Nice is nice……(June 26, 2008)
Renee and I are sitting in the Laundromat doing a load of clothes. It has been a while since I visited a Laundromat in the states, so I don’t know how much they cost there. Here, you pay by the size of the load, in kilograms of course. We are paying 3,70E for 7 kg. That is about $5.60! Then it will cost us 1E ($1.56) for each 10 minutes of drying. Yikes!
Yesterday morning we visited the famous Nice flower and produce market. We took pictures like crazy to use in our classes. (Now can we write this trip off?) We bought some food at Monoprix and some fruit and olives at the market, and had a picnic in a park before boarding a bus to Vence. Vence is one of the oldest villages in the area, kind of an “artsy” place. It is also way less crowded than nearby Saint Paul de Vence, which Rick Steves says is the most visited village in all of France. I thought I could stay away from there, but after riding through I am seriously considering going to SPdeV on Saturday between putting Renee on the plane at 7 a.m. and picking Mark up at 5 p.m. It just looked too cute to pass up!
In Vence we visited a chapel designed by Henri Matisse dedicated to a nun who cared for him in his old age. It was really “modern” compared to all of the other churches we have seen. Even the priestly vestments were done in Matisse’s style. Photography was strictly forbidden, but I sneaked a couple of pictures anyway. Hopefully I can post them soon here (maybe tonight) if the internet is working in our hotel!
After we do laundry, we are hoping to get over to Cannes and Antibes for the rest of the day. Cannes is of course where the rich and beautiful go, and Antibes is famous for yachts.
More to follow…….
We are back from our day's adventure. The Riviera has this great (seemed like) deal where you can go anywhere on a bus for just 1 euro each way. That's what we did yesterday and it wasn't bad. So today we got on the bus, planning to go to Antibes, then Cannes, then back to Nice. But when we saw that the bus was going to stop at every little hole in the wall between here and there, and take 2 hours for the 30 minute train trip to Nice, we reconsidered! We got off the bus to look at Antibes (not that impressed....ate lunch in the park, walked through the old town and the yacht harbor). The yacht harbor is supposed to be the largest in France, and it probably is, but I will probably take Mark to Monaco instead as it is easier to get there and he will still see fancy yachts. We did see one, though, that had a helicopter on it!
Sick of buses, we took the train to Cannes. It cost more but got us there twice as fast and was worth it. But after walking on the red carpet at the Festival Center, and sitting on the boardwalk, we decided we liked Nice better and headed back, via train again. That's where it got interesting. We sat across from this tiny little French lady who was dressed to kill. (She was young.) An entire band of gypsies got on the car, and she started fidgeting like crazy. (She had lots of nice jewelry.) Eventually, at a stop, another band got on, and she suggested that we move to another car. So we did. We moved up two-three cars, and she told everyone why we moved, and how we had to take care of each other, yada yada yada! She was so funny and cute! It made for an interesting ride. The gypsies got off at another station in Nice with no problem, but we are sure that they didn't even have train tickets. Too bad a controleur didn't check.....but I guess they know which trains are the ones that never get checked. Renee and I have already paid one fine, remember, so we're not taking any chances!
Back in the room, now, after a delicious salad and fountain drink from McDo!