Antibes: Boats and bookshops

 Salut!

 Before coming to Antibes I had seen photos that made it look like heaven on earth as well as the film Rust and Bone with Marion Cotillard which, while showing the Marineland in a bad light (and rightly so: I've not been there but am against making orcas perform), made the town itself look elegant and exotic. 

 So, I had high expectations! And in reality? It was completely different to how I had thought it would be. I had thought life would revolve around the sea but actually the town is just as exciting and full of life as the beach and port. It's very quaint. I tend to prefer big and striking to quaint but I loved Antibes.

 Its size is perfect: not big enough to get seriously lost in but not small enough that you run out of things to do. After classes each morning I would wander into town to find some lunch and then either catch a train to Cannes, Monaco or Nice - or just chill in Antibes.

 There are plenty of places to chill: the Place General de Gaulle with its simple but gorgeous fountains, the little cafés, two really nice French bookshops where I added to my collection of Enid Blyton books in French (Malory School: La rentrée, Les Jumelles à Saint-Clair) and a lovely English bookshop.

 I also discovered the joy of sitting by the harbour to eat my lunch and/or read and of walking around the town walls with rocky coast on one side and endless flowers on the other. There are also the pretty, colourfully painted houses and the market full of smells and spices. It would be very hard to get bored in Antibes.

 I'm so glad I finally got to fulfil my dream of seeing Antibes and that it was as beautiful as I'd imagined - albeit in a totally different way.

 Thanks for reading,

 Liz x

Lights in Perpignan

 Hello!

 I returned from Canet to see that Perpignan had undergone a transformation. It had become well and truly Christmas-fied!

 The castle and bridge were lit, icicle-lights dripped from the trees, snowflakes flashed beguilingly in Plane Tree Park, the big white tree by the river glowed silver and the Christmas Market huts pulsed with different wintry colours. It was amazing to step off a bus into a real winter wonderland.

 I bought some roasted chestnuts from the little train.

 The bus took me back to Cabestany where again, I drank in the sight of the village's own mysterious, beckoning lights.

 It was a surprising and wonderful night and I would recommend Perpignan at Christmas to anybody.

 Thanks for reading,

 Liz x

One night in Perpignan

 Salut!

 Welcome to a journey through beautiful, haunting Perpignan as the evening turns to night.

 Let's start at the centre of the universe, Perpignan Railway Station, where Dalí claimed to have his best ideas. These pictures are not photoshopped; the sky really was this colour. 

 There are often exotic shades of sky and a general electric atmosphere around this place: I'm convinced there is something to the centre of the universe theory.

 We then stride down the elegant, palm-lined Station Avenue and admire this ship carving in the fading light.

 Here we are by the river. Night is rapidly coming but we have a few more precious moments of velvety blue sky to admire the gold of the bridges and lights of Perpignan.

 Now we wash ashore by the Castillet. Darkness has arrived to cloak the ancient cinema and castle, and to dance with the lights in the water.

 At the Place de la Loge, the carved lady awaits us, elegant as ever, glowing in the artificial yet warm light.

 Here we are, at the Place de la République, where the Christmas lights form haloes around the lamps and the carousel stands silent and sleeping. Flames dance in the trees and fairies hide in the still water.

 Back to the Castillet where night has properly fallen and the sky is ink, impenetrable. The Castillet burns, strong and constant, a beacon in the depth of the night.

 Christmas snowflakes twinkle in the plane trees - not through their own electric lights, which are not yet lit, but from the streetlight, which lends them light like the sun gives the moon.

 As I wait for my bus, I bid a silent goodbye to the city which sleeps yet is so, so awake.

 Thanks for reading,

 Liz x