We’re spending Christmas in the south of France as our younger daughter Amy wraps up her graduate studies in marine science at the Université Côte d’Azur in Nice, France. It was a bit of an effort to get here, beginning with a Friday afternoon Delta flight from Minneapolis-St. Paul to Boston. We were traveling through Boston in order to meet up with Danielle, our older daughter, and her husband Jay, and fly to France with them. After boarding on time in Minneapolis, the plane had a minor mechanical issue, initially described by the pilot as needing a “five minute software reset” to fix. We left the gate to get de-iced while the cockpit crew did the reset, which didn’t work (of course), so we had to return to the gate to have the work done by a technician. After the repair was completed and signoffs were obtained, it was determined that we had burned too much fuel while waiting and had to top off before leaving. Long story short, a minor issue became a two-hour delay and we had to make a mad dash though Boston’s Logan Airport to meet our daughter and make our connection; a mission that appeared hopeless at the outset, but we had to try. Thanks to a short line at security, accommodative TSA and Icelandair agents and two delays in our connecting flight’s departure time, we made it onboard with Danielle and Jay, albeit sweaty and stressed. We had a comfortable flight to Keflavik, Iceland, where we had to clear Passport Control and make another push to our connecting flight to Paris, which was also facilitated by a meaningful delay. In Paris, we had a multi-hour layover for a hop to Munich on Lufthansa, our third airline of the trip and after more delays and multiple gate changes, we flew from Munich to Nice—our fifth flight of the journey and the first one that left more-or-less on time. On the bright side, we had Business Class tickets on Lufthansa, so we boarded and deplaned first, got a hot meal and even our checked luggage was unloaded and delivered to baggage claim before anyone else’s. We arrived at Amy’s apartment (actually a friend’s who was gone for the holidays) close to midnight, and went to bed, jet-lagged and exhausted.
On Sunday morning, I was the last one awake at 11:00 AM. Amy was on a morning beach cleanup, then we all had breakfast before heading off on foot to explore Nice. Located on the Mediterranean Sea at the foot of the French Alps, Nice is the fifth-largest city in France, with a metropolitan population of about 1 million. The city was probably named after Nike, the Greek goddess of victory, by ancient Greek colonizers around 350 B.C., although early-human artifacts date back 400,000 years. British aristocrats were attracted to the region’s mild winters in the second half of the 18th century and built vacation homes, setting Nice on the path to its current status as a destination for the wealthy. Artists such as Matisse, Monet, Renoir, Picasso, Toulouse-Lautrec, Chagall and Degas were also attracted to the area’s climate and beauty, as were writers, including Balzac, Flaubert, Dumas, Baudelaire and Tolstoy—many of whom visited and stayed forever, leaving a vibrant arts scene. Today, Nice’s airport is the third-busiest in France and tourism drives the modern economy and employs about 40% of its residents. Map Link: Nice, France
We began our tour at Noël à Nice (Christmas Village), an outdoor market of holiday decorations, rides, crafts and food stalls in the center of town. Next we strolled through Vieux Ville (Old Town), then climbed the 300 feet to the top of the Colline du Château (Castle Hill), the former site of a military citadel that stood from the 11th through the 18th centuries, where we were rewarded with beautiful views of the city and coast. After descending back down to sea level, we strolled along the four-mile Promenade des Anglais (named for the English aristocrats that wintered here) and the pebble beach that is typical on this part of the French Riviera. We ate a late lunch at Pera, a middle eastern and Mediterranean restaurant with excellent kabobs and falafels, then walked home in light rain, returning through the Christmas Village to see the holiday lights at night. Back at the apartment, we watched a marathon of Friends dubbed in French until it was time for bed.
Bonus Question: What are greaves and cuisses? (Answer at end of post)
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| Restaurant lavatory door, very clearly marked |
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| This poster is hanging in our apartment’s foyer. Alain is the landlord, seen here in a prior career as a magician. |
Bonus Question Answer: Both greaves and cuisses are types of medieval leg armor. Greaves covered the shins while cuisses protected the thighs.
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| Source: Wikipedia |