About
Nice, capital of the Alpes-Maritimes department on the French Riviera, sits on the pebbly shores of the Baie des Anges. Founded by the Greeks and later a retreat for 19th-century European elite, the city has also long attracted artists. Former resident Henri Matisse is honored with a career-spanning collection of paintings at Musée Matisse. Musée Marc Chagall features some of its namesake's major religious works.
My Thoughts
The mere thought of ending the tour by the
Mediteranean was quite mind blowing when we got to Nice, stood on Promenade
and stared off into the sea. In a few days it would only be a memory,
but a fond one at that. I really wanted to say that I touched the water,
but the group did not have any inclination to wander onto the beach.
When I had the chance it was no longer a thing.
Toni gave us the first
day tour so we could get a feel of Nice. She recommended a few eating
establishments and we ended up patronizing two of them, and had a recommended
a dish at one of them. To say that Nice was simply nice, was not giving
the city any credit. There were lots of "new" sights to see. There
wouldn't be enough time to take in what I wanted. Fortunately the tour
of Old Town the next day given by Agnes was incredible. Noting that it
was D-Day when the tour was given could explain why Agnes got very emotional
and thanked us Americans for our part in saving Fraance during WW2.
I
got a little irritated towards the end of the second day when our party just
wanted to "go shopping" in the new part of town which resembled Market Street
in SF. I left the group and took it easy while stopping by the water park and
the Promenade. Watched the movie "Mission Impossible - Fallout"
(which took place in Paris of all places) when I
returned to the room . It was my way of winding down for the group
dinner.
The next morning Toni arranged to
have us taxi'd to the Nice train station. It was a difficult goodbye as I probably would not see any of our tour party again.
Lodging
The
Mercure was by far the most stylish of all the places where we stayed during
the entire trip, with the Montmorency in Carcassonne coming in a close second.
Never have I experienced a hotel room with a loft, a spiral staircase two
televisions and a sunken living room. The bathroom was adequate with
ample amout of shelf and counter space.
The Breakfast Room at the
Mercure was very modern with all the anemities and had the most complete
breakfast which included sausages and bacon in addition to the cold cuts and
the baked goods. There were egg timers for hard boiling one's eggs, a
refrigerator for the cold milk and juices. And yes, like the Calendral
in Arles, there was a self serve juicer for that fresh squeeze experience.
If only the other hotels could be like here when it came to its breakfast.
However two problems marred this rather comfortable experience.
First and most important was that the air conditioning was not working.
With no other rooms available, the best they could do was give us a room fan.
It was barely acceptable for the upstairs, but the living room was still like
a sauna. Opening the window was not an option as the room was right
across from the Opera House's exhaust fan in the alley. The other
problem was my fall for not relizing how close I was to the transition to the
living room from the entry. Was minor, but it did leave a scar.