Our first night in the Caribbean... Grand Case, St Martin

We flew to St Martin, in order to start our boat trip to Martinique.

We couldn't get a photo of the people who flock to the beach  every day, so as to be on the  beach when a flight arrives at Princess Juliana airport....

however these You Tube videos give an idea!

Our first night was in a hotel named the Love Hotel....... 

I did have hesitations about the name, but it was recommended by the NY Times!
And was on the beach......

The room was not luxurious but very adequate.....

And Grand Case was termed the gourmet capital of the Caribbean!  So how could we not stay here!

The hotel was great.......
even if the night time illumination was a little over the top!

and  the restaurant we chose was also great..... the Bistrot Caraibes

This was the Caviar d'Aubergines et crabe........which I intend to try to reproduce....it was excellent!

and one could choose one's lobster from the tank in front of the restaurant.......

which was weighed upon choice.........


It was our last night of knowing where we might be for dinner........

Next day we  went to our Moorings yacht....... and the itinerary depended on weather conditions!

To the Caribbean......via Amsterdam!

We were invited to join friends on a sailing voyage from St Martin to Martinique and the easiest 'open jaw' flight we could find was by AirFrance/KLM going via Amsterdam, returning to Paris.
We saw an opportunity to spend a day in Amsterdam........ a first visit for me!
And as expected, there were bikes everywhere!

We were very surprised to see just one bike attached here....

as most buildings had no free space!

We were very lucky to have a fantastic, sunny day in the first week of March.... and decided the easiest/best way to get a feel for the city was to take a boat ride on the canals.

 This allowed us to see some beautiful facades of the homes on the canals....

We were intrigued by the extended post at the top of most buildings and learned that because the homes were rather narrow the furniture had to be winched up........

We visited the Rijksmuseum......which has been under renovation for many years but they have an area which has the main paintings of Rembrandt still on view.......

We decided to stay at the airport as our flight to St Martin was an early morning one. We chose the Citizen M hotel as it looked the most interesting.  It was! The rooms are aproximately 14 sq m but we were going on a boat which only gave us ??? sq m per cabin( but obviously not luxurious in size!) ........ so we were preparing!
One enters through the bathroom....

there was a full shower......

and then there was the bed part of the bedroom.......

It actually was extremely comfortable and we would stay there again!
It was also very convenient to take the train in from the airport to the main station in Amsterdam......

And, of course, we did see a few tulips........

Provence to Switzerland... continued! Or our exploration of the route des vins!

We are always searching for new and interesting places to see and to check out, particularly restaurants, on our frequent trips to Switzerland.  Some have not been so great and didn't warrant the detour.  However this last trip was a winner!

We had just been to the Vacqueras/Gigondas wine area for lunch and decided we needed to follow up with another wine growing area. So chose the Crozes Hermitage area just north of Valence. Slightly out of our way but not much.
The restaurant chosen was Le Quai  in Tain l' Hermitage.

This is a Brasserie run by a Michelin starred chef Michel Chabran and unbelievably it was full... on a Monday. And it seats around 60 persons!  Fortunately we had made a reservation.
After we had eaten we understood why it was so popular!  The food was excellent....

 and also at an excellent price....... if one took the menu of the day.....

And there was also an excellent choice of wine by the glass! Next time we pass though we will definitely find the Cave de Tain which apparently takes 50% of the grapes grown in  the area.

 Unfortunately we could only have one glass of  Crozes Hermitage as we still had several hours to drive. Next time we may stay overnight so that we can check out all the wine negociants around the town.  We saw quite a few names we recognized.

Apart from the food the position of the restaurant is superb.

 It sits overlooking the Rhone right by a pedestrian/bicycle bridge.

And the vineyards rise steeply on both sides of the river........

For the return trip we visited another Cotes du Rhone area at Uchaux.
Again a very good find and worth the slight detour off the autoroute..... particularly on a 'black' Saturday when half od France seems to be traveling! School holiday/ski week!!
This was called Cote Sud....

The food was again excellent....

And just in case we were still hungry!!

Again we had the menu.... but not the Menu du jour.  This one was 30 euros but we wanted the ravioli stuffed with langoustine...........

It is situated in a wine and lavender growing area and must be beautiful in summer.....
We may go back then to be able to sit outside..