Louise Wallace appears in season four of The Brokenwood Mysteries, returning tonight at 8.30pm on Prime.
HIT
I'm a huge fan of Slim Aarons, the famous celebrity photographer who took photos in the 40s and 50s of the jet set, either skiing or lolling about beside swimming pools at St Moritz, Palm Beach, Florida or Palm Springs. I had always wanted to go to the famous Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc at Cap D'Antibes, on the French Riviera, the scene of one of his most famous photographs and where the likes of the Kennedys holidayed back in the day. In July this year, I got my chance and it didn't disappoint. We were staying in a villa in the South of France and went to St Tropez for the day and on the way home decided to have a cocktail at Hotel du Cap. OMG . . . it was divine, even if it was €38 (NZ65) for a glass of champagne. I died and went to heaven. True to Slim Aarons' mantra, it was beautiful people doing beautiful things in a beautiful place. I will never forget it.
MISS
When we arrived in Nice, I had instructed those in charge of arrangements (I was being slack) that I wanted to stay quite near the airport, not realising that the centre of town was only five minutes away. We had an early start the next day to pick up a car and drive further inland. Firstly, my luggage did not arrive and I was in my winter gear in 30-plus degrees and secondly we were staying in a ghastly third-rate dump with a fetching view of a demolition site over the road. Lesson learned? Take charge, take notice and brush up on the local lingo.
