Ice cream wonderland

Hey guys! A restaurant might not be the first thing to spring to your mind when you start to think about your holiday. Nevertheless, I must mention this ice cream parlour called Latinos, which became one of my favourite places in Saint Raphaël thanks to its marvellous desserts. They had more or less 40 flavours to choose from including the exciting Red Bull and delicious chocolates like Kinder Bueno and Mars. Even their fruit sorbets tasted much better than the regular Finnish ones! It's too bad we don't have these ice creams over here... I guess its one of the privileges of travelling. Eating different kinds of foods... or ice creams, if you like!

This Tropical Island in France

I know this is the third time I am writing about this island but I still have lots of photos. You might remember Fort Royal CLICK and Paradise Island CLICK which both tell about this island too. Oh, how I would love to go back!

I actually got a bit sentimental when we were in our boat sailing to this island. It was another warm Sunday and none of us were in a hurry. My hair was fluttering in the wind, I was surrounded by a bunch of good friends and we listened to some great music. I couldn't help but let the tears roll down my cheeks. I guess someone else was happy too as I saw an old lady dancing on the deck to the rhythm of our music.

Apparently grasshoppers can be BIG in France

This is enough from this one island, don't you think? Haha, seriously. Just look at the poor amount of text in this post! Time to leave it behind now. There are already 48 of you followers on GFC, thank you all ♥

Not-So-Safe Rides in Luna Park, Fréjus

All the talk about Luna Park in Fréjus on the internet was true. It wasn't a glorious amusement park with a great number of safe rides. My friends and I had a good time there, although we all agreed on one thing: the whole place was a total rip off and the rides were lacking safety.

Olympic City was probably the only ride that felt secure, haha! It surprised us by strawberry-smelling gas and its canopy which appeared right above our heads during the ride. By the way, You can check out the video of Luna Park over here. Now let's go on to the more ferocious rides.

Loop Zone has to be one most awful rides on which I've ever been. I was screaming like the last day for the whole time. It really goes 360 degrees and even stops for a while when upside down! Magic Mountain would have been alright if our necks had not been banging against the seats all the time... Especially while being upside down, the ride felt very insecure. UFO Speed was something I did not try myself. My friends tried it, however, and they weren't that excited about it. People stand inside small cabins while the ride spins in an upright position. My friends told me you had to hold on to the barriers extremely tight if you  didn't want to be flung back and forth. Ouch.

Last but not least is paintball! I was in two minds whether to play or not but I decided to watch the Italian's game instead. The suits and masks and everything looked fun! As a conclusion, I'd say Luna Park is really expensive seeing what it offers. One ride cost 2-5 euros. Luckily there are some discount vouchers for the rides that you can easily find from different kinds of shops and restaurants nearby. Better luck next time, I suppose! This summer I'm going to Linnanmäki amusement park in Helsinki as I haven't visited it for some years.

Perfume Museum Galimard in Côte d'Azur

We dropped by at this perfume factory Parfumerie Galimard in Grasse en route from Monaco to St. Raphaël. This perfumery (later also museum) dates back to the 18th century making it the third oldest perfumery in Europe. It is known as the world's perfume capital, as a large proportion of all perfumes are manufactured here. Correct me if I am wrong, but I remember the woman saying something about 2/3 of the world's perfumes.

Love from Aix-en-Provence

Aix-en-Provence was again another beautiful city in the French Riviera. We hadn't planed anything special to do during our one-day visit, but to be honest it didn't matter as I was completely satisfied with shopping and seeing the town. Totally worth waking up at 6 AM or some other godly hour! Just take a look at those chocolates; Perfection, don't you think? Unfortunately there were pretty dear so I only bought a tomato quiche to satisfy my hunger.

I remember buying my favourite moccasin boots (aka Indian boots) and a few souvenirs for my friends from Aix-en-Provence. Oh, and a little note to self: don't order pasta with blue cheese if it's 30 degrees celcius warm. It will make you even thirstier. That's why my friend's salad looked much more tempting even though I loved my super salty delicious pasta. Haha.

A bouncy boat with paragliding

Hey everyone! Haha, I should really figure out another way to start my posts... Anyway, this time I wanted to tell you about one of the best things on a beach holiday. The beach is not only about catching rays and swimming but also about exciting activities. Since I'm afraid of diving, I had to rule out all the options that involved anything to do with it. Luckily we found something else fun: paragliding! This is what we decided to do with my good friend a.k.a room mate Tora. It cost 75€/30min for two.

The whole thing started off by hopping into a boat, which was by the way wobbling recklessly the entire time. We cruised around at full speed and dragged behind us some people who were seated in a giant, rubber life buoy. At that point, I was struggling to hold onto my precious camera as the boat bounced up and down in the waves. I tried to grab onto something that would have kept me from falling out of the boat. Not to mention, we sat on the edges which were really slippery.

Tora said my face looked funny because I looked so terrified. Oh sweet memories... Before we were raised into the sky, I shouted to the men steering the boat if they could please be careful with the landing, as I didn't want to end up being underwater. It must have been hilarious because they had absolutely no intentions to drop us that low! I just had to ensure it, as usual.

High up in the sky...

...and after that down to the sea level so that we could run on the water. Cool!

It wasn't perhaps the smartest move to leave on my skirt, which got soaking wet when they lowered us down. I wouldn't mind doing this all over again but I'll see if I find some new activities in Anfi del Mar. Something similar yet different.

In any case, this is amazing. You get to see such beautiful views, just like a bird!

Pebble beach paradise

Good day everyone!

I'm pretty excited how it's getting sunnier all the time. Spring is coming slow but sure. More importantly, the 28th of February is nearly here! And what's special about that? Because on that day my friend and I will be going to the Canary Islands with my mum and her husband! It's really a dream come true getting out of Finland in the middle of the winter. You know, you kind of get fed up with the -20°C weather and all the warm clothes.

But hey, I wanted to show you something guys. Just in case you find yourself in the French Riviera, I still want to share some of the beautiful places there. This pebble beach is called Les Roches Rouges, which got its name from the huge, red massifs around the area. I tried googling it but the only results were hotels called Roches Rouges and some occasional photos of the cliffs. Location: near St. Raphaël, near camping le Dramont.

île d'Or - the island of gold

...and finally a small campfire by the seaside! We had to put it out, though, because it happened to be illegal to set a fire at the beach.