Saturday, July 18, 2009

Le Côte d'Azur 6th Day — Saturday, July 18, 2009

NICE — The beach and Carolyn's twist of fate

Of course, as fate would have it – the wind has kicked up and the day is cool. That beautiful azure blue sea that I have been dying to go into is now choppy and cloudy. Keep in mind that it is still the most amazing blue that you will ever see, but it is thrashing about with white caps and tossing people around like rag dolls. I am frustrated, but realize that we have many more days to enjoy a day when the sea will be at rest. Nevertheless, I am determined (or foolish – you choose) to go in, and Jon watches me as I carefully enter the surf —unfortunately, I end up twisting my knee in the process. You see, Nice doesn't have a sandy beach -- there are these smooth 1-3" gray pebbles that you must navigate an entry on. Sure enough, I plant my leg in the rocks and the surf proceeds to bend my knee in such a way that it normally doesn't bend. Alas, I am now limping and on a combination of Ibuprofen and wine. I am hoping that it is just a sprain and not a serious injury. Time will tell. By the way... even with the surf ... the water was marvelous! As were the wall-to-wall sunbathers. There were only a handful of topless gals (young and old), I'm sure by week's end I'll be tossing off my top as casually as a smoker flicks away a cigarette butt. As they say... when in Rome....


The inviting sea on a calmer day

We end the day shopping for dinner and even with an iced-knee, I manage to cook a tasty meal -- chicken breast with fresh tomatoes, onion, garlic and green pepper with potatoes, green beans and a cheap bottle of Bordeaux (about $2.50, and it sure beats two-buck Chuck!). For some reason it tastes better than a home-cooked meal in Pasadena. I'm guessing it's a combination of inspiration and being in one of the most romantic places in the world. You just FEEL like cooking! Bon Appetit.

Le Côte d'Azur 5th Day — Friday, July 17, 2009

NICE — Bus tour, Matisse Museum and Monastère de Cimiez

STILL not in the water yet... am I crazy? Yes, another hot day in Nice, but I have promised Jon that we will go on a "real" tour of the city. Suffice it to say, we hoped on open-top bus and it carted us around. Most of the places we had found on our own already, but the harbor and surrounding hills we had not been to and were beautiful.


Nice Harbor

We made a stop at the top of the hill in a beautiful area called Cimiez, this is where we toured the Matisse museum and saw them setting up the stage for the Nice Jazz Festival. We are definitely going to go a couple of nights to the Festival -- especially on Tuesday to see my favorite boy --- James Taylor. What a setting -- in the hills above Nice among olive trees .... ahhh.


Getting ready for the Nice Jazz Festival

The Matisse museum is good, but it doesn't have his most influential work -- I'm guessing it's at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, or in Paris. What's really interesting is that just outside of the Matisse museum there are some 5th century B.C. Roman ruins -- it reminds you of how old the city really is -- even though Nice didn't become part of France until the mid 19th century.


The Matisse Museum


Inside the Matisse Museum before I was kindly asked to put my camera away!



Roman Ruins outside of the Museum

On the way out of the Matisse museum, we walk two blocks to the beautiful Church and gardens of Monastère de Cimiez. The gardens are absolutely breathtaking with a view of the surrounding hillsides and the Nice coastline. Jon does his best impersonation of Cary Grant in "To catch a thief." It needs work.


My Dear, My Dear, My Dear.... Jon in front of the rooftops ala "To Catch a Thief"



10 Years and going strong...



Monsieur Romer


The Princess



The Magnificent Gardens of Monastère de Cimiez



No wonder the Impressionist painters were in love with the South of France!



More Impressionist inspiration


We end the day on Rue Masséna, another quaint stretch of town with shops and restaurants. We end up.. where else? Yet another Italian Restaurant. Tomorrow... I will cook!


Rue Masséna at Night

We get back to the flat at 11pm, and the lack of sleep has caught up with me. I am so desperately tired that I can't move. I take a shower and go immediately to bed. I promise Jon and myself that tomorrow will be a "do nothing" day. I will get up late, have a leisurely breakfast and head on down to the water when I feel like it.

Le Côte d'Azur 4th Day — Thursday, July 16, 2009

NICE — La "Promenade des Anglais and Vieux Nice (Old Nice)

Still not in the water yet, and it is another hot and humid day on the Cote de Azur. We start the day with a walk down la "Promenade des Anglais." It would be our first long day walk along the famous stretch. I stop to take snapshots of the sunbathers and parasailers and imagine myself floating in that beautiful blue water.


The famous Nice Parasols along La Promenade des Anglais


Princess Caroline

Alas, we keep walking and end up in "Cours Selaya" a market place which is the entry way to "Old Nice." When we arrive it's mid-afternoon and we see restaurants setting-up. Ends up that the Cours Selaya and Old Nice awaken in the evening. It's not uncommon to be having dinner at 9 or 10pm. After all, the afternoons can be hot (thus- the reason for the "siesta"), and the days are long in the summer. Nice is like a meditteranean version of New York, at least in the summer it is. If you're hungry at 2 a.m. -- there will be a place open for you! It seems this place was custom-made for the me.

We move on to "Vieux Nice" which translates to "Old Nice" — a conglomeration of narrow streets and old buildings with merchants, restaurants and bars. The streets are 10 feet wide in some parts with a surprise at every turn. Sometimes you will end up in a plaza, other times there will be old steps leading nowhere. Old Nice is hidden behind a facade of buildings, so if you were walking along the la Promenade des Anglais, you would never know that it's there. It is a hidden gem.


Old Nice

After a full day of wandering the quaint streets we are hungry. I brought a printout of the top 20 restaurants in Nice and #6 on the list is one called "Restaurant du Gesu" in Old Nice. Supposedly, it has the best bang for your buck... or should I say "euro." By luck, Jon spots the place and they tell us they don't open until 7pm. It's 6pm, so we decide to wander about until they open. We return at 7:05, to find that the place is practically full already! The restaurant has ample outdoor seating, and even though it's between buildings, it's oddly cooler there -- so we're happy. The food is yummy, and worth the wait (and price!). Margherita Pizza for only 7.50 € (that's $10.50 in U.S. dollars)! Even though this is France, the Provence region has such an Italian influence, that some of the best restaurants are Italian! On the next table I get chatting with a friendly British woman and her family from Newcastle. By meals end, we're friends and we exchange email addresses. After days of struggling with my elementary French, I am at ease speaking our common language. The day finishes with a stroll down la Promenade Des Anglais (one can never get tired of this).


Video of Sainte-Réparade Square in Old Nice

Le Côte d'Azur 3rd Day — Wednesday, July 15, 2009

NICE — Settling in and the hike to the Chagall Museum

Jonny sleeps in while I go shopping for a baguette and some groceries. We are conveniently one block from a fantastic "boulangerie" (so much for my diet) and a quaint open-air market and a poisson (fish) merchant - I look forward to cooking some fresh fish soon. The grocery store is also on this block — it is small, but well-stocked. You put your groceries in a wheeled basket with a telescoping handle (like luggage) -- I wish we had baskets in the states like that!


Open air market one block from the apartment



The fab shopping cart and WALL of Yogurt

There was also a whole wall dedicated to yogurt -- an important staple in the French diet. We will eat it everyday to keep our insides healthy -- especially with all the carbs that we will be eating in the days to come. An Atkin's diet here would be next to impossible. The bread is THAT good!

We get a late start because we are still jet-lagged. The day is hot and humid, so we decide to walk to the Chagall Museum. The walk is longer than expected, but the museum was worth every mile. Huge colorful paintings depicting Chagall's Biblical Series. Chagall, was a Russian Jew who's given name was "Mark Zakharovich Shagal." The works depicted the Song of Songs, Jacob's Dream, Adam and Eve Expelled from Paradise, etc. Simply framed, they works were breathtaking.


The Chagall Museum


Close up of Chagall Painting in honor of our Anniversary "L'amour"

Starved and tired, we end the day with a dinner along the bustling Rue Massina, and a stroll along the Promenade Des Anglais. Tomorrow I am getting in that water!


Monsieur Jean Romer et la mer


La Promenade Des Anglais

Le Côte d'Azur 2nd Day — Tuesday, July 14, 2009

NICE – Happy Bastille Day!!

The long 10-hour overnight flight from L.A. to Paris was made easier by getting exit row seats and sitting next to a nice Italian gentleman named Marou. Born in Milan and living in the U.S. for the last few years, he was returning home for a week to see the folks. We all spoke of France and Italy with anticipation. Of course, as usual, I channeled Oprah Winfrey, and by flight's-end I knew his whole life story and girlfriend troubles. He graciously asked us to call him, and he would give us tips when we made our way up to Italy. We just may do that!

After a short flight from Paris to Nice, we spot Hans outside of baggage claim holding up a neatly-typed sign "Jon and Carolyn Romer." Just by the look of the sign I KNEW that he had a swingin' pad! Hans is a kind gentleman of German descent who traveled the world with his family and settled upon Nice in his retirement. Hans and his wife Annie, also have a country home in the town of Montauroux, which is a 40-minute drive inland from the coast. They will be staying at the home while we are in their apartment, so I can call him at anytime if we run into trouble. As Hans drives us from the airport in style (a late model Mercedes wagon), we get our first look at the beautiful coastline of Nice — turquoise and blue waters — a true "Côte d'Azur" (Coast of blue) with small smooth pebbles, and an ocean-front promenade called the "Promenade Des Anglais" (Promenade of the English) filled with couples strolling – young and old — families, and young revelers preparing for the party to come. After all, it is "Bastille Day" and as Hans says "We are welcoming you to France with fireworks!" For those who don't know, Bastille Day commemorates the 1790 Fête de la Fédération, held on the first anniversary of the storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789.

We arrive at 57 Rue du Maréchal Joffre — a 1920's art-deco building with a beautiful facade, romantic iron filigree balconies with flowers, marble flooring — gorgeous.


The front of our art deco apartment — Tres Magnifique!


We go up 3 stories in an old-fashioned cage elevator right out of the movie "Blade Runner." I like cage elevators. They have the polished mechanical elegance that only certain things that were painstakingly designed and crafted have.


Our "Blade Runner-esque" Cage Elevator


When we enter the apartment, it is even more beautiful than the photos. Photos really can't capture the light that streams through the tall 10-foot windows, the smell of the boulangerie a block away or the sound of the occasional 2-note siren only heard in Europe. We look out the back balcony into the patio and notice so much of the flora is similar to southern California -- fan palms, canary island date palms, magnolias, pines, oleander, bougainvillea. The air is slightly heavy and warm — similar to Hawaii or Bermuda. We both realize we brought too many pants. It seems that I will be living in shorts and sundresses. The extra 8 pounds that I didn't lose now haunts me.


Our "Room with a View"




Short video of the apartment

After settling in, and a short nap, we have no time to waste. We must make it down to the shore in time to see the Bastille Day fireworks! It is a perfect night. There are two bands playing on the promenade — one struggling with American blues and the other Brazilian pop.



Video of our first night in Nice!


The firework show is long and spectacular. It makes me feel very Franco-American. The party girl in me wants to stay, but Jon is dead-tired and hungry, so we make our way back and stop for some yummy thin-crust pizza and a salad. Tomorrow we will get to know Nice. But first ... sleep.


Video of Bastille Day Fireworks!

Le Côte d'Azur 1st Day — Monday, July 13, 2009

First Day of our 10th Anniversary trip to the Côte d'Azur (South of France)

Homeexchange.com has come through again with yet another fabulous home exchange! In February I got an email from a kind couple (Hans and Annie Blaasch) in Nice, France asking if we would be interested in a non-simultaneous exchange with them for the desert house. We could come in July (during the Nice Jazz Fest!), and they would come in October. As tempted as it sounded, I told Jon that we really couldn't afford it. He convinced me that we could do this on a shoestring (although there are no travel books entitled "The French Riviera on a Shoestring"), and, after all, July 11 would be our 10 year-anniversary of wedded bliss (okay, a slight exaggeration on the bliss part), and what better place to celebrate than in the South of France! In my attempt to ready myself for the trip – and for potential topless bathing – I have tried to lose 10 pounds, but have only lost 2. Jon on the other hand, has lost 15 pounds (!@$##%) and is back to wearing his size 34 pants! I have promised myself to stay with my diet and exercise regime, even though I will be tempted with eclairs and wine. Wish me luck.

I'm also going to attempt to start my travel blog again. I am not making any promises this time on making daily entries. After all I will be busy trying to catch glimpses of Gilles Marini. You know – the hot, Cannes-born actor on last season's "Dancing with the Stars." Again, wish me luck.



Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Scotland 17th Day — July 15, 2008

Depart to Boston from Edinburgh

Blog to come