First Day in Nice
Morning Arrival in Nice
We arrived at the Nice Cote d'Azur airport at about 9:15. The weather was absolutely gorgeous. Bright sun in the high 50s. The best day I can ever remember here. You could even see snow off in the mountains. We stood in a line briefly for non-EU passport control and then to get cash, so by the time we got to the luggage carousel we only hate to wait five minutes or so.
We caught a cab that took us directly to the Novetel for 35 Euro. Our cab driver who just happened to be a woman was extremely nice and helpful. We had always stayed in the Sofitel next door but for some reason we couldn't so this would have to do.
Check in was so fast ad our rooms were even ready. The rooms aren't bad. Not huge but they will do nicely. the bad news was we had ot pay for internet at 9.90 Euros for 24 hours.
Walk Around Nice
We left the hotel at about 11 and walked down one of the side streets toward Old Niece. On this street was the new tram system that they were working on last time.
Midday meal at La Zucca Magica
We stumbled onto this place last time in 2006, but subseqently even read reviews of it even in the New York Times. I had spoken several times with Rosella by email. I think she must be the chef's wife. so we had a reservation for 1 p.m. our memories were a bit fuzzy but we finally found it about ten minutes early.
Course one: Spinach and cheese soup with a cheese tofu like square at the bottom.
Course two: Rosemary and Basil tart with baby artichoke from Rome in olive oil.
Course three: Pumpkin, smoke cheese, onion and olives augratin.
Course four: Canneloni with pumpkin, ginger, and lemon zest
Course five: Pumpkin and apple struedel with orange zest and ice cream with a crunc (I didn't catch the meaning of the explantion)
Musee Matisse
After the meal we walked back toward the Acropolis and caught a cab there to head up the the Matisse Museum. The cab ride cost 13.5 Euros.
The Matisse Museum is situated on the hill of Cimiez, not far from the Franciscan monastery with its Italianate gardens, the Hotel Regina where Matisse lived, and the Gallo-Roman ruins. Since the 5th of January 1963 the Museum has been welcoming visitors to its collection of works left by the artist (and his heirs) to the city of Nice where he lived from 1918 until 1954.
Supposedly it had been remodeled as it was closed when we were her in 2006. Maybe it was on the inside but the facade sure looked weathered.
Femme a l-ombrelle, 1905
Nu blue IV - 1952
The collection was amazingly sparse. I didn't quite remember that there were so few of his major. We really got through it quickly. Sue bought a calendar and we lost Christine in the restroom for a while.
Nearby roman ruins
It took us awhile but we finally got a cab, but this one cost 17 Euros. I think we were back to the hotel by around four.
At the hotel I have been working on my blog and stuff for quite a while. Christine fell asleep for a bit and Sue and Zoe took a long sleep in their room. Zoe came back after seven and we went out foraging for food and snacks. We had to walk all the way down to Old Nice but we did find a couple of grocery stores that were open. One was a huge supermarket, but it was closing as we walked in. I found Christine some yogurt. The other was in old Nice.
There we got drinks and LU cookies. Then we found a place for Zoe to get one of those delicious Jamon sandwiches with cheese and tomatoes and lettuce.
The Acropolis (where the convention takes place) at night
We got back to the hotel and shared our feast with Christine. It was great. I think after showering it was about 10:30 or so when we finally turned out the lights for bed.
I love the feeling of crawling into a bed after that long flying./irst day of a trip. You are totally exhausted, totally clean, and ready to sleep through the night. At least with the help of a couple of Tylenol PM!
It's an incredible victory when you acually sleep throught the night. We we see how it goes.
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