Nice is nice

Nice is nice

Yesterday morning we woke to the clear, bright sunny sky that we love so much about being here. Unfortunately, on the horizon, there was a rather black cloud coming down off the mountain that threatened to turn a beautiful morning into something less.

We started out on our morning promenade and decided to postpone our trip into Nice, to visit the antiques market, as it wasn’t going to be all that nice. However, I had sort of been looking forward to it, as for the first half of the trip we’ve been staying close to home (not that there’s anything wrong with that, either), and I was itching to use some of my French phrases to buy the tickets from the stationmaster who can’t speak a word of English.

The great thing about being on holidays is that you can change your mind and nobody gives a damn.

We just decided that it was time to uproot and get out and about, so off to Nice we went.

Menton has 2 train stations, Garavan (our train station) and Menton Ville (in the heart of town). I’m pleased to say that I purchased our round-trip tickets with no problem, and even understood that we had to validate our ticket in the little machine as we exited the station for the platform.

Garavan station is this little one-room station that is right out of the first world war. The stationmaster actually lives in the quarters attached to & above the station, and sort of appears about 15 minutes before each train is due to arrive to see if there’s anyone around who wants to buy a ticket.

The train actually originates in Ventimiglia, Italy, and runs all the way to Cannes. Anyway, we were soon being whisked along in air conditioned comfort to Nice. We had the most spectacular views of the coast, including a stop in Monaco (another blog about that when we go in a few days), a place that we both love but find far too busy to stay in.

Upon arrival in Nice Ville station, we made our way on foot about 2 or 3 kilometers to the Cours Sareya. We went via Avenue Jean Médecin, which is a pedestrian only street with a tram that runs up & down the middle. We eventually found ourselves in the Place Masséna, which is the former open market & town square. A few years ago it underwent a massive, multi-million Euro renovation. The jury is still out about its success (if anything, its wayyyyyy too big with far too much pavement. There’s a really nice park at the one end, but the square is massive and you feel sort of like a sitting duck as you cross it. It must be able to hold thousands of people).

Anyway, we got to the market (I was specifically looking for the paper dealer with the cruise-ship menus, as blogged earlier), and, despite its massive size and variety, ended up leaving without a thing.

That didn’t really matter, though, as it had turned into one of the finest days that we’ve had weather wise since we arrived. The sky cleared completely and the sun was intense with a gentle breeze in the air.

We strolled around for a while and decided to stop at a traiteur for lunch. Traiteurs are a peculiarity here in France (and maybe elsewhere in Europe). They are almost always Asian cuisine (Chinese/Thai), and you go in and all the food is all ready prepared and on display in chiller cabinets. It’s a real challenge if you don’t parlez-vous, but you go in and tell the person behind the counter that you want this, that and the other, and she dolls them out on various plates. You can get it to go and heat it up at home, but the real fun comes from eating in. They have this super-deluxe heater (I don’t think they’re micro-waves, because the food doesn’t dry out or get soggy), and the gal throws everything in and in a few minutes, you get a hot and surprisingly fresh meal. We had a feast including a carafe of wine, and it was only 11E for the two of us. Very economical and quite edible.

Across the street we saw a sign for the hotel Canada (!), which I photographed (but might not post, as it was small and way up high, and my lack of a zoom lens made it almost impossible to photograph).

After consulting the train time table in my pocket, we decided to catch the 2:30 train home, as the next one didn’t come until 3:30. In true French fashion, we were told that it would depart from platform D. At 2:30 a train pulled into platform A, heading east. Yup, they changed the platform. They didn’t post it on the sign, they announced it. Good thing I understood!

Sorry that some of today’s photos have a bit of a haze – I found out when I got home and downloaded the pics that my lens was smudged!

Top photo: Garavan Train Station. Second: Sign post in Nice. Third: View of the market. Fourth: Lamp post on the Nice Opera House. Fifth: Nice Ville Train Station