Day 54, Saturday, October 21, 2023

We catch the train to Nice this morning. We are both happy to be sitting on a train instead of driving and navigating.  It is a nice change and Bob can watch the scenery go by instead of concentrating on driving.

I draw on the train. I feel out of practice but it is still nice to be drawing…I haven’t done nearly as much of it as I had hoped to this trip.The Nice train station is really big, clean and airy.

It is a short walk from the train station to the main tourist area by the beach.  We stop at a park for our lunch, and I wonder if the water is from yesterday’s big rain…or if it is a fountain?

A couple minutes later I have my answer.  These two young boys had the best time playing in the water jets.

We laughed at this big dog who jumped and tried to bite every jet of water he passed.  He was having such fun.  There were such neat reflections too.

This very large sea gull was eyeing our lunch, just hoping a few crumbs would fall his way…I’m afraid a few did…who could resist that gaze?

After lunch we visit the Cathedral of Saint Reparata., which is a National Monument.  It is very ornate and in great shape…no peeling paint here.  

The flower market is beautiful and the prices are very reasonable.

We try some socca. It is a thin chickpea bread that is sprinkled with pepper.  We have to wait a few minutes for a fresh pan to arrive (it is brought hot from the ovens in a wheeled cart) and it is delicious! It is also a bargain at just 3€ for a huge slice.  I am going to have to try making this at home.

Even though we have just had lunch, and socca, I am craving a cassis (black current) sorbet from Fenocchio’s, a world famous ice cream shop. They have 94 flavors of  ice creams and 35 of sorbet, but I stick with my favourite.  

After my sorbet we walk towards the beach.  

Nice has a pebble beach, and lots of sun worshippers.  I stay at the beach to draw some of them and Bob goes for a walk and climbs to two viewpoint.  There is one on top of the cream round structure in the distance and another higher up on top of the hill.

I take a photo of someone who I think is Bob…and he takes a photo trying to find me on the beach.  Do we think alike?

This is definitely me, I am sitting right beside the two rinse towers…and I get a light spray every time someone rinses off!  I was settled in by the time this happens the first time so I decide to stay put, in spite of the occasional mist of water that floats my way.

I am happier with my beach drawings.

This fellow was sitting beside me and he was very brown.  He was also wearing black underpants, which appears to be a common thing here.  People are not shy about changing on the beach, women pull off their tops and bras to change into their bathing suits and I saw lots of men just wearing underpants as their bathing suit.  There were a few topless women as well…it is the French Riviera after all.

We do a bit of window shopping, or as they say here, leche-vitrine, which translates to lick the windows!  I have had a couple treats here, but gluten really doesn’t agree with me so I have to content myself with a bit of window licking!  Oh and did you notice the prices?  

We stroll along the boardwalk, people watching and enjoying the sunshine…

but the sun is getting glow in the sky and we head back to catch our train.

Bob notices something strange about this building… Here is a clue.

Yes, the whole side of the building is a giant mural!  We pass this interesting fountain…

and there are seven of these statues high on poles above the street.  Google tells me that they were created by Jaume Plensa, a Spanish artist who specializes in monumental art.

They represent the seven continents and the communication between the different communities of today’s society. They are titled “Conversation à Nice”and they are illuminated every night, with slowly changing colours.  Too bad we won’t see that but it is a long ride home.

We were in Nice over 40 years ago and visited the Matisse Museum.  I was hoping to visit it again today, but it closes during the noon hour, and then we just ran out of time.  I am OK with not visiting so many museums this trip, there are so many other things to do and only so much time.