorable.
From the moment we checked in to the cruise, We had surprises waiting to unfold.
We had an invite sent for the exclusive meet-up with the team and a few guests who were part of the Heaven Suites.
On our first day during the dinner at Manhattan Restaurant, Where the menu changes every day and doesn’t require a reservation, We had a table ready for us.
We had meal suggestions from the chef.
The meal had seafood dishes,0% Alcohol Wine and Mocktails with Meat and desserts.
We had a team who had planned our next few days on the ship including our restaurant reservation for the whole journey.
The first Dock at Cannes – Was another experience of priority guests for the tender boat. ( Cannes is a tender port on Cruises, The Ship docks at a distance Before the tenders are released in Slots and on Reservation only. )
We had the priority to get on board the cruise.
Cannes, We do it again! A city known for the Film Festival is a beautiful stroll in the Promenade de la Croisette, The Cinematic painting on the walls and the walk through narrow steeped lanes while a red carpet awaits you to walk the steps of an auditorium that overlooks the French Rivera.
While that was the glamorous walk on the stage, the walk off to the Marche Forville
A weekend food Market was an interesting experience with so many fresh herbs and cheese available to taste, Before we headed to the beach.
Back on the Ship, We took a break to explore the ship before we headed to change for Dinner.
We explored the Reading Room – The Reading Room had an amazing collection of the new popular bestsellers with a view of the sea. Also a gaming room for ones who like to play chess with their mates.
Walking around the bars, We had a photographer doing photo shoots with backdrops and Art being displayed on the sides while we walked.

The next day we visited another port Civitavecchia and it seemed like the hottest day!


The highlight was Naples! We had made a reservation for Michele’s pizza!Rated as  The World’s Best Pizza.A 150 years old pizzeria `
Just 4 choices on the menu to choose from and order, Margherita being the original.
Legend has it, that the Queen ordered and loved the pizza so much! That it was named the Margherita. If you don’t have a reservation? You can take a takeaway from
The one-mile-long Queue side of the Restaurant. Braving the rain was worth it here!

And for those who are avid Football fans!
Here, is an interesting Trivia. Mardonaa was from Naples, and there is a mural and Fan made space in Naples!

Cagliari, Sardinia though a beautiful town, We hardly had any time here!  
Spain Palma De Mallorca was the surprise city For us! It was beautiful with a mix of the Middle East, Tangier in Morocco and hints of Europe! The cathedral was beautifully built with the best view of the sea and a sunset worth coming back to!
Ibiza! We would have liked to be here overnight to experience the Nightlife, but the day trip! Reminds you a lot about Greece.

Coming back to the cruise!

Each dinner meal was an experience!
Right from Indian delicacy Butter Chicken, Samosa and South Indian style Jumbo prawns and indian style Fish that were specially curated for us. The dessert Gajar ka Halwa! Couldn’t have been a better conclusion to our Indian Meal.
The French Meal at Le Bistro on the Escape ship was esquite with Jumbo size lobster and nice chunks of Sea Bass! With French onion Soup and herbed butter that was made of snails.
The Italian Meal at La Cucina- The pizza was at par with Michele’s we had in Naples!
Our Italian meal were with Risotto fungi mushroom truffles, With Amaretto liqueur and limoncello on ice on the sides.
For dessert, we had one of the best Panna Cotta till date, Tiramisu It was so good, that We went again the next day to Only have one more slice of tiramisu.
Teppanyaki – The Japanese Experience!
This was Very good + Entertainment.
A table of ten with a total of seven of us and it was a fun interactive dinner for us with tricks while our food was being prepared.
Tried a Wasabi Cocktail! And it was a sweet and spicy fusion drink.
The Moderno – The Brazilian steakhouse was reliving our Brazil meal again that we had a few months ago! And it was as good as that one! With meats and bread.
Cagney Steakhouse: a signature Restaurant that is there is most of the NCL cruises was an American steakhouse experience where we had very good Crab Cakes, Lobsters and calamari!  
The last but not the least Bayamo was the best seafood dinner meal with very huge size shrimps! And fish! That just melted away! And the birthday Surprise meal with a huge cake was the highlight of Dad’s 60th.
They also set up the room to celebrate the birthday to an amazement with chocolates, A spa voucher and a bottle of Wine and champagne!

The ship had a lot of other offerings, the gaming arcade, Table Tennis , Pools, The Mini Golf course, a Jogging track, Water slides for the kids or the kid in You! Rope walking For the adventurous one.
For the one’s who like to drink, there are about 15 odd bars to choose your drinks from and many spots you would like to Keep hanging around ,While you enjoy your drink. Many other interactive activities are scheduled throughout the cruise, and you have the freedom to attend or skip them!
If you haven’t cruised yet! Now is the perfect time to take control of your cruise Break.

Cruise Route:

Travel to Barcelona

9 Days

Barcelona – Cannes – Livorno- Civitavecchia-Naples- Cagliari-Palma De Mallorca – Ibiza- Barcelona

Mediterranean Cruise…

Port of Call: #barcelona
Day 1: #Cannes
Day2: #Livorno- #Florence and #Pisa Around the port
Day3: Overnight at #Livorno
Day4: #Civitavecchia – #Rome is close to this port
Day 5: #Naples
Day6: #Calgilari
Day 7: #Palmademallorca
Day 8: #Ibiza
Day 9: #Barcelona

Barcelona sightseeing:

Parkguell

Gaudi

sagradafamilia

Casabatlo

Cafes:
@nomadcoffee

Food:
@tapatapabarcelona

Food:

Churros #patatbravas

Cannes:

Marché Forville -Food Market

Livorno:
Cathedrals

Naples:
@pizzeriadamichele : Bucket list, Done after a decade!

Palma:
Cafes @arabaycoffee @thebarnberlin

2018 Dairies !!

2018 has been a Journey filled with lots of travel Stories. Right From Jaipur to Jodhpur in India to Monoco and Morocco for Work. And not to forget the highlight –  Japan for Family Holiday. 
Culture
Experiencing the Rajasthan culture in India to experiencing the Japanese culture and living the  Moroccan life. 
All these places either had Food, lifestyle or architecture. And these  Culture  became another Journey in itself.
Books worth the Read In 2018. 
Journeys through the books. 
Starting from Exiting West to Landing at the port of Mokha and Many reads in between from open by Andre Agassi to “Killing Commendatore by Murakami  below are the top 5 reads of 2018.
1.Exit West – by Mohsin Hamid  stories of immigrants. 
2.Homo Deus – by Yuval Harari  How the Technology  is collecting data and using it. 
3.Born a Crime – by Trevor Noah A true story of a comedian born in South Africa with a mother being a black and father a white. 
4.Monk of Mokha –  by Dave  Eggers – Story of how The port of Mocha coffee travelled across the international waters.
5.Killing Commendatore – by Murakami
Noteworthy Movies of 2018 
1.Puzzle -How a simple gift of a puzzle changes the perspective of one individual 
2.Crazy Rich Asians – The Big fat Indian wedding going global 
3.Searching – How technology helps track down a father daughter and her murderer. 
4.Ben is Back – A  young drug addict and his mother’s story to come in terms with reality. 
And the Hindi film industry had many movies to choose to watch this year! 
But there a few out there you couldn’t miss at all . 
1.Pad Man by R.Balki was one of the great stories the year began with and continued till Raid, The income tax issue can sometime come as a surprise-Ajay Devgn needs to experiment.
2.Hichki -Though a inspiration from the west.Brought Rani Mukherji Back as a actor and the production house for their content. 
3.Missing the only missing from this psychology thriller was the audience who missed one of the best thrillers of the year.
4.October – Simple stories are the most difficult to tell.And October by Shoojit Sircar was one such story.
5.Beyond the cloud by Majid Majidi -Had the world  take notice of Ishan Khattar as an actor & performer 
Raazi,Soorma,Parmanu,Andhadhun,Badhaai Ho ! And Manmarziyaan were a few movies to watch out. 

FIFA 2018

The 21st  Edition of the World Cup that began in 1930 had  been full of surprises and Shocks. 

It began with Realising Italy wasn’t part of this edition for the first time in 60 Years  

Then Came the Saudi Arabian side who played their first ever World Cup in the 21st edition since the championship has been taking place. 

And Iceland had became the smallest nation to qualify in this year editions and had the Support of the country people came down to Russia for their Games. 

They did give it a fight,But weren’t really as good as the teams they were grouped with. 

But,This is just the beginning for them. 

From the World class team nations like Brazil– Who were as always expected to qualify from the group stage and Qualified for the Quarters were a complete disappointment.The Country that’s been 5 times Champions Had only one team player they were dependent on – Neymar. 

Argentina captain Messi -Messed up the game

Cristiano Ronaldo proved himself by Scoring Goals,But the Team did not Qualify to the next stage of Semi’s and the Dream of Ronaldo wining the cup must have ended forever. 

Uruguay proved themselves yet again.But France  was Better then them.

Spain was utter disappointment as they seemed overconfident against the host.

Sweden was a pleasant surprise. 

Germany the Champions of 2014 just did not have luck by their side.

With the Top 4 France,Belgium, Croatia and England part of the last stage, It seemed more like a Euro league with not a single South American team qualifying this time.

Croatia seemed like the Best side in the World Cup this time.As since 1998 was  the only time they appeared in the semi’s against France and 20 years later they played England and the 5 times they have qualified they hardly progressed to the next stage.

Belgium since the last edition of the World Cup has only become a better side as this time they qualified for the Semis and had some great come backs in the games which they nearly lost.But unfortunately couldn’t make it to the finals 

It’s was hard to believe the French  hadn’t won a title again until 20 years ago.The last time they came close to victory was in Germany 12 Years ago  and were Runner up’s.

The English Team- A team that’s not won in 52 Years. A team in the last 4 World Cup that  faced challenges to even qualify to the stages closer to the final one. 

This year too,The English team failed to qualify to final and even finished 4th .The wait will Continue. 

The Croatian team had reached the finals and it was hard to believe this side had played for the first time 20 years ago in 1998 when we saw them play and  they had finished 3rd In the competition.Now 20 years later they played the team they lost to in the semifinal of 1998 FIFA World Cup and my they were unstoppable but they couldn’t really win the World Cup.France was the Best. 

France coach Dider Deschamps is only the Third Man, after Mario Zagallo from Brazil who captained his side to two successive World Cup titles (1958& 1962 ) and 1970 as a coach and Franz Beckenbauer from Germany who won the cup for the team in 1974 &  in 1990  as a coach, to winning the Cup as a captain in 1998 and as a coach for the country in 2018.

A week @ The French Riviera!!

Dear Europe,

What a week it was In Europe’s most luxurious cities ,with a team “Work” yes all worked out pretty well,even after all the communication gap we had amongst the venue teams first and then working with these French,We became French-Fried with their ignorance of understanding what we wanted !  something we always knew was a challenges.But,this challenging even I hadn’t expected it to be.

The stringent work laws -Was a total first hand experience of struggle . I had empathy for these the first time, when I learnt about the struggle of author Craig Carlson -in his book ‘Breakfast in America.’When he not only tried,But lived the American dream in Paris.

Fortunate enough with my hectic schedule and my working hours,I managed to live the European lifestyle of walking the streets of the city and witnessing the best venues they had  to offer to the rich and famous personalities.

I also watched the sunrise,the sunset and experienced snowfall and rain in this crazy week.Concluded the trip! with Yes,Cannes day trip! All the hype and a city that,I wanted to explore a couple of years ago when we were on a family vacation, but “Canned”the idea .

The city is beautiful and lively and much more happening than monaco!

Reminds you a lot about Rodeo Drive in LA and Miami Florida.

“It’s was really nice to meet you”