Our time here seems to have disappeared in a blur of activity and inactivity. A bit more than a week left before we return to West Virginia, and we have a list of things to do and places to eat that will take us at least two weeks!
Carnival is in full swing here in Nice. For some strange reason this Carnival that has its roots in 1295 doesn’t start until after Ash Wednesday, which seems strange for a very Catholic country. I’m unable to find out why this is true and anyone we ask here thinks we are nuts, it has always been this way is the most common refrain. In any event, for several weeks the town is filled with flower parades, light parades, huge floats and tons of confetti and streamers which fill the streets and dangle from all the palm trees along the parade route. Tonight is the second annual gay parade called, Lou Queernaval, which we are told is a riotous long night of parades and parties.
On the days of the parades, hundreds of tour buses from all over Europe descend on Nice with thousands of people filling the bleachers, at a cost of 25 Euros per seat per event (and 11 Euros to stand within the walled-off areas). This is a huge money maker for Nice. An article in the local paper said that they spend 6 million Euros on the events and they bring in 30 million in revenue for the parade, restaurants, hotels and bars. Not a bad return on investment.
(From Cindy) We truly have a "local" this time - a bar/ brasserie where we are known and we are warmly welcomed. It's about 3 blocks from our apartment and somehow last year we saw it but ignored it - but this year during our 2nd week we had lunch there one day and we've been back multiple times since. Already on the 3rd visit, "mama" - who runs the place - knew our drink order. She doesn't speak of word of English and she is about 5 feet tall and bustles to and fro looking after everyone and everything. She and her sons run the place (her husband might be the chef; we'll ask one of these days). We've had a few conversations and I asked her if their brasserie was here last year (bien sûr) and told her we'd missed them last year but we were so happy to have found them this year. We go there for lunch a few times a week and also cocktails. The food is basic delicious wonderful French fare, priced right; the only downside is that they're not open for dinner.
The other night we walked in to have a drink and she was talking to a Scottish couple (as we soon found out). She pointed to us and then went on and on to them about how we are Americans who were here 5 weeks last year and then we'll be here 6 weeks this year but we didn't find the brasserie until this year. Then she added that we are from Texas - so she had 95% of her story right! It was so cute - and I can't believe she actually listened (and remembered) our sad tale of finding them so late, right down to the details of how long our stays are. Like I said, we're warmly welcomed. Back to Wm ….
We have just returned from Menton, about 30 miles up the coast towards Italy. They are celebrating their Fete du Citron during which they have the same kinds of parades as Nice but all the floats are made with only lemons and oranges. Talk about fragrant. We had a chance to see many of the static floats that are in a park and they are fantastic, as is Menton. The streets are all lined with orange or lemon trees and it is a beautiful seaside resort town. It also is much cheaper than Nice since it isn’t as famous or large. We had great coffee and a lovely lunch during our excursion and the train ride is one of the most beautiful I’ve ever taken since it hugs the rugged coast line and passes though lovely little resort towns.
from Cindy, again: Our museum-lover somehow forgot a big part of his daily report! We had gone to Menton for exactly 2 reasons: the lemon festival and the Cocteau Museum. As it happens we totally missed the museum on our first walk past it, due to the fact that the main building is ultra-modern and I was looking for what’s called The Bastion, a very old small castle built by a Grimaldi back in the day. So instead we had veered toward the covered market and then spent a lot of time reading menus in anticipation of lunch. After about an hour I noticed that we hadn’t yet found a restaurant but we were awfully close to the train station, and I said to myself, “He CAN’T be thinking we’re going to eat and then get on the train, can he?” I’ll let you, dear reader, answer that … but suffice to say I got us turned around and back down to the bay and into the museum(s). The modern one had a special exhibition and The Bastion had examples of the wonderful tapestries and pottery and paintings for which Cocteau is so famous. And in the end Wm was a very happy camper and glad we’d gone back to find the museum.
Best to all, Cindy and Wm
No comments:
Post a Comment