Offhand I can think of several things you should not do when arriving somewhere and suffering from jet lag. I would never rent a car at Narita and try to drive into Tokyo at rush hour with a right-hand car following signs in Japanese. I would not volunteer to use sharp knives to mince onions and garlic. I would not take an intelligence test or fill out forms needed to get some special clearance. So armed with that knowledge about jet lag and myself, why in the world did I decide that I was awake enough to inspect an apartment that we were going to be staying in for two weeks?
We had flown from Dulles to Geneva, had a two hour layover - most of which was spent trying to figure out where to connect - and then we flew to Nice arriving at about 10 am local time. We arranged to meet the representative who was to show us the apartment and give us the keys. We took a very expensive taxi to the apartment building and were admitted via the intercom. We then had to take our two bags each and climb 64 irregular stairs to the fifth floor apartment. We were exhausted when we got to the top of the stairs and all I could think about was sleep, but we had to be shown around the place first and told where things are. Normally, I would have been alert and I would have known what to look for, but I was not and it was not until the agent left and we had started to unpack that I started to focus on things - and what I saw was not pretty.
By French standards this is a good-sized apartment but it is obvious that the owners have never lived here and use it only as a rental. Normally when we rent an apartment there is a welcome pack that includes basics like milk, water, wine and sometimes cheese, and the cupboards have essentials like salt, pepper, spices, olive oil, mustard, etc. This place had nothing, in fact it had worse than nothing, it had filthy cupboards that at one time had food but now just crumbs, dirt and spilled spices littering the cupboard. The idea of having to first clean an apartment and then going shopping was not pleasant.
We descended the 64 steps and headed for the supermarket to get all the basics we needed in order to get settled. Luckily we had brought a backpack with us to use for shopping and day trips so I was able to distribute the weight of the water, wine, (three colors), Cassis, Ricard, cheese, garlic sausage, milk, butter, cream, coffee, tea and bread. Still, walking back up those 64 steps with an added ten-twelve pounds of weight dang near killed me. We decided then that it would be best to do a little shopping at a time and to bring several bags so as to equalize the weight. We cleaned up as much as we could and headed out to walk along the water and then have a light lunch and a heapin’ helpin’ of Rosé wine before taking a well-deserved nap.
After a few days we settled into a routine that allows a bit of cleaning each day, a bit of shopping each day, and a whole lot of exercise, most of it from three or four trips per day up and down the stairs. I had to vacuum the entire apartment the other day because I found these strange dust bunnies in shades of blue all over the place. We have no idea where they came from since there isn’t a carpet in the apartment and we haven’t done any laundry. We can only guess that someone’s vent for a dryer blows under one of our doors or windows?
I have found two pans that are serviceable and a few utensils that I’m able to use so we have had many lunches and a few dinners in the apartment - since Nice, like a good French mistress - is beautiful but expensive. Nice has a fabulous market, which is why we wanted an apartment, so I can shop daily for the freshest fruits and vegetables and bring them back for a fresh meal. From CC: He made a delicious omelet one night, and another night a fabulous pasta dish with mushrooms, smoked salmon, and peas that had to be better than any pasta dish in the whole of Nice (and they have a strong Italian influence so it’s not like good pasta is hard to find). I would be too frustrated in that kitchen to make anything at all, much less something worth writing home about!
Back to Wm: Cindy has been faithful in her running; it helps that the weather is grand and the views of the sea and beach fantastic. I have been walking and scouting for restaurants and bakeries. We have found a few new places that have great food and service and don’t cost the gross national product of Peru for a meal. Yesterday we went to Eze, a lovely hillside village and walked up to the gardens. On the way we passed a restaurant that had a menu in the window. I was shocked at what I saw and called Cindy over to confirm. The first item on the menu was pan seared goose liver, a standard in good restaurants. The price for this starter was 80Euros, or $104, or one dish. The prices went up from there and we did the math and decided that if we each had what we would normally have for dinner it would have cost us $325 each without wine, compared to the lovely meal we had last night for $45 including wine. We came home and looked up the restaurant and sure enough it was a Michelin two star so I guess that anyone who can afford to spend $650 per night for a room at that hotel can afford the price of dinner. Did I mention that this is an expensive area?
One thing that is a real bargain is the bus fares. Our lovely bus ride up to Eze cost one euro each way per person. For that same price we can go all the way to Cannes down the coast or to Menton on the Italian border. We plan on going to Menton and to Antibes during our stay, the ride along the coast being spectacular at any price.
A bientot, Cindy and Wm
