Nice is Nice :)

I was very excited when I woke up on Friday morning to realize that today we were actually going to get back to Nice to stay for a while.  As some of you know, we lived outside of Nice for 4 wonderful months back in 1998 when Larry was on assignment here with IBM.  We had a wonderful time - especially me, as he had to work while I played.  We love this area and are excited to be able to explore it again.

On the way to Nice we stopped for breakfast (flower pic to the right) and lunch (view pic to the right) at lovely spots.  We also found the heavy beach traffic that all the guidebooks warn about.  Most of it was around St. Tropez.  It is definitely vacation season here. It was nice not to be on a schedule.

We arrived without much difficulty at our new wonderfully located apartment in the heart of Nice.  We couldn't be more pleased with this place.  It is bright, airy, comfortable, well appointed and, as I said, extremely well located to train & bus connections (5 minutes), beach (10 minutes) and main drag through town (3 blocks).

We are on the fourth floor and have windows in both front and back which gives us a nice cross-breeze.  

The elevator in the building is pricelessly charming.  It is a wire cage with a handsome wooden elevator within it.  It is almost silent, seems very sturdy and reliable. 

We are very grateful for the elevator.  We aren't travelling as light as we had planned.  (I'm actually going to ship some stuff home with week.)

The first evening we were here, we wondered towards the water, had an unremarkable dinner and then continued to the Promenade des Anglais - the broad boulevard along the sea.  We found the promenade to be closed to cars for what they call a Prom' Party.  There were people everywhere, bands playing, people parading.  It was such a nice welcome to the city for us!  They really shouldn't have gone to all that trouble just for us.  As it was dark, I couldn't get too much in the way of pictures, but these 3 ladies on extremely tall stilts were really something.

On Saturday we took advantage of having the car from our first exchange for one last day.  We did a huge grocery shopping (thank god for that elevator) and then went off to the fabulous town of St. Paul de Vence.  This was one of my favorite places when we were here before. 

I'm pretty sure that I dragged every one of our visitors to see it.  It is one of the biggest hilltop towns - beautifully restored and in use today.  There are tons of shops and restaurants.  There used to be more souvenir oriented shops but now it is mostly art, but a lovely place to spend the afternoon and to buy gifts. I'm sorry I don't have any pictures of the village form the outside.

From St. Paul, we could see our old building that we lived in back in 1998.   Seethe strange looking white stairstep buildings in the middle of the photo to the right?  It is right on the Mediterranean!  We even managed to drive by it (no small feat of navigation I might add) before we went to the airport and gave the car back to our first house exchange person.  We are actually glad not to have a car in Nice.  It is expensive and difficult to park.  Buses and trains will be easier to use, I imagine.

Today (Sunday) was a day of rest, relaxation and studying (guide books for Dot, spanish lessons for Larry).  We took a short walk around the area for lunch.  While Larry went to look at something, I took shots of a couple of buildings.  These 3 shots were all taken from the same spot.   The building in Nice of absolutely amazing and gorgeous.  There will be more pictures, I am sure, but here is a quick sample.

I am pleased to report that the heat wave here ended overnight on Friday.  Since Saturday we are back to the low 80's rather than the mid-90s.  It is wonderful.  It is supposed to stay this way for the next 10 days - I hope even longer.  We are in Nice for two more weeks - then on to Spain.