France: Beaux Nice

This was our last full day in Nice before the main trip begins.  So far the sky has been fairly hazy during the day, so I was pleasantly surprised when I awoke to a clear view out the window towards the pre-Alpes!  We ate a "healthy" breakfast and hit the pavement towards Castle Hill, east of the city.  The hill is the site of fortress ruins and is now a city park.  There is a maze of intertwining steps and pathways.  At the top of the hill there were two classes of children from the school at the bottom of the hill and we think they were having P.E. class.  I never had to do a hike before gym class in school but it probably keeps those kids healthy!  There was an interesting man-made waterfall that is lit at night but the main attraction was the fantastic view.  I was glad we held off from making the trek until today because the weather was very agreeable.

 Another morning view, Nice's harbor

 View of Nice, view of Nice blocked by my head!

Our hotel is the building in the middle of the picture

 One of the extremely charming features in the playground at Promenade du Paillon, and fountains

After our hike we went back to the room for a bathroom break and then hiked 2.5 km across town to see the Russian orthodox cathedral, built in 1912 for the Russian aristocracy who liked to visit Nice.  We got to the cathedral right as it closed for lunchtime, which to our surprise meant that the gates around the site were locked too.  All we could do was stick our cameras through the fence and take a few pictures.  Because we were so sad, we stopped at a boulangerie around the corner and bought some sweets for lunch (up until this point we had been very good and hadn't eaten any of the mouth-watering pastries).

 

 Consolation lunch: citron tart, chocolate eclair, and flan patisserie, oh my!

When we returned to the sea side of town the tide was coming in, along with a lot of sea spray or general haze that had engulfed the city on the previous days.  Still, we went down to the water to dip toes and fingers into the sea so we could say we'd touched the Mediterranean.  On our way back to the hotel we did some more wandering in the old city where I bought an art print from a local artist who was working in his shop and we caught the last hour of the daily flower market before they closed for the day.  We looped back around Castle Hill to find a flea market but unfortunately it was mostly expensive-ish antiques.  There were lots of interesting things to look at but nothing we really wanted to buy.

We circled back around the other side of Castle Hill and came across the Monument aux Mort, one of the many WWI monuments around France that are dedicated to local soldiers that died in the war.  The monument was very impressive and beautiful.  It was nearly 100 feet high and built into the hill.

Since all of the other main trip travelers arrived today there was a wine reception and orientation in one of the meeting rooms at the hotel this evening.  Maury and I have already met some really nice people.  One of the people on the trip I have encountered before while performing duties for my job but I can't go into any details here.  All I can say is that it was definitely a crazy coincidence!

After the meeting Maury and I went back into the old city for dinner and found a cozy restaurant where we had a marvelous dinner of daube nicoise.  I would have licked my plate if I could!  It was a great ending to our stay in Nice.

I do have to mention that after our meal, while exiting the old city we came across a restaurant called Chez Memere, where one of the male servers was dressed in the craziest drag ever.  He looked like a cross between a can-can dancer and someone's grandmother.  It was hysterical.  I had to restrain myself from calling "bonSOIR, madame!!!"

Tomorrow we will be on a boat!

A bientot,

-Dani