In Provence

July 15,2007

Today I’m going to a full day tour to Provence. A minivan comes to pick me up. We’re 6 and it is a leisurely tour with a guide/driver. Antibes, Juan les Pins, Cannes, Grasse, Gourdon, Tourette sur Loup and St Laurent de Vence. Did not care about the perfume factory but loved strolling in the narrow streets of Grasse . Gourdon and Tourrettes are also lovely. These hilltop villages are very pretty and picturesque. Toureettes is famous for its violet ice cream, which I had to taste of course.
St Laurent de Vence is also very nice with a lots of art galleries and such and a little more crowded than the others.

Bastille Day in Nice

July 14, 2007

Today is Bastille Day. I’m looking forward tonight’s fire works and other entertainment.
After a nice breakfast with croissants, pain au chocolat, baguette, coffee, juice,
I start my day by going to the famous Flower market just 10 minutes of walk from the hotel. It is not only a flower market it is an open market where they sell fruits, vegetables, fish, local specialties and of course, restaurants and cafes lined up alongside.
In the afternoon I took a city tour and visited the Russian church, the Monastery and the Chagall museum. We drove to Mont Alban, saw Elton John’s $6 million house and ended the tour at the market place.
The fireworks were fantastic, had a wonderful time watching it. There was an “Elvis Presley” concert by the Promenade des Anglais. It was funny to listen to Elvis instead of French songs but everybody was having so much fun, dancing in the streets –cars were not allowed to the area that night-

July 13 Arrival to Nice

July 12, 2007:

I flew with American Airlines to Paris and then to Nice for this very anticipated trip to Provence followed with a Mediterranean cruise on Star Clippers and 2 nights in Paris. Although my bag did not make it to Nice, I was happy to find it the next day in hotel lobby. Air France was very graceful and helpful handling the situation and I was even given a care pack with essentials and was told that I could buy for 100 Euros worth of whatever I needed and get reimbursed upon return to the US.
So I started my 3 day stay in Nice with a tour to Galeries Lafayette which is right across the street from my hotel: Hotel Univers, a small 2 star with nothing special except the location, 1 block from the Massena Place, 2 blocks to the sea and in the very heart of the old Nice.

Late afternoon spent strolling at the famous “Promenade des Anglais” and watching people sun bathing, swimming, strolling, reading, listening to street singers. I realize how much I miss all that very simple pleasures of the daily life in the Mediterranean countries. After a dinner at one of the outdoor seating restaurant, again people watching, chitchatting with the waiter and other people, I feel relax, rejuvenated and alive. Lots of positive energy. Nice is a very lovely city. The colors, smells, sounds, extremely lively and friendly people.