Block #9 - Nice

Nice was fabulous. Up until this point, the weather had been cold and generally dreary, but we stepped off of the train into absolute gorgeousness; bright and sunny and warm. The town was very walkable and the old town especially was fun to wander, with tiny little alleys and side streets (some of which went absolutely nowhere). We gave into temptation and spent a day lying on the beach doing close to nothing, which was a day that was good for my soul. I had forgotten what it feels like to be on vacation, to set aside all worries and cares and just relax for awhile. It seems like too many of my weekends/vacations are taken up by projects of one kind or another. But no matter. The main plaza in Nice had a really cool tile pattern covering it.



Apparently the plaza was apparently at one point in the not so distant past a hugely complicated roundabout/bus stop/tram stop/parking area that was changed into a completely pedestrian zone, with the exception of a tram line that runs through the middle. The poles with the people on top of them are part of an art installation.



They morph colors slowly enough that if you're looking at them, your eye doesn't note the color changes, but quickly enough that you can look down and look back up and the statue is a completely different color. It's pretty cool looking, especially at dusk. They're supposed to represent the cultural diversity of Nice, but I noticed that while the statues change colors at night, they're all jut white during the day. Coincidence? Statement? Who knows?

Most of what we did our second day in Nice was climbing a massive hill that splits the town in two. On one side of the hill is the old and new towns (which used to be divided by a canal) and the beach and on the other side is the harbor. Climbing the hill entailed scaling staircase after staircase, practically straight up the side of this cliff face, but the views on either side of the park at the top were well worth it.





We spent a lot of time in Nice just walking around at twilight, and saw a lot of interesting things. Nice is a resort town, just up the coast from Cannes and down the coast from Monaco, and there were plenty of people obviously on vacation enjoying themselves. There were trick roller bladers practicing on the Promenade of the Angels, which was great fun to sit and watch. It was amazing what they could do, often so fast that I couldn't even figure out how they were doing it without somehow passing one shin through the other, or at the very least getting their legs completely tangled up.

Throughout the time we were there, the town was setting up for an IronMan triathlon to take place two days after we left. There was a exhibition fair that we wandered around in for a bit that pretty much consisted of anything you could possibly imagine to improve your performance running, swimming and biking, up to and including at least three different varieties of specialty shoelaces. The main point of this story, though, is that at the festival I had just about my only serious conflict with French at this festival. At the entrance, there was a particular point with a piece of copy paper and a sign typed in French tied with yellow caution tape off to the side that I couldn't for the life of me fathom what it might say. About the time I decided to disregard it, I stepped off a tall curb that was practically invisible from the direction we were approaching. I turned to Nick to angrily opine that they should have had a sign warning of the drop off when I realized that, in fact, there was one, I just couldn't read it.

One thing that I do have to say for the French is that they decorate their balconies very well. Nearly every window has an ornate ironwork railing on it, and Nice was no exception. This particular window had the good fortune of overlooking the Mediterranean.



Finally, there were a couple restaurant names that I couldn't help but take note of and want to share. The first was a sushi place, I believe, and the second a cafe and tea parlor.





Oh my! Well, finally our adventures in France came to a close, and we headed off next to Venice, with a very short stopover in Monaco. Until next time, Ciao!