Nice, France. I didn't know what to expect about this place, but it sure is beautiful! I found Paris to be so much more special than I thought it would be, so for Nice, I lowered my expectations, not wanting to be disappointed by the comparison. But Nice is really special. So beautiful and old. The light is gorgeous seemingly all the time.
Libby and I flew together from Paris to Nice on Monday (after we realized which airport we were flying out of, that is). Remember the train-to-airport debacle when Nirvi and I went to pick up Libby? Well, the one good thing out of that was that we now knew how to get to the Charles de Gaul airport on Monday when we needed to head to Nice. Come Sunday night, Nirvi asks in passing "You are leaving from Charles de Gaul, right?"
No, in fact, we are not. We leave from Orly, which is south of the city, not north, like CDG. Libby and I decided to spring for an Uber, which was stressful. We dragged our bags down the five flights of stairs (mine is SUPER heavy and I haven't even bought anything yet!), and waited for our Uber to arrive. The little tiny Uber icon on my phone never moved, indicating that the driver simply wasn't coming (or my signal was awful). After about twenty minutes, we gave up and flagged down a cab.
Libby practiced her French by talking American politics with our driver on the way to the airport. We made it in plenty of time and enjoyed a lovely breakfast (mine of plain yogurt and honey which is a new obsession, a croissant and a coffee - must learn how to make real coffee).
Side-note, a lot of French toilets don't have seats. It's a little weird. You basically sit on the rim of the bowl. It confuses my brain and my bum.
When we arrived in Orly it was glorious and sunny, and once we connected with Samantha, a friend of Libby's who flew from Bulgaria to join us for a few days, we were on our way. Our AirBnB was beautiful as they usually are. Located in the Old Town of Nice, it's part of the area's many alleys and nooks.
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| another lovely AirBnB |
Our first afternoon was spent wandering the coast and looking at the beautiful rocks and the crystal blue water. Wandering the back streets we stopped for coffee, and chatted and people-watched. It was pretty perfect.
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| I liked how the green grass grows around the tracks! |
On our second day in Nice, we went to a huge market to take in the sights and do a bit of shopping. So many interesting things to see from pretty flowers, to art, to candied fruits made my soaking slices of fruit in boiling sugar for two minutes every day for 42 days. That's dedication! Breakfast at a lovely place (fried eggs and bread assortment with jams and jellies) and then a walk up a long tall hill for a view of the area from the highest peak called Park de la Colline Chateau.
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| Morning coffee |
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| checkin out the market |
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| She had amazing pastries! |
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| we had fun making this pano! |
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| At the top of the hill |
In the evening we took an Uber again out to a cooking school and took a cooking class! We learned a lot, including the fact that French instructors want you to be wrong. All. The. Time. She would ask us questions and we would guess at the answer. Rather than her just telling us, she made us guess over and over, just so she could say "Non!" and impart her knowledge on us. It was pretty amusing actually and the meal was delicious which we got to eat once we completed it all.
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| Our cooking class! |
After regaining some energy back at the apartment for a bit, we went out into the Old Town again. This time, getting some late-night glacier (ice cream), followed by some music at Club Shapko which a coworker had told me about and I didn't even notice was around the corner from our apartment until well into today. Really that's less than 24 hours but it feels like we've been here a long time already!
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| Club Shapko |
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| Club Shapko |
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