Tomorrow morning I leave for Denmark again, stopping by Amsterdam on the way to catch up with my old au pair from Finland, Nicole. I've loved my break here and am sad to leave, but I also know that going back to Copenhagen is one step closer to coming home. Spending time with family has been fantastic, and I really can't thank Max and Bettina enough for their hospitality. Here's a little update on what I've been doing for the best few days!
Musée Océanographique de Monaco
For the first few days that I was here, Max had some young girls (8 and 9 years old) of his friends' that were staying with him while their parents were holidaying further down the coast. Thus, I got handed down the duty of babysitting occasionally and became known as "Aunty Sophie". To their entertainment (and admittedly, mine) we visited the local aquarium/museum, or Musée Océanographique de Monaco, established in 1910 by H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco’s great-great-grandfather Prince Albert. The museum has been an international benchmark for loving, protecting and raising awareness of the oceans for many years and was really fun to visit. With over 6,000 specimens, I saw fish I've never seen before and sea turtles that were being rehabilitated to be returned to the wild!
Driving to Sainte-Agnès in a retro Porsche
Max and I drove to Sainte-Agnès, a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department with a view over the city of Menton. It's a really small provincial village, and we had some tea and blueberry pie while overlooking the mountains and ocean.
Visited Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild
This was a beautiful old Renaissance palace of the French Riviera, built on a summit of the peninsula of Cap Ferrat between 1905 and 1912 in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat by Baroness Béatrice Ephrussi de Rothschild. I'm fairly sure I might've been here before when I was younger as I got weird deja vu feelings in certain parts of the gardens.
Visiting Cannes
On my last day today, we drove to Cannes to have a look around and get lunch. The weather hasn't been too amazing the last few days, but I can image during the summer the beach here would be very inviting.
Other than that, I've just been going for some scenic walks up the mountains, studying and watching movies with Max in the evenings. I've done some cooking which has been really good (I made a veggie parmigiana last night). Tonight we had dinner at Planet Sushi, and I had a veggie poke bowl, and then we went to the local fair that's been recently set up to play some games. We won some prizes to take home to Max's beagles, Ascot and Baijard.
Tomorrow's an early morning and a big day, but I'm sure I'll manage. All in all, I've had a such a fun week and am really looking forward to coming back!
Comments