The Hambury Palace

Paul and I have taken a most agreeable little one bedroom apartment for this trip. The Hambury Palace Apartments are brand-spanking new. We have been watching the building being built over the last few years, and this year a unit became available for rent, so we jumped on it. We like it when everything’s new…

The apartment building is actually two buildings, there is a small, “square” shaped one to the west, and a larger “L” shaped on that wraps around the 2 sides of the smaller one, (to the north and east) creating an entry courtyard. They have placed a wonderful group of mature palms in the courtyard, and the design allows the breeze to blow through and keep the area cool.

Our apartment, D31b (strange number…) is on the reverse of the “L” building (ie, we don’t have a sea view). I don’t mind not having the view, as it means we have not had to run the air conditioning (the front of the building faces south over the Mediterranean). We have an excellent mountain view that is dotted with various turn-of-the-century villas and modern apartments – and if we look way up the mountainside, we can see a small section of the A8, the main costal highway between Nice and the Italian border.

We have a nice entry foyer in the apartment, with the bathroom just off it and a huge closet. The main room has the kitchen/dining/living area and the bedroom is to the east side, again featuring ample closet and storage space. Most of the width of the apartment has a terrace that I actually sit on to write this blog (I get the best 3G signal out there). The apartment is completely decorated in white on white, with a lovely neutral hardwood floor and wood accents. I sort of fancy it as a modern twist on art deco.

We have found our groove here again after a few days, and last night I had my best sleeping night since arriving (it just takes a while to get caught up on the right time). We need to get shopping for groceries tomorrow, as Friday everything will be closed (and everything is always closed on Sunday – which this week is Easter). If we don’t shop tomorrow, the grocery store will be bedlam on Thursday!

I all ready have way more photos than I can post. Weather is persistently 70 degrees with clear sunshine to light clouds. I make a very public apology to Paul for that. I was convinced we were coming too early in the season for such nice weather!