France – mouseytong

I finally found a new coffee tumbler alike my old one that I had for at least 12 years and left in the hotel in South Korea. For more than a year I was searching all the Starbucks that I come across for the same type of tumbler but was unsuccessful.

Of all places, I found it in a Starbucks in Paris. Wasn’t even intending to step into a Starbucks in Paris but I had to go to a shop nearby and it only opened at 1430. I planned it such, that I found a restaurant within walking distance to have lunch and since I had some time still to kill I stepped into the Starbucks across the street to check out the carrot cake and maybe get a speciality coffee just to try something new. Lo and behold, right in front of me, when I stepped in, the tumbler! It is the opposite if my old tumbler which was green with a black rubber band. this one is in black with a green band. I am so happy I found it again.

Among all the other tumblers that I have bought and the 3 other ones I bought from Starbucks, none of them survived more than a few months. The drinking lid always broke off in a matter of months. Never locks well enough and I always encountered leaking unless I hold it. I could never leave it in my bag without fearing it would spill coffee all over. The other tumbler in the photo is one such tumbler. Also from Starbucks but the drinking lid is broken and it doesn’t lock as securely as the other one.

Just wanted to sing praises and thank the universe for listening to me when I was desperately searching for a new tumbler. Now I can have my hot/cold coffee without fear again. I am a happy camper!

Toodeloos!

Where has time gone? Just last week it was May and now it is June! Seems like last month I could only manage 6 posts. 😦

The up side of that is that it was an amazing 2 weeks! My brother was in town with his wife my SIL for their honeymoon! It was fun showing them around. This time, I managed to see much more. Things I have never noticed or places I have never been to and even seeing the same things differently.

We managed to do a tour of Genova’s historic centre on foot and for the first time a bus tour if the city. It wasn’t expensive only about Euro 10 per person which I found really interesting. Since I was at an elevated and open top 360˚ view, I could see things I have never noticed, though I might pass through that area almost every other day. In my defense, when you are driving, You should be attentive on the road and not so much the surroundings, right? 😛

The next day we did Camogli and Recco. It was a free and easy, relaxing holiday for my brother so we didn’t try to fit in too much. Sunned ourselves with the very little sun available after a downpour during lunch. After that, on that Sunday, we went to Portofino after Sunday lunch at my in laws. Lazy Sunday.

Monday was a more interesting, action packed day. We drove all the way to Cannes and made our way back the coastal road till Monte Carlo. My brother and SIL was really lucky as both the Cannes Film festival AND the Monte Carlo F1 finished on that Sunday! So we had lunch in Cannes, walked the red carpet, did some shopping (something a friend ordered) and moved on to Nice via Cagnes sur Mer and Antibes. I have been to Antibes but Cagnes sur Mer was really an eye opener. It was so beautiful! It had a great pathway/ walkway along the beach dotted with amazing works of art. Because of bad traffic we got to Nice only 2 hours later. Wasting a lot of time. I don’t have much photos either cause I was driving and again, I should be concentrating on the road rather than surroundings, right? Safety first. 🙂

When we finally arrived in Nice it was already 6. We missed the last tour train by seconds. In the end, we just dipped our feet into the Riviera, had a drink and something light to eat and we were on our way. My SIL didn’t want to do any more walking. So we made our way again on the coastal road (again!, I tried to get to the highway, so many times to no avail because I kept changing my mind…) but it was a really so picturesque and something I have never done and never would have if I didn’t take my brother on that road trip or if the French government was better at their road signs. LOL!! We managed to see Eze and….hmm….ok, I can’ remember.

Then, we got into Monte Carlo. Because of Formula 1, the roads were a little changed which threw me off guard a little.. I did this whole trip without a navigator. These few places were familiar to me as I am there a few times a year, a few weeks at a time for work. It took me longer than normal to find my way out and I though I wasn’t going to make it for dinner with M at 9pm, I thought I could possibly manage 10pm. After 2 rounds on the F1 track, I finally got out. The curveball came when I was about 10 mins from Genova and they CLOSED part of the road. I had to be diverted toward Alessandria and get off at Masone. Then since the road was closed, I decided to use the local roads which added 45mins. In the end we arrived home close to 11pm. The interesting part was that I could show my brother where I was once left behind by M with only a map and no idea where on the map I was. I just followed the road till the nearest town to figure out where I was. It was dark and deep in the mountains and the road was filled with pin hair turns that I can’t see in the dark which made it even harder.

M was a darling and bought pizza for us for dinner. I was too tired to eat pizza and I was craving comfort food. Guess what I had? ……. Maggi Mee!!! My bro brought some for me!! 🙂 🙂 🙂

The next day, we did a whole day of shopping at Serravalle!! 6 full hours and we didn’t even do all the shops! But it was fun!! Wednesday was a low key day. Lazed at home, had lunch and went shopping for groceries. My bro and SIL were cooking for my in laws to thank them for their hospitality. I got some home cooked food too! Claypot chicken rice, fried bee hoon, pak choy, green beans with pork and my contribution which is sweet and sour pork! yums!!!!! Before that, my SIL also made soup. salted veg soup with tofu and fishballs with chicken. Later she added tom yam paste and it became soooo good!!! I was in heaven!

That was the end of my eventful week. All this excitement made me fall sick. I got sore throat and the a full blown flu and fever just as they left. It was a happy kind of sick!!! if there is such a thing?

To cap things, we ended the weekend with a wedding and a baptism.

It is already 4 am. I should be in bed. But I am now hungry. 😦 Something to eat first?

Nighty night!