Nice Odds and Ends

Cannes (pronounced CAN)

If you want to know how the 1% really live, visit Cannes.  It is a retail Disneyland with every major luxury shop having one or more stores.  Need a suitcase to replace that worn out TravelPro, no problem.  Louis Vuitton has a lovely roll aboard for only $2800 Euros. It is small, but heavy.  Everything in Cannes is 15 to 20% higher than Nice, and Nice ain’t cheap.  The bums wear Hermés, the homeless don’t exist, and the number of Rolls and Bentleys stagger the imagination.

We strolled along the marina in the morning and ogled at the huge mini cruise ships that belong to the 1%ers.  All of them had crews who wore the official uniforms of the vessel, and some of these ships were five stories tall.  Most were registered in the Cayman Islands and a few were registered in Luxembourg, a landlocked country.  Can you spell Tax Avoidance?

Our room at the Carlton was a dream. We were given a sea-view room that was like something out of movie set. We spent zero euros at the hotel since a glass of wine was 15 euros, but it looked like you got a little bowl of chips so I suppose it must have been worth it!   

Our Suite in Cannes

We had a lovely lunch in a little bistro that cost about the same as the gross national product of Peru but we enjoyed it immensely (see the attached photo of sardine rillettes – like a paté – served in its own tin). 

At night we had pizza, yes, pizza. It was a good experience until two young ladies came to join the two Italians at the next table and their 75-pound German shepherd decided he wanted to play footsie with me so my pants ended up with two pounds of dog hair!

We enjoyed our walks in the old town and along the famed Corniche but we were only too happy to get on the train the next morning and get back to Nice, which seemed ever so normal.

The Chinese in Nice

There are daily buses of Chinese tourists that stop along the Promenade des Anglais in Nice.  The drill is always the same: The bus door opens and out come fifty newly minted Chinese middle class tourists. They race to the edge of the Promenade and start taking pictures of each other with the sea as a background. They then start taking pictures of everything; I mean everything.  There is a new sculpture on the promenade called La Chaise Bleu, which is a giant sculpture of the blue chairs that are all along the Promenade.  It is trompe l’oeil, a technique which lets you see something in 3D at a distance but when you get up close it is just flat.  So the trick is to look at the sculpture at a distance and then marvel at how clever the artist is when you see it is really just two dimensions.  No one ever explained this to the Chinese; they were just told it was a famous sculpture so they all line up neatly and take a photo of the chair where it looks two-dimensional and then move on without any idea what they are seeing.  It is frightening.

A side effect of the new wave of Chinese tourist is the fact that in the past two years there has been a proliferation of noodle shops, Asian fast food shops, Chinese restaurants and the usual array of Sushi places. It boggles the mind. 

Concert report #2 from Cindy

We attended another chamber music concert here in Nice, this time in a PROPER hall with a stage and nice seats and plenty of room for all attendees.  The first piece was the Bach Sonata # 3 in C Major for unaccompanied violin, and Robert Waechtler did a fine job with a very difficult piece of music.   Following that was a suite of short pieces that he wrote for vibraphone and violin – we knew what was on offer before we bought the tickets and we were looking forward to it.  However, the program we were given upon arrival also listed a “récitant” (reciter, or narrator) for the vibraphone piece, which was worrisome!  Partly because of the language issue and partly because most pieces with narration aren’t our cup of tea.  Our worries were for naught … while the recitation was indeed in rapid French (and I do mean rapid; I had no idea that French could be spoken so fast – it made Spanish seem languid in comparison), the narrator was charming and really put life into the work. 

I didn’t have much luck Googling the version we heard with vibraphone, only weird versions of Etudes Caprices, “Why the Animals Play the Violin” with an odd background video but if you Google Robert Waechter you could hear him playing the violin.  For the concert we heard, you’ll have to trust my less-than-adequate descriptions of these delightful pieces.  Vibraphone and violin made a lovely combination, although in my opinion he should have given the vibraphone a more prominent part in places (I, a violinist, wanting more of the other instrument?!), and it all could have been jazzier.  In any case, the pieces were adorable!  Each was based on an animal, bird, or insect of the forest, e.g., “The Happy Vole,” “The Elegant Butterfly,” and “The Nervous Crow.”  The narrator read about each critter and then the musicians played the corresponding piece.  An example was the “Affectionate Squirrel” who does everything too fast – he thinks too fast and he eats too fast and doesn’t spend a single tranquil moment in his tree.  Is that the reason he plays the violin?  Or rather, is it because he is in love with Julie, his pretty violin teacher?  No, it is because of the fairy dance that the squirrel plays the violin.

Every narration followed that pattern:  a description of the animal followed by reasons it might play the violin, always ending with the statement that it plays the violin only because of the fairy dance.  I imagine this would be a fabulous piece to play for elementary or middle school students, for entertainment and also as a recruiting tool.

All in all a pleasant experience, despite the two British couples who sat in front of us and said dumb things before the concert started; read the program rather than listening while each piece was played; one of them blew her nose during the performance; another’s cell phone rang.  Oh, dear.  We beat feet and had a lovely lunch a few blocks from the concert hall.

Restaurant vignettes by Cindy

Nice, France, December-January 2014-2015

I.

One of William’s favorite dishes in France is Soupe de Poisson, a rich fish broth that is served with toasted disks of bread, grated cheese and rouille – the latter a thick garlic mayonnaise made pink by the addition of chili peppers.  The diner is meant to float the toasted bread in the soup and then spoon on some rouille and sprinkle it with grated cheese.  The bread softens and soaks up the broth, and the flavors are sensational when all blended together.  Several days ago we were seated partway across a restaurant from 4 Chinese tourists who were gamely trying French dishes from the menu and also doing their best with silverware (rather than chopsticks).  However, they did not understand the Soupe de Poisson drill, and William could not abide that they were not getting the full culinary experience.  He strode over to their table and gave them a quick lesson in what should be done with the bread and rouille and so forth.  They were MOST appreciative and I was touched that he cared!

II.

One night at a nearby restaurant I broke my “meat rule” (I almost never order it) and ordered the lamb shank because it was a special that evening.  Good call – it was tender and delicious and I was enjoying every bite – when we heard the waiter tell the diner behind me that they were out of lamb shanks.  The diner was SO disappointed, so a few minutes later Wm took a piece of bread and piled some of my lamb shank on top and walked it over to the man.  He just about fell over with thanks – you’d think we had offered to buy his dinner!  Before he left he bought us each an espresso …. and of course we got mega-points from the waiter and owner of the restaurant who thought we were just the nicest people in the world.  I suppose most people wouldn’t think of doing what we did, but to us it seemed to be the only thing to do (notice we gave him one generous bite, not my whole dinner)!

We are off tomorrow to Milan Airport and home the next day.  Ciao,  Cindy and William

And So It Begins

And so it begins.  After the mourning, the marches, the moments of silence and the singing of La Marseillaise, we are now left with politicians hell bent on using the events of the past week to strengthen their positions, both in France and Israel.  While Netanyahu (running for reelection in Israel) was an uninvited guest to the Sunday march of unity, Obama and his team dithered, resulting in no high-ranking official representing the United States. (Isn’t it the job of the Vice President to go to things like this?) Netanyahu convinced the families of the four slain Jews to have them buried in Israel, despite the fact that none of them were citizens of Israel, but it did give him another platform to push his fear mongering as he did on Sunday when he said that French Jews should move to Israel for their own protection. (The French were none too keen to hear him repeatedly say this.)

Hollande, the most hated President of France in generations, is doing a bang-up job to make sure that he is seen as caring and presidential, thus improving his political image in all of France.  Meanwhile Marina La Pen uses these events to strengthen her position as the leader of far right by suggesting that there is no place for Muslims in French society.  We all know that France has mobilized more that 10,000 heavily armed soldiers to protect Jewish schools, places of worship and bookstores, but we don’t hear as much about the 50 plus attacks on Mosques and Muslim restaurants that have taken place since last week.

So, what will come out of all of this, in this rush to look more proactive than the next guy? France will most certainly support more stringent border checks, angering the leftists in the European Parliament.  France will most likely allow the arming of their police officers once again, with calls from all segments of the population supporting this since the bad guys have lots of heavy arms and the municipal police have batons.  Hollande will remake himself as the President Who Fights Terrorists, La Pen will reinforce her position as the defender of the ‘real’ French, and Sarkozy will - as he has always done - try to split the difference.

In Israel, Netanyahu will most likely win again due to his ‘intervention’ to help French Jews.  In the USA, members of Congress from both sides of the aisle will use this as a way to limit immigration, cut back on visa waiver programs and limit the number of foreign students allowed to study in the USA.  The Obama administration will try to walk back its blunder in not sending anyone of importance to the unity march and will try to heal wounds at the Feb. 18^th White House meetings on international security.  Don’t get me started on presidential hopefuls; they’ll really muck up the waters.  And so it goes!  wm

Special Edition from France

Je Suis Charlie: Special Edition

For those of you who have been following the tragic events of the past several days in Paris, you know that the attacks on the editors and cartoonists of the magazine Charlie Hebdo have sparked national outrage at intolerance, at threats to liberty and at terrorists.  The two incidents in Paris have been likened to our 9/11, not in scope but in how it has transformed a nation. All across France there have been spontaneous outpourings of support for freedom of the press and a strong desire to fight terrorism with national unity.

This morning, Cindy and I joined 25,000 of our closest friends in Nice to participate in a silent march in support of freedom of the press.  The rallying cry has been Je Suis Charlie, I am Charlie, a reference to the magazine Charlie Hebdo.  As you can see from the some of the photos attached, most everyone had a sign that read Je Suis Charlie, even Cindy made her own. Others simply held up pens or pencils as a symbol of the strength of the press and solidarity with the cartoonists and editorial staff who perished in the slaughter on Wednesday.

It was a very somber moment and yet there was a great sense of camaraderie from all of those who came to march.  At several times there were spontaneous chants of Je Suis Charlie and at other times groups would burst out singing the French National Anthem, La Marseillaise. I found it profoundly moving and though I rarely shoot any video, I wanted to remember this day, which is why my legs are aching as I write.   

We had about 1,000 people ahead of us and about 24,000 behind us when we bolted from the march and made the climb to the highest point in Nice, the site of the old Chateau, some 300 feet above the city. From there I was able to shoot a few photos of the huge crowd and I made several videos, two of which I shall share with those of you who want to see them.  I assure you, they are quite moving.  It has been a remarkable day here in Nice and tomorrow, they expect more than a million people to have a similar march in Paris.  Check your local stations!   

A bientôt, Cindy and Wm

Cindy, aka, Je Suis Charlie

Starting Point of March

25,000 Strong on the Promenade

Moscow on the Mediterranean

Moscow on the Mediterranean

I had mentioned the huge numbers of Russians that have been roaming around Nice over the holidays and I wanted to follow up a bit since it is a phenomenon that has perplexed me since first visiting Nice several years ago.  The connection is a long one starting from around 1850 when the Tsars sent their Tsarinas to winter with other nobility in Nice. The Tsarinas drew large numbers of other Russians hoping to gain favor with the Tsar so before long there were thousands of Russians living most of the year in Nice.  The Russians had lost their rights to use the Black Sea for any naval bases as a result of the Crimean War and were in need of a warm weather base. The Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia ruled Nice at the time and the king was only too happy to grant the Russians permission to build a base in Villefranche, hoping that they would protect them from the Austrians.  For a dozen years the Russians kept a sizable presence in Nice, adding to the growing population of Russians in the area.

It got to the point that there were so many of them that they wanted an Orthodox Cathedral built in Nice and Tsar Nicolas II started to build them a doozy in late 1890 as you can see from these photos.  After the Russian Revolution in 1917 the Bolsheviks were not inclined to continue to support the Orthodox Church, especially a building in Nice, so those Russians who had stayed in France and kept their wealth continued to support the Cathedral.

There is no more Russian Nobility in Nice any more!  The Russians who bought and built in Nice in the early part of this century were more connected to drugs, prostitution, gambling and other polite forms of racketeering.  There were, and still are, oligarchs here who, with the blessing of Boss Putin, pillaged the oil and gas wealth of the nation to their own advantage and still have lots of cash to toss about in the Med, but the times they are a changing and you can see a little microcosm of the big changes taking place in Russia here in Nice.

With the international pressures being placed on Russia for their brutish behavior in the Ukraine, the value of the Ruble has plummeted and the once newly rich are now poverty bound.  Scores of seaside apartments now have “for sale” signs on them, in Russian!  The fancy food stores and restaurants that are owned by and cater to Russians are mostly empty.  A poll taken by the BBC last year found that 67% of the French had a very unfavorable opinion of the Russians and it is obvious in many ways large and small.

So, if you have a few hundred thousand Euros burning a hole in your pocket, there are bargains to be had in real estate here in Nice as the Russians continue to default on their mortgages.

A bientôt, Cindy and Wm

Sunday on the Promenade with Cindy

Sunday on the Promenade with Cindy

Today is the last Sunday of the holiday season, which ends in France on Three Kings Day, January 6^th.  The weather here has decided to bless those that have lingered and it is expected that the high will be 65 with bright sun and the bluest of skies.  The big hotels that sit across from the Promenade all have high end restaurants on the beach where teams of waiters and busboys were assembling all of the chairs and tables which were set with crisp white linens and crystal glasses, certainly a throwback to the good old days.  The highest of the high restaurants is Chantecler, a Michelin two-star which is a part of the grand dame hotel, The Negresco. Looking down at the set tables from the Promenade is like looking at a set from Downton Abbey. As you might guess from looking at this menu, Cindy and I have decided to dine elsewhere!

Speaking of dining, we have been doing quite well and far more reasonably than the above example.  Nice is an expensive place - there is no question about that - but with lots of walking and open minds, we have found little places that offer wonderful food, wine, and service at prices that are affordable.  Lunch remains the great bargain with almost every restaurant offering a plat du jour at about 11 or 12 euros on the weekdays.  The problem is, we don’t like to eat big lunches so we usually eat something at home and save ourselves for dinner.  Gone are the days, a mere six years ago in the case of Dijon, when for 10 euros you could get an aperitif, a three course meal and a quarter liter of wine with espresso to boot.  The best we have found is a little bistro near the apartment where we can get an omelet with a small salad and frites plus a glass of wine for 10 euros.

We thought we had found the perfect local bistro for our needs, very close to the apartment, excellent prices, great oysters that were affordable, good house wines and lovely staff. Our first meal there was a true delight, with lovely service and freshly prepared food. While the decor was tacky, with peeling paint and odd furniture, we dismissed it since we loved the young couple who ran the place and enjoyed talking with them, in French bien sûr (they humored us; she spoke quite a bit of English).  Our second visit was filled with eager anticipation but almost from the very start we knew something was amiss. We ordered Kirs, which is normally an aperitif made with a bit of crème de Cassis (a blackcurrant liqueur), and dry white wine.  She came back to tell us they only had peach liqueur, which is really quite sweet so we declined and ordered a carafe of wine. She came back with one glass of wine, which is when we noticed that she seemed a bit tipsy.  We then ordered a glass of wine from Alsace which was on the menu and she came back to tell us it was only available in full bottles, despite the fact that Cindy had a glass of it the last time. Cindy showed her the menu and she acted like it was the first time she had seen it.  Back to the bar where we heard a muted discussion and eventually a cork being pulled, and finally Cindy had her wine.

Thinking things had settled down, we began to read the menu in earnest when strange things began to happen.  First it was the drunk guy who staggered to the toilet and upon leaving stopped at our table, took out a filthy handkerchief and proceeded to blow his nose quite loudly (don’t normal people do that in the bathroom when possible?).  After a pause he replaced the handkerchief and staggered back to his table to continue his drinking.  Then came an attractive black woman, well dressed and nicely made up, who proceeded to engage us in conversation before she when to the toilet. Upon her exit she again started talking with us, very unsteady on her feet, until she finally returned to the bar.  Luckily her slurred slowed speech made it easier to understand her French, but still. Variations on this theme went on for the entire meal - which was actually quite good - but ruined by all the nut jobs that seemed to be the only other customers.  Needless to say, we shall not return.

My walk this morning confirmed that fully half of the Italians who have been here for the holidays have returned to Italy, and I assume the other half will return tonight. This will make for a much quieter walk tomorrow since Italians tend to always use LOUD as their baseline for conversation, which includes cellphone conversations. They usually travel in gaggles and since they are all talking at once, I can only assume that they have iPhone implants. They are truly fun to watch, especially at a distance when you can spot them just by watching their hands.  If their hands are at their sides, they are French, but if they are beating the wind as though fighting flies, they are Italian.  Once the Italians leave the only other large contingent of outsiders will be the Russians who celebrate until the 12^th of January, which marks the Orthodox Christmas. I’ll have more to say about the Russians in another entry.

Tomorrow we go to Cannes, just to see the place and compare it to Nice. We’ll stay overnight at the Carlton Hotel, which is where all the stars stay during the film festival. Should be a hoot made possible by loyalty to Interconti Hotels (those points come in handy sometimes).  We have been told that Cannes is really very boring and in fact they don’t even have a museum, so I’m looking forward to the visit!

Off to look for a lovely Sunday lunch, our only exception to the no lunch rule.  Cindy and Wm