Sunday April 17th - April 21st

 Sunday April 17th

Quiet Easter Sunday in the neighbourhood. 

Resurrected our usual Sunday afternoon ritual, a pichet of wine on Place Garabaldi, watching the activity, families enjoying the cafes and merry-go-round. They are a French tradition, every village will have one in the square, every town and city will have several. 

This one on Garabaldi had some beautiful paintings of Nice attractions on the top. 

We were pleased that the price of a pichet remains at 12euros, three years after our last visit!

Nice beach scene 

Place Messena with the statue of David. 

 

View from Castle Hill 

Mystery scene...

Architecture on the Prom 

Nice had a casino built out into the water but it burned down many years ago

Place Garibaldi   architecture 

One of the beach aids restaurants. 

Russian Orthodox Church 

Nice's identity, blue chairs 

Another mystery..

Nice was part of Italy until the mid-1800's, so, Nissa La Bella...

Famous hotel on the prom

The port 

The streets around rue Bonaparte were sleepy on Easter Sunday afternoon. I captured more of the architecture. 

I cooked Magret De Canard for supper.  Fresh Duck breast was about 6.5 euros or $9. At home I can get frozen duck breast in the supermarket, it's from Lac Brome Quebec, quite acceptable but less plump and around $12. 

Strawberries from Ventimiglia, reduced,  with cinnamon, brown sugar and a splash of red wine. 

Score skin and sauté fat side down, for 10 mins 

Flip and sauté for another 10 minutes 

Duck should be pink

Thin sliced  potatoes  sautéed in the duck fat!

Topped off with limoncello from our Italian shopping adventure. 

Monday April 18

Easter Monday is a holiday in France.  But even though, wash day Monday is, wash day Monday regardless.  

Not much open, so we decided we'd take the new tram from the Port to the airport to see how all the neighnourhoods have changed along the route. 

This used to be a bus depot. No need any more. 

Tuesday April 19

Bus to Monaco.  Terminus just around the corner from us. Buses every 15 mins or so, Caught the 9.25 and scored front row seats so I could take some views out the front window. About 55 minutes with traffic along the narrow road on the coast.

Had a cafe latte when we got off, and walked this part of Monaco, which is actually Monte Carlo, and also Beausoleil.  Monaco is bordered by France on the East, West and North, with the Mediterranean of course to the south. But there are no distinguishable frontiers. Monaco is on one side of the street and it's Beausoleil France, to the north, on the other.

We found an Italian restaurant that we'd scoped out that had great reviews and enjoyed a long lunch, then walked down past the Monte Carlo casino, we'd never seen it before. 

An interesting wrinkle on the menus in the restaurant.. no paper menus. Apparently a new ruling. And could well with be a covid thing, ie no virus transmission, or due to inflation, eliminate replacing menus every time tte price increases. The traditional old paper menu posted outside is now a touch screen, which of course we never realized it would be, we just saw an empty frame. 

Before going in we asked to see a menu. But it's a QR code on a plastic stand. And I bought a sim package for French only!  So the waiter gave me the restaurant wifi code. 

 Things are changing rapidly!  One could say I'll never eat at a restaurant  with no paper menu but you'd eventually be restricting your self in choices. And based on all the people outside waiting for our table to free up, everyone seems cool with QR. 

Walking down to the port, Lots of trucks, workers, barriers and fences going up all over. Confused us at first, but then realized  they were building stages and stands getting ready for the Monaco Grand Prix, which is at the end of May. A huge undertaking. We've never seen Monaco like this.

The port from the bus 

VilleFranche

The frontier at Monaco, a police hut on a roundabout. 

Even Monaco, the billionaires enclave has a market 

Looking up, north to Beausoleil, France 

An opulent shopping hall.  

Not sure what's being sold here 

The casino 

Outdoor escalators and tunnels are all over, Monaco is built in a steep mountain face 

The pavement tiles in Beausoleil ..appropriate since it means beautiful sun in English 

Unique supermarket carts for the ubiquitous bundle buggy 

Must over the mountains 

Definitely much fewer luxury yachts this visit...I wonder why 

This structure built like a yacht is,..the Monaco yacht club 

Stands all over

Fences ruin photographs

The whole port frontage was one large stand ie, a mess! Somewhere behind the blue is a bus back to Nice! 

The sign said 100km max for the bus...hmm. 

Wednesday 20

Objective today was to top up my French SIM card.  

I tried on line but the orange.fr website does not accept my credit card.  They can be topped up in certain Tabacs, yes France still has tobacconists. The railway station has a Relay, a chain of newspaper shops, so I headed off leaving Lynda to go shopping.  

Top up involves paying money and getting a code on your receipt that you enter into the phone anytime. Fairly straightforward. After, I took the opportunity to wander around taking photos. 

Lovely lunch when we met up in the mall, and a carafe .5 litre was only 7.50e. Tea was 3.50e a cup, so, no question what beverage to choose. 

Outside the train station.  Smaller than a golf cart, larger than a mobility scooter, more powerful than 2 bikes tied together, will get you all over Oceanside, and I bet to Nanaimo and back! Qualicum Beach won't be the same. 

An addition to the train station for a hotel, meeting space.  Very interesting architecture. 

This sign shows the finished building

And interesting architecture from the turn of the 19th century. Russian influence. Next to an elevated highway.  Cities do that to themselves.  Toronto and Vancouver are only just now, very slowly dismantling their elevated highways  I believe. 

Mid week, pedestrianized Main Street,  calm and in full leaf. 

Hmm...no comment 

I liked this stone work 

After the terrorist attack with the truck on the prom on Bastille Day a few years ago, on our next visit they had put concrete blocks on the pavements to block a similar attempt.  They were ugly, but necessary.  Now, they've replaced them with marble barriers which are protection and allow for people to sit and watch the flow of people. 

Always a line up at McDo as the kids say here. 

On 7th July 1944, the nazis arrested two resistance fighters.  They ordered all the males in Nice to come down to the main square to watch them being hung, as a warning.  On the 27th of August, a month and a half later, the resistance fighters and citizens liberated themselves, a couple of days before the allied forces arrived.  Do you think the niçois  were motivated? 

Jean  Médecin street as it looked

Bit Grey today, and rain expected 

Nespresso is a thing in France. Paris and other cities have slick, Expensively furnished  stores, where you line up and order....  coffee pods....every apartment we stay in, in France has a coffee pod thing, we take it off the counter and use filters we bring with us.  

This schematic on their window presumably shows you how the pod works. Pour water on a plastic thimble thing and voila.  

This is outside the major department store, a boutique just for dogs. Just imagine dogs bounding up the escalators to the fourth floor to find their latest dog leash, or squeaky toy 

And talking of dogs, no idea what this was all about in the mall.  But, which dog isn't for peace and love? Rock on.. 

Our lunch 

Bruschetta with ham 

Vegetable quiche 

Thursday April 21

It was supposed to rain today, but it didn't materialize so we took a slow morning walk in a cool sun. 

A different view of the large green space in Nice by the main square. 

Art

Stumbled on a rose garden 

Other things:

Not taken by me, because it's very difficult to get a good angle, but this is the Nice Public Library. About 7 floors of head room!