Day 2 Nice

Woke up this morning to a beautiful day, Sylvia slept in while I went for a walk around town. I resisted stopping at one of the excessive number of Patisseries for a sweet something or other, but I was finally overwhelmed. I had an espresso with a terrific croissant and sat at an outside table and watched people going to work. I was surprised to see so many people with small dogs. It's amazing how many dogs are walked unleashed. It's wild because the traffic is so nutty; cars, bikes, scooters all going like crazy every which way. The dogs just seem to know not to wander into the street until there's no traffic, they look both ways. Anyhow, I finished my croissant and continued my walk over to the Promenade des Anglais. The Promenade's a beautiful 50 foot wide paved sidewalk that goes along the Mediterranean for about five scenic miles. I really enjoyed the casual slow walk down alongside the beach on a sunny 70 degree morning. There were people getting an early morning swims, fishermen pulling their seine nets, and joggers and bicycles everywhere, everybody just doing their thing.

Later in the morning Sylvia and I walked over to the Port area of Nice and checked out the Jillion dollar boats tied up next to the pretty little fishing dorys. There's a lot of little Bistros and Cafes in the area, but it was still a little early, even for me. We stopped in a cute little bicycle-coffee shop, but Sylvia wouldn't let me get anything except coffee. It was still too early for lunch so we walked back to the old part of town debating (sort of) about what kind of lunch we wanted. Unable to decide (or agree), we ended up getting pizza and a salad. We weren't happy with the place we picked. The pizza and salad were pretty okay, the waiter was a shit.

The rest of the day was uneventful. We spent more time trying to figure out what to do for dinner. Surprisingly we eventually agreed on La P'tite Cocotte. It took a significant amount of time just to find the place only to discover it was out of business. Somewhat irritated we just walked down the alleyway and stopped in a cutesy Portuguese place called Le Barbecue. Just the name alone should have eliminated it from consideration. However, it was 8:30 so we went in anyhow. Sylvia ordered steak and I went for the Portuguese Bouillabaisse??? Sylvia's steak was okay for a French steak, and my bouillabaisse was unlike any I ever had. I should have done the "barbecue" I guess. It was not a good eating day. We'll try again tomorrow when we head over to Monaco and Monte Carlo. In order to get in the casino you have to wear a jacket and tie. I'm not looking forward to taking a 45 minute bus ride on a hot day wearing a coat and tie.

Promenade des Anglais Memorial

Fishing Dorys at the Nice Port