Vive la France! (Nice)

Wow, I can't believe I've finally caught up on my blog to where I actually am!  Yes, I'm in Nice right now, sitting on my 5th floor terrace, catching up on the blogs.  Let me bring you up to date....

Sun, Sept 21, 2014

Sculpture on Promenade du Paillon

Fathi to the rescue!

Oy vay!  What a day!  The train strike certainly DID affect us, as in the VERY FIRST TRAIN we

tried to get on was cancelled.  We even left our place in Cinque Terre early because we had heard that possibly the early trains would run before everything got cancelled.  So we got on a different train to a different destination to try and get as close as we could to France.  We managed to get to a different train station, get in a shuttle with a few other people to get to Genoa train station, and then came to a grinding halt.  The train to our next destination was cancelled so Fathi drove almost 3 hours just to pick us up!  What a friend!!

Monaco

We treated him to lunch then we drove to Nice, by way of the coastal road so we could see Monaco and St. Jean Cap-Ferrat.  Then finally our destination!  Miraculously we got into Nice the same time we would have had the trains not been cancelled, but in a much nicer way.

We met our AirBnB hostess, who is a bitter scatterbrained (which she proved again on Monday) but was nice.  She showed us around, and once we settled in to our place, we got together with Fathi to show us around.

The only other time I was in Nice was in 2000.  I was finishing up culinary school in Avignon, and 4 of us students decided to spend the weekend in Nice before our stage (cooking apprenticeship) began. It was only 2 nights and 1 full day, but it was a crazy fun weekend!  Walking around with Joe and Fathi definitely brought back some memories, but Nice has changed quite a bit since then.  It's gotten much cleaner and more beautiful.  Statues, wider promenades, and water fountain parks are just some of the ways Nice has improved.  I'm looking forward to enjoying my stay here!

Thurs, Sept 25, 2014

The last few days have gone by quickly and I'm not sure why because I haven't done all that much.  I ran on the promenade next to the Mediterranean, and my first morning here swam in the sea with Joe.  It was so beautiful, but the days following got much cooler, and yesterday was cloudy.  Not a good beach day.  The beach is only a couple of blocks from our place - nice location!

Marche aux Fleurs

Joe spent yesterday at the Nice Observatory with Fathi (where he works) so I hung out at the

Joe shopping

apartment.  We've gone out a few times to restaurants, and I've been to the flower and food market in Old Town Nice twice to get food for lunch and dinner.  This market puts the Lucca market to shame.  There are some tables with soaps and souvenirs, but most of the tables are fruits, vegetables, fish, cheese, sausages, and olives.  THIS is my favorite kind of market!  There's also an area called the Marche aux Fleurs which is all plants and fresh cut flowers.  Today I got a bunch of things to make a salad tonight, plus some cheeses and sausage for our train ride to Paris on Saturday.

The host and his grateful guests

The piece de resistance was when Fathi made us dinner at his place.  He's about 30 minutes walking from here, down by the sea, and he showed his generosity by making us an Algerian dinner with a cheese course and tiramisu for dessert.  Homemade limoncello capped off the evening.  I honestly don't know how Joe and I made it home - we were so full!

Bresaola and cantaloupe de Fathi

Every other morning we've gone out for coffee and croissants - even at the dinky, not fancy brasseries the croissants are incredibly flaky, buttery, and heaven!  I also plan to work out every day, but, I uh, well, I'm still working on that.  I actually pulled a muscle in my leg, so running the first day was difficult, but I'm getting a lot of walking in.

Nice is definitely beginning to grow on me - it's by the water, it's a big enough city to have everything but small enough to feel manageable.   It's also just a couple of hours from Italy, Provence, and the mountains to go hiking.   Unfortunately, we need a car to do that, and Fathi has to work (yeah, what's up with that?).

Only today and tomorrow left before we leave for Paris!  Tomorrow, I plan on spending the whole day at the beach.  I may even splurge to rent a lounge chair and umbrella!