Antibes Day 3

By Maia Cruz

July 5, 2012

On our last day in Antibes we got ready for the day, and hung around the house for a little while. Around lunchtime we got out of the house. For lunch went to a vegetarian restaurant called Chez Helen. At Chez Helen we got some very delicious dishes. I got the Cordon Bleu -- it was seitan steak stuffed with goat cheese and breaded on the outside. The Cordon Bleu was yummy, the cheese stuffed inside was really gooey and the bread crumbs on the outside made it crunchy.

After we ate lunch, we walked around the area. We saw some shops, some restaurants and we got some gelato. The gelato shop we went to had really good gelato-- I got some sort of almond cookie gelato. My gelato was delicious --it was creamy and tasted like almonds and cinnamon.  We ate our gelato and then headed back to the house we were staying in.

After we hung around the house for awhile we went to the beach near the area. We stopped by a little beach gear shop by the beach and got some stuff, like a mat and some beach toys -- I got some purple goggles. We went to the beach and put down our mat, where mom and dad sunbathed. I put on my goggles and headed for the water. In the water I tried swimming down to the bottom and I saw some grayish white fish.

The boys went out to the deeper water and I stayed in the middle trying to do handstands and flips. Later on dad came in the water and taught some swimming tips. I was swimming around when a girl about my age came up and introduced herself. The girl's name was Sylvia and she lived in Boston. Sylvia and I talked for awhile and swam and later on she had to leave.

We left the beach and went back home to shower. We got ready and then went out to go to dinner. We went to dinner at an Asian restaurant. We ordered some Thai curry, spring rolls, fried rice, pad thai, potstickers and tofu. I liked the curry it had bamboo shoots and  bell peppers.

After dinner we went out to get some crepes for dessert. We found a small place and got some crepes -- I got crepes filled with nutella. We listened to a little three-man band perform some old-time jazz music in the square while we ate the crepes.

After we got crepes we went to a playground where we played for awhile and then we went home.

The Romance of the Riviera - Antibes

By Leo Babauta

July 4, 2012

Antibes, a tiny town on the French Riviera known for its vacationing sunbathers, in some ways was built by F. Scott Fitzgerald and his group of hip, bohemian friends in the 1920s.

With the sun beating down on you, the Mediterranean Sea a heartbreaking deep azure, cool after the heat of the white-sand beach, you think of this group of friends that included Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Picasso, Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, Coco Chanel and others. They lounged on these same beaches, before anyone else thought it was fashionable to come to the French Riviera to sunbathe. They raked the seaweed from these shores before anyone cared whether the beaches were beautiful. They wore fashionable beach clothes with sailor stripes, drank cocktails and listened to jazz, when this was only a sleepy fishing town.

It's easy to fall in love with Antibes and the Riviera. It's all day with nothing but sun, an occasional cloud giving you the mercy of its shade, lying on the beach getting a tan, taking a dip in the cooling clear waters or going for a longer, tiring swim if you're feeling the need for exercise. It's French food for lunch and dinner, crepes and gelato and wine from Cote de Provence. It's strolls in the moonlight in front of expansive beachfront villas that belong to the famous and wealthy, beach parties at night, dancing into the early morning hours, jazz musicians playing on the street while everywhere around you is the seductive sounds of the French language floating through the air.

This is how I feel as we lounge on a beach filled with laughing, playing, relaxed people, mostly from France but also from the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the U.S. There are young women in bikinis, young men with lithe bodies and lean stomachs, older ladies without tops on, older gentlemen proudly strutting around in Speedos, toddlers splashing in the shallows while others make sandcastles or play paddleball.

Earlier today, Noelle was sick so we stayed in, going out for a quick quiche for the kids, while I bought fresh fruit and veggies at the open-air market along with some wine and a baguette, Provencal style. I made some pasta with wine and bread for me and Eva for lunch.

When Noelle felt better, we headed for the beach, trying out a new one (Plage de Salis) just one beach over from yesterday's beach. It was just as popular, just as beautiful, but today there was a bit of cloud cover so it wasn't as mercilessly hot. I took a long swim in the lovely waters, in between tanning sessions and reading Márquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude (brilliant, by the way). Noelle and Seth played in the sand and enjoyed the shallow waters, while Maia swam in the deeper parts practically the whole time we were there. Eva read and swam while the boys swam and dug huge holes in the sand.

The kids were craving pizza so we stopped at a nearby pizzeria and they ate while Eva and I had some wine. Later, Eva and I had a date: some delicious vegetarian Indian food at a quiet little spot in the old Medieval part of town, then a walk around the cape (Cap d'Antibes) with some fantastic views of the Mediterranean and the boats and lit-up sea towns. The moon was heavy and full, and a spectacular shade of deep reddish orange that we'd never seen before -- it had us stunned.

That was our day, and one I'll never forget. I'm in love with the Mediterranean and the French beaches, and the romance of Fitzgerald and Hemingway and Picasso on these very sands.

Antibes Beach!

By Eva Babauta

July 3, 2012

We rented an apartment in old Antibes very near some of the nicest beaches I've been to. The apartment has two bedrooms and one loft like room with a double bed where Maia and the babies have been sleeping. It's got a small but nice kitchen and one bathroom. There's no air conditioning here but with the windows open it's not too hot. There is always a cool breeze and at night it gets a little cold. Across the street from our apartment there is a restaurant and we can smell the food cooking in their kitchen and hear the people talking and having a good time.

This morning we took our time getting ready. Instead of going out for breakfast we ate in the apartment. It was a nice relaxing morning but the kids were eager to get to the beach. When we left the apatment it was lunch time so we walked a few minutes before we found a little vegetarian restaurant that Leo had read about that we decided to try.

We ate lunch at Chez Helen. The woman who owns the restaurant is from England and has been living in France for eight years. She is the cook/waitress and makes everything herself! We thought that that was impressive and Maia was curious about how she started because she is hoping to someday do the same thing. When we asked the woman about it she said that she started as a waitress.

We were very excited about this place that we decided to order all of the entrees (there were 5) and each one came with a salad made up of shreded beets carrots purple cabbage arugala and a light dressing. Seth wanted the hummus with carrots and bread. Maia and Leo thought that the french onion soup would be good so they ordered that to share. We all had a little bit of everything: bangers and mash -- mashed potatoes vegan sausages shreded purple cabbage and gravey, lasagna, chili sin carne with brown rice, cordon bleu -- made with seitan, shepherd's pie,
cheesecake with cream and apple crumble with butter for dessert. A bottle of red wine for me and Leo.

After lunch we went to a cool book store before heading to the beach.

The beach was sandy not shallow good for swimming. The water was cool nice because it was a hot afternoon. There were lots of people on the beach sun bathing (old and young) children playing in the sand and swimming men and women cuddling in the water families tossing balls to each other topless women sleeping on towels in the sun. It was interesting to watch everyone and all of them seemed to be comfortable in their own skin.