Summers in Europe: 2015 & 2017: August 2015

Chris is the master of puns, so our constant jokes about how "nice" Nice is came as second nature. Everything in Nice is nice! Nice water, nice view, nice apartment ... yup, it is all nice!

Here are our top 10 nice things to do in Nice:

10. Eat a regional specialty like socca, a crepe made of chickpea flour. Served hot, it is crispy on the outside and moist on the inside. We realized afterwards we should have spiced it up with salt and pepper.

We ate socca from Lou Pilha Leva

(Old Town, look for big green awning)

9. Shop or peruse the Cours Saleya fruit and flower markets. It is daily except Monday when it is an antique market. (Not high on our list because we prefer the Provence markets.)

Cours Saleya Fruit and Vegetable Market

8. Buy fresh fish at La Place Saint-Francois Fish Market. It is every morning except Monday.

Saint-Francois Fish Market in the Old Town

View from our apartment window

If you don't want Gull poop on your car, cover it with cardboard!

Greg's choice was moules (muscles). They are cheap, easy, and tasty!

We also bought a thick slice of thon (tuna)

Our delicious dinner

7. Walk around the Port of Nice
We like to walk and everything seemed nearby for us. We walked to the port twice and climbed above it twice. With its assortment of boats, Corsica ferries and cruise ships, the port has a lot to see!

Port of Nice (viewed from Castle Hill)

The port has boats of all sizes

We were fascinated watching Lady Sandals squeeze between two bigger yachts.

In case you guessed it, Lady Sandals belongs to the Sandals Resorts owner.

6. See a luxury "super" yacht

The Serene superyacht

The large luxury yachts in the port impressed us but we were blown away when we laid eyes on the Serene with a helicopter resting on its bow. Built for a Russian Vodka tycoon for a mere $330 million, the 440 foot yacht looks like a small cruise ship, and is ranked the 12th largest yacht in the world! She features two helicopter landing platforms, storage for a large submarine and a huge internal sea water pool, which can be adapted to be used for tender docking. Last summer, Bill Gates rented her (and her crew of 52) for $5 million for a week.

5. Pass through Place Messena - with its checkerboard surface, statue of Apollo, seven Plesna statues erected high above, and the city's only tram running through it - it is the city's main square. It is a crossroad that splinters into many directions: the beach, the old town, the shopping area, and a long park of fountains and playgrounds. It is a hub of activity both day and night!

Place Messena

Fontaine du Soleil in Place Messena

4. Climb up to Le Chateau, the old fort on Castle Hill. This one took us by surprise! There are tranquil paths and stairs leading every which way up to and around the top of the hill. Go here to get away from the crowds and for its stunning panoramic vistas - port on one side and Nice coastline on the other. We watched the airplanes land at Nice's airport and large boats maneuver in the port. Don't forget to see the Cascades! We read to go at sunset but preferred the view before noon. Since there was no line on our second visit, we took the elevator down.

View of Nice beaches from Castle Hill

3. Shop and eat in the narrow, colorful streets of Vieille Ville (Old Town Nice). This is where our apartment was.

Old Town Nice

2. The Plage (Beach)
The beaches of Nice are almost as good as it gets! The water's color, temperature and gentle waves are wonderful for a nice swim! The only downside is its rocky beach... they hurt! (You can call them pebbles but they are roughly the size of a small child's fist!) The beach has a steep slope dropping into the water, and mixed with the waves, the rocks are moving all over the place making for some non-sturdy, painful footing! Yes, wear shoes, but they are awkward to swim in!

At the beach in Nice

To escape all the rocks, splurge on a private beach! There are many to choose from. We saw one for 16 euros which gets you a comfy chaise lounge, umbrella, rug walkway, bathrooms, and waiters.

1. Stroll the Promenade des Anglais. The wide pathway that stretches over 4 miles along the Mediterranean is where Nice comes alive both day and night! We spent most of our time walking, sitting, people watching and even biking along it. Don't miss out on seeing Nice's famous Hotel Negresco!

Promenade des Anglais

The promenade is lined with great blue seats that invite you to relax and enjoy!

Tomorrow we leave France by train for our very last night in Milan, Italy.

Logistics:
- We felt adventurous by renting a Velo Bleu bicycle. There are stations all over the city. They are designed to get you quickly from point A to B... the first 30 minutes are free! Our 45 minute bike ride up and down the promenade cost us 1 euro each (plus 1.50 daily use fee). You set up an account online or on your cell phone. Or we found the easiest way was to use one of the very few credit card machines (no account setup necessary). See velobleu website http://www.velobleu.org/ map for stations that accept credit card (most do not). The credit card machine along the promenade was broken so we found one at Place Messena. The directions are printed on the machine in English, but the machine didn't follow what they said. Stick in your credit card, phone number, and birthdate. The screen will flash your code for a minute (it did not print it out). Write it down and take it to a locked bike. Power up the screen and type in the code for the bike to unlock.

Velo Bleu bike station

-Pizza Pili (Old Town) sells every type of yummy pizza for only 7 euros each.

This is not an easy post, and one that I have been struggling with how to write. It would be easier to leave it out than battle with how to summarize 28 days in Aix-en-Provence.

I suppose we can leave now that we can finally pronounce it correctly ... simply, it is "X", not "Aches". We know that. We can say that. The kids are great at it. But Greg and I keep wanting to say it wrong. Ok, we've got it now.

After 27 days of heat and clear blue skies, the rain has come. We enjoyed every breakfast and every dinner on the terrace, except for the last rainy one. It must be time to go.

We will have fond, mixed memories of our stay. The intention of staying in one place for so long was to assimilate, and live it. We can pretend all we want, but that was never going to happen. We don't speak French, and we are on vacation. We did our best with what we had. We shopped in the daily fruit and vegetable market. We had fresh bread from the boulangerie every day. We groceried at the local market. We hung our clothes out to dry. We walked. We used public transportation, a lot. We explored as much as we could. We opened our eyes to everything. We appreciated our time here. We have been incredibly fortunate.

The worst thing about leaving was packing. Ummm, we might have acquired a few extra things in the past month. We bought another suitcase but it still wasn't enough to get us to our next destination. Before we leave Europe, I will come to terms with leaving a few - unnecessary - things behind.

Thankfully we only had to leave Aix to drive 90 minutes to Nice, where we are spending the next 3 nights. I would like to pretend I had the foresight to know how difficult it would be to pack up an apartment after 28 days and drive directly to the airport to stress about catching a flight, but this was only partially true. We were waiting out the cheaper mid-week airfare, and I chose the beaches of Nice to do so.

And now I owe you the utmost honestly. What was it like to be gone for so long? Greg and I don't regret it, not for a minute. Do we miss the comforts of home, family and friends, our pets, our bed? Sure. Chris and Kate are making the best out of it even though it was not their decision. They never signed up to share a room for over two months! Right now they wish they were home but they know they have had the best experience that they will treasure forever.

In addition to saying goodbye to Aix, after 48 days, we returned our car today. Apparently we put a bit of kilometers on it - because that was their only comment. We drove it 9039 km without a single scratch... no small feat for Europe! Although he turned for one last look before we left, Greg was instantly relieved to be done with it. He was awesome at conquering all the roads we navigated, but he never "enjoyed" that ball and chain. After what he has been through, I honestly think (and hope he agrees) it has helped him heal. Albeit crazy at times, European drivers know what they are doing and put the U.S. to shame. Greg has always been, and has proven to be, the best of the best on the road - even and especially in foreign lands.

With that, here are some of our favorite memories of Aix: