Posted March 25th, 2010
St Martin Restaurants
It seems like every French speaking chef with itchy feet and a yen for warm weather has found his way to St Martin. This includes some Quebecois, a few Italians and refugees from Paris and Lyon.
Mario’s Bistro
Our highlight was Mario’s Bistro, open for dinner only at the Sandy Ground Bridge on the outskirts of Marigot. Situated along an inlet about 200 yards from the beach, Mario’s had its own aquatic show, with a school of good sized tarpon swimming over the underwater lights and feeding on the brine shrimp that were in the water. Their menu and service was a match for the top French restaurants in Philly and (maybe) New York. So were the prices, but it was all worth it.
We liked Marios Bistro, but there were a half dozen very good, expensive restaurants in Marigot and Grand Casse, which is about a 30 minute drive around the island from our place. Michele and I stopped in Grand Casse to check out the restaurants for lunch on Wednesday. Nice spot, with a great looking beach, tiny hotels, not much parking and a handful of high end restaurants, some open for dinner only.
Grand Casse Beach from La Shore
We ate at La Shore’s restaurant – a great lunch. La Shore is a very French feeling place, a polished restaurant right on the beach with aspirations to become a spa and boutique hotel.
Casual Restaurants and Beach Places
We found some good casual restaurants too. They all took good care of the kids, making sure that there orders were in and out quickly. Boucaniers and Ma Ti Beach, both on the outskirts of Marigot, got high marks. French, Creole, Italian, french fries. It’s all good.
Moroccan
And for something exotic, we all went to Le Marrakech, a Moroccan restaurant in Marigot. All French influenced and all good.
You won’t go hungry in St Martin. the restaurant scene is an important part of the attraction.
Tags: Grandkids, Grandparents and Grandkids, House Rental, Old Caribbean, Parents and Kids, Spring Break, St Martin
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Posted March 25th, 2010
The French Side
Croissants and Coffee, with WiFi on the side.
I’m always impressed by the portability of good French cuisine. Whether it’s Montreal, Bora Bora or Marigot in French St Martin you can count on a good croissant and quality coffee.
Michele and I got off to a relaxed, late start on Monday morning and drove into Marigot to confirm the French breakfast quality. There were a bunch of choices. Convenient parking and a view of the sailboats in Marigot’s harbor decided for us.
Breakfast in Marigot
The coffee and croissants met expectations for French style. The big change was that everyone seemed to have a laptop. Free Wifi, convenient electrical outlets and island sunshine made a”virtual office” for what I took to be a mix of local residents and working vacationers. This has a lot of advantages over commuting to the office at home.
The Dutch Side
According to the guidebooks the population of St Martin is reasonably evenly split between the French and the Dutch sides of the island. But each side has specialties. Most of the best restaurants and beaches are on the French side. Most of the practical necessities are on the Dutch side. Practical necessities start with the airport and include real food markets.
20 years ago buying food for a week’s stay here was an adventure, even with plenty of restaurant meals factored in. Now the selection in the markets on the Dutch side is a lot closer to what we are used to at home. Heiniken and gouda cheese is in good supply. Inexpensive (and some expensive) wine from France, South Africa, Argentina and Chile is readily available. And I learned that there are more varieties of yogurt stocked here than I knew existed. Bottom line, you can feed six people the snacks, breakfasts and a couple of dinners here without going totally native.
Tags: Grandkids, Grandparents and Grandkids, House Rental, Parents and Kids, Spring Break, St Martin
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Posted March 25th, 2010
- First Day in the Sun
Baie Rouge
25 years ago Baie Rouge was almost our own private beach, with one or two other families spread out along about a quarter mile of sand. It has changed a little – more people on the sand for sure. More people meant there is now a beach bar and “restaurant”, with a friendly local staff and an outstanding musician. We got non-stop American standards from Sinatra to Sixties classics – and a muted trumpet in between. The music has to be a weekend only event and comes with the blender drinks that always seem like a good idea for the first 24 hours of vacation.
Sunburn
Fair skinned grandkids, what seemed like a lot of sunblock (?), and plenty of energy in and out of the water turns out to be the formula for a little sunburn and some worn out little Hoeys.
Around the House
Terre Basse is a rocky piece of land, not all that
Gecko???
hilly by St Martin standards. The area around each of the houses here is nicely landscaped, based on what we could see from the road. Our place was certainly well maintained, with a resident cat and a resident caretaker in a house just down the road. Cat aside, the biggest wildlife we saw were lizards, Gecko wannabes.
St Martin Landscaping
Tags: Grandkids, Grandparents and Grandkids, House Rental, Parents and Kids, Spring Break, St Martin
Posted in Beach and Sun, Caribbean, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
Posted March 25th, 2010
The six of us, three generations of Hoeys, worked our way through the checkpoints in the Philadelphia airport with only the normal amount of aggravation. I’m temporarily wearing a knee brace, so I got the full treatment from the TSA team when I went through security – but it was very competently done – actually made me feel like something out of line would be spotted.
Carry Ons Only
We had a washer and dryer in the house, so our plan was to pack light. Bathing suits, tee shirts and sandals for the day time. And no need for jackets in even the best restaurants. We settled on one shared laptop – the house had a good wifi connection - and the kid’s ever present DS’s for in flight sanity. It helps that the temperature was, as predicted, between 75 and 83 for the entire week – and no rain. We were all set.
St Martin Airport
A four hour flight, don’t stop at the luggage carousel because its all carry on, and by mid afternoon we were meeting the St Martin rental rep for a 15 minute drive to the house. Everybody is friendly, speaks American English and takes dollars (or Euros or ?).
House and Cars Are Ready
Part of the rental agency service is an initial supply of the essentials in the refrigerator – beer, soda, coffee, chips and bread. We pre-ordered just enough to take us through one breakfast. The other big time saver was the rental car. We had two Toyotas waiting for us at the house when we got there. (Two was a lot more practival than one car big enough for six and gave us the flexability to split up during the week).
The Grandkids Approved
We had a good idea what to expect from our on-line research, but the grandkids were in wide eyed explorer mode. It was an instant hit, starting with the pool.
Tags: Family, Grandkids, Grandparents and Grandkids, House Rental, Parents and Kids, Spring Break, St Martin
Posted in Beach and Sun, Caribbean, Uncategorized | 7 Comments »
Posted March 25th, 2010
February 2010 in Philly
Need Spring Break
Winter 2010 in Philly was the incentive. More snow than we had seen since we lived in upstate NY. We needed a family getaway over spring break.
House Rentals Work Well in the Islands
Michele and I had had good experiences with “extended family” house rentals over the years. Baie Rouge area in St Martin in the 80’s. Near Sandy Lane on Barbados a few years later. We found some good choices and good restaurants off season in Turks and Caicos about 10 years ago and thought about going there again.
Direct Flight to St Martin from Philly
Once we got into the details we found out that direct flights were available from Philly to St Martin, but not to Turks. And our house rental service suggested that we look at the options in the Terre Basse section on the French side of St Martin, not too far from the (very exclusive) La Samanna Hotel.
There are dozens of new, upscale houses with pools to choose from in Terre Basse. We wanted 4 bedrooms so that each of the grandkids had their own room. And a decent sized pool with space to hang out was essential. We rented a house named “Clare de Lune” ( sounds more upscale than a street number, and is not much harder to find).
Tags: Grandkids, Grandparents and Grandkids, House Rental, Old Caribbean, Parents and Kids, Spring Break, St Martin
Posted in Beach and Sun, Caribbean, Uncategorized | 6 Comments »
Posted October 12th, 2009
Day 8: Salem and Boston
Our Coach at the Ocean - Heading Home
Just another hour or two in the bus. We stopped in Salem and made sure that the witches were all still dead. And finished up in Boston where we went to the airport and back to Philly to rest up from our vacation.
Tags: Fall Foliage, Grandparents and Grandkids
Posted in North America, Tours | 2 Comments »
Posted October 12th, 2009
Coast of Maine near Bush Compound
Day 7: North Conway to Kennebunkport
We talked ourselves into the Wildcat Mountain gondola. Great view of Mt Washington and more red, orange and yellow leaves than I thought I’d be able to see. We drove through the countryside to Kennebunkport. There were no reported sightings of any Bushes, but we did get a good look at the family summer place – pretty nice.
Wildcat Mountain, NH in the Fall
Tags: Fall Foliage, Globus Tours
Posted in North America, Tours | 3 Comments »
Posted October 12th, 2009
Covered Brides of Jackson County
White Mountains
Day 6: Cabot and North Conway, NH
We stopped at Cabot Creamery, where they make great cheddar – we watched them do it and followed up by eating a good amount. The leaves were turning a nice color once we got here (October 1) and the “fall foliage” part of the trip is starting to get redeemed quite nicely. I think ”Bridges of Madison County” took place in Iowa, but Clint Eastwood could have come here and found all he needed.
Tags: Fall Foliage, Globus Tours
Posted in North America, Tours | 5 Comments »
Posted October 12th, 2009
Day 5: The New England Culinary Institute in Essex Junction, VT
New England Culinary Institute in Essex Junction
This is the learning part of the culinary program. We stayed at the New England Culinary Institute in Essex. Dinner involved a “cooking” demo by the culinary institute people, followed by a “dining” demo by our crowd.
Tags: Fall Foliage, Globus Tours
Posted in North America, Tours | 37 Comments »
Posted October 12th, 2009
Day 4: Stockbridge, MA
Covered Bridge
Norman Rockwell's Studio
We drove to Stockbridge in the Berkshire Mountains. I didn’t know, but should have guessed that Norman Rockwell of the Saturday Evening Post covers lived in this area. We visited his studio/museum which looks just like it should for the Saturday Evening Post.
Tags: Fall Foliage, Globus Tours
Posted in North America, Tours | No Comments »
