The Third Best Restaurant In The World

There is a web site out of the UK - it's been around for awhile - called The 50 Best Restaurants In The World. Of course it is controversial and subjective but, if they are to be believed, we had lunch yesterday at Number Three, Mirazur here in Menton. Of course it's expensive but not that bad at lunch. Let me put it this way: it's a lot less than tickets to Hamilton on Broadway.

It is on a hillside overlooking the town of Menton and the Mediterranean, right on the Italian border. I can't begin to describe all the things they served us. Let me just note that the picture on top shows two martini glasses containing jellied tomato water (!) topped by tiny flower petals. And I've sure never been given a text by Pablo Neruda with the bread.

This was a chef's choice tasting menu. Impossible to remember all the details but they gave a little card with what we were served (see below). Lastly, a little box with exquisite tiny cakes. We will save then for Ellie.

I felt a bit embarrassed afterward. My palate is simply not this sophisticated. 

Excess In Monaco And A Night Out In Menton

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New St. Looie material soon. Really. I'm shooting my first wedding tomorrow (ack!), a freebie for one of our firm's paralegals. I told the bride to expect to get what she pays for. We also have our biggest outdoor art fair this weekend. So STL stuff by Sunday, latest.

A few more trip photos, then. We spent an afternoon in Monaco, a short distance west of Menton. The mountain roads in and above the town are incomprehensible. Even with a GPS gizmo we got lost again and again. But talk about wretched excess. The first and second pictures are of the yacht harbor. Um, who else thinks there are moral issues with this?

But that evening we had a delightful dinner with our pal Jilly in Menton's old town. She was considering buying a wide angle lens so we started fooling around with mine. The remains of a Perrier bottle and what might have been a gin and tonic illustrate the effect. Further down, Mrs. C and Jilly by me, then Mrs. C and me by Jilly. At the bottom, a candy store just down the street that I was not patronizing while in France.

By the way, more and more trip images are going up on Flickr every day. The most recent ones appear on my home page.  The set of pix from the whole trip is here, sorted in the order they were taken, are here.

STL DPD On The Road: It Could Be The Last View of Menton But It Isn't

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OMG it's 1 in the morning. A peaceful morning in the Old Town of Menton; then the impenetrable mountain roads, tourist throngs and merciless sun of Monaco; then a delightful, long dinner with the supremely gracious Jilly Bennett, followed by night shooting. This is all I had time to edit. Much more will end up on Flickr when I have time.

Above, the waterfront and basilica of the old town of Menton. Below, the view from our hotel balcony in late afternoon.

To Avignon this afternoon.

First View of Menton

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We made it. It's wondrous that we can get from St. Louis to the Cote d'Azure in less than a day.

This was taken a bit after sunset from the balcony of our hotel room. Notice that there are still people on the beach. We had a light dinner and now to bed. Massive jet lag.