It has to be said that the Côte d'Azur is not reknowned for its meters of snow, negative temperatures and so on. But on the other hand anyone assuming that the palm-trees mean it never gets cold would be equally wrong. The last few weeks and especially last weekend we've had quite a bit of cold stormy weather which has dumped white fluffy stuff on the hills and emphasized the "Alpes" bit of Alpes Maritimes.