 |
| Our Apartment, look for the two blue shutters |
We are home, safe and sound and still enjoying the memories
of our lovely time in France. It took us
a few days after we arrived in Nice, but we finally came to terms with the
apartment and once that happened everything seemed to open up to us in terms of
opportunities. Our grand plans for
revisiting Menton to the east and Antibes to the west disappeared as quickly as
our croissants at breakfast. It just seemed like too much of a challenge for
too little return, given the fact that there was still so much for us to do and
see in Nice.
One night after a particularly lovely meal, we decided to
take a little walk along the water before heading home. There is a very large hill in Nice that
overlooks the water and was the site of several
forts and castles over the centuries.
They have installed lights that illuminate the entire hill including the
huge waterfall. I was stunned and just
stood there looking, not because it was the most beautiful thing I had ever
seen, but because I couldn’t believe how much bigger the waterfall had become
since we had walked up the hill in February with the express desire to see this
famous waterfall. The next morning after
our run and breakfast we decided to go and visit the waterfall again. Well guess what, The Stupids - aka The Embees
- had gone to the wrong waterfall on our first visit! This explains why we couldn’t understand what
the big fuss was all about - we’d read
about the waterfall in all of the publications about Nice and what we saw the
first time was little more than a trickle. It was really worth the trip up the hill to
see the real deal, and the views from other parts of the castle grounds were
spectacular.
 |
| The REAL Waterfall |
 |
| The Trickle that fooled us in Feb. |
For the rest of our time in Nice we got into a nice routine
of exercise - not counting the four-times-daily climb up the stairs – espresso
at a little café, a stop at the bakery for some treats for our breakfast in the
apartment, then a bit of touring, followed by lunch in the apartment. Most days this consisted of wonderful
sandwiches that we would make with fresh bread, local cheeses and market
vegetables, washed down with a little wine.
We managed a nap every day and then took a “forced march” to one part of
town or the other before returning to the apartment to clean up for dinner at a
restaurant. We went to two restaurants
twice and the rest of the time we experimented, mostly well, with new
finds. Cindy actually got me to three
museums during the trip and I enjoyed them all since they were nearly empty and
we could wander around at our convenience, another perk to traveling
off-season.
 |
| Lapin Roti |
On our final Sunday we decided to go out and have a Sunday lunch,
always one of my favorite things to do when we travel. It was a lovely day and
we wandered up and down the market reading menus at all of the cafes and
bistros. We finally settled on a large
restaurant on the main square outside the Palace of Justice. Their menu at 16 Euros
included Salad Nicoise,
lapin roti (roasted rabbit) - one of my favorite meals -with lemon sorbet for
dessert. Since that is a lot of food,
Cindy ordered just the wonderful frog legs and helped me with the salad. We had a lovely glass of Champagne to begin
and then a half bottle of an excellent local rosé with the meal. We splurged and had a coffee and Cognac after
the marvelous sorbet and then trundled on home for a long and languid nap.
 |
| Cindy with the Orchids in our Suite |
On our last full day in Nice we tried to book a taxi to pick
us up at the apartment to go to the airport. We had a native French speaker
calling for us and not a single taxi company said they would pick us up;
instead they wanted us to walk to the main street where they would wait for
us. As we were walking to dinner that
night a taxi stopped near our apartment to drop someone off and Cindy made
arrangements with him to pick us up the next morning. At the appointed hour the next morning, in
the rain, we waited for our taxi in vain; he was a no-show. We used our smiles
as our umbrellas and set out for the bus stop, which was about six blocks from
the apartment. Luckily the rain was
fairly light by then. The bus eventually
came and it cost us 4 Euros each to get to the airport, with plenty of time for
the flight to Frankfurt (the taxi would have been around 50 Euros so being
disgruntled about the no-show and getting wet was worth it). If we had wanted to get home in the same day,
it would have meant a 0630 departure from Nice to make the connections, which
would have meant getting up at 0430, which of course wasn’t going to
happen. Instead we opted to spend the
night at the Frankfurt Airport Sheraton, where they kindly upgraded us to a
suite with Club access - which of course we graciously accepted - and we had a
lovely evening. The flight home was fine,
but very long. Strong headwinds turned
the eight-hour flight into nine and then United had difficulty getting the
luggage out in a timely fashion and we all just stood around for one hour
waiting. Not the best end to a lovely
holiday, but it did teach us the value of carrying on our luggage from now
on.
We have had lovely weather; we are over jetlag and looking
forward to introducing ourselves back into West Virginia Society!
Cindy and Wm
