June 8 - South of France: Nice

Nice

I was one lucky girl to be included on a family vacation, which included visiting more family who are living in Nice right now. We got to stay for ten days in Nice, hanging around the town, and doing day trips to other towns in the area, as per previous posts. We stayed right on the tram line that runs perpendicular from the mountain area down to the beach. Pass was only 15 euros for a week. We jumped off and on the tram at leisure... stopping off in the shopping district, beach area, old town, train station, bus station.

Nice is full of the craziest characters! I loved the owner of the grocery store, who sat at the cash desk and randomly mutter-yelled things into his microphone. In his black leather vest, goatee, earrings and chains, he would have looked more at home bartending in a goth nightclub rather than ringing through people's daily groceries. Some of the women on the street wore crazy get ups... not more that once we saw nylons and shorts combo... not sure what the deal was with that, in 30C heat!

I had fun with my limited high school French... trying to read signs and order meals in French. I did manage to go to a farmer's market and order produce in French... for me the hard part was remembering any number over 50... I could fake it with poor French and sign language until it came time to pay. As soon as they asked for a total with "soixante..." in it, I stood there and stared at them. No matter, it was all fun... just next time I need to do some serious studying!

I loved Nice... it was a bit sad to leave. Beaches, amazing shopping, great weather, fantastic people watching, 2 euro cheeses, outdoor cafes, amazing pain au chocolat. Not so hard to leave though, as we were moving on to Italy: Cinque Terre, Florence and Rome. Besides, we just found out that our hosts are going to be in France for several more years, so will definitely be making a return visit!