Nice, Chicago and Home

April 12-15

We decided to have breakfast at one of the bars on the Cours Mirabeau near the fountain at the end opposite the statue of King René. Breakfasts in France typically include croissants, French bread, yogurt, juice and coffee. Today we enjoyed fresh squeezed orange juice. After we were done we walked to the bus depot and got the 8 a.m. bus back to Nice.

The ride back was interesting because a young French boy (probably around 10 yeas old)was trying to teach an Indian man to count in French. After awhile, the Indian must have picked up on the fact that we spoke English, so he asked us if he should get off at the airport for the information center in Nice. We told him that it was actually within a few hundred feet of the stop where we were getting off.

The boy had heard Jan speak French and wanted to know where she learned English. When she told him that she had lived in the U.S. her whole life, he was confused. "How can you speak French that well if you're not French?", was his next question. Once we got the language questions answered, he wanted to know what we thought about Obama and Sarkozy. The time went fast.

We learned that the Indian worked for a company that has its home near Delhi, but his home was in the far South of India. He worked for an electronics firm and was working with people in the French branch of the company. He was taking a brief weekend vacation in Nice.

This was the chilliest day we experienced in Nice. Only some nuns braved the weather to eat on the Quai des États-Unis. We came to the Quai to see the art show in the Galerie des Ponchettes. The show was sponsored by the City of Nice and featured the collection of Hélène Jourdan-Gassin. It was a very interesting collection and one of the docents took note of our discussions of the work and handed us a catalog. The Raoul Dufy museum was closed for renovations, but the wall adjacent was still a work of art. Our hotel room overlooked the Galeries Lafayette and the hotel was reflected in the windows of the store. This was the last photo before the lens stopped working entirely.

Ghosts inhabited the camera after this.

On Sunday morning we went to the high mass at the Cathedral of Nice. Although they have a large choir, there didn't seem to be as many people at the mass as there are at St. Rosallia in Sister Bay during the winter. One of the problems we had was that all the responses were in Latin and there were no books to read from.

For lunch we went to one of the fun outdoor eateries that has been in old Nice at least since 1990, Lou Pilha Leva. You order your food from one of two windows and then eat at picnic tables. We had Pain Bagnat, which is like a Salade Niçoise on a large round French roll. Very good. In fact we liked it so much we got thick pizza slices there for supper.

After lunch we wanted to take a bus to the Roman ruins and an old mission church. After we waited for close to an hour for the bus we decided even if one came, we might not get back. The stop was just across from the Tram stop on the Place Masséna, so we took the tram to one end of the line. Just before we got off, there was one of the usual police checks for tickets. The guys without tickets must have seen it coming and they followed the mob off the train. There was only an old man left to hastle. A young fellow came up and said he was holding the old man's ticket, so the police let the man stay on the tram.

Even though it was Sunday afternoon and the stores were closed, the tram was crowded. One thing we noticed at the end of the line, there was nothing to see there. This was not a tourist thing, but was designed to help people commute from the northern suburbs into the city. There is a large parking lot at the end station and the station is next to a ramp for the main highway. I don't doubt the other end of the line has a similar location and parking lot. Nice is trying to reduce traffic with a great financial incentive. For the two Euro tram fee (one Euro each way), you can park all day for free.

After one last trip to listen to the jazz band and to pick up food in the old city, we headed back to the hotel. During our walk, we saw an Australian shepherd that looked like Rex. It was the same size, but had trouble with his ankles. They seem to be bent so it was hard for him to walk.

The trip home was more exciting than we had hoped it would be. We walked down to the bus stop where we were supposed to get the 7:40 a.m. bus. We were a bit early, so got the 7:25 bus. We barely got on the bus when it started to pour. Got to the plane without getting wet and the flight to Paris CDG was uneventful.

We got to Paris at 11:45 a.m. in terminal 2D and after a brief pit stop and stop for coffee and a pain au raisin ($8.75,) we took off for terminal 2E. We thought it would be an easy walk, but the first security line we got into was the wrong one. Someone in line told us we had to go to the other end of that terminal, which according to a sign was a 7 minute walk. I think we did it faster, but when we got to the other end we found out our gate was in another building. We took a train to that building and stood in another securty line for 15 minutes. On the other side of security was another 7 minute walk sign to the other end of the terminal. By the time we got to the gate, the boarding of our plane was about half complete. The flight went well as they usually do. Just a bit hard on my boney butt!

Chicago was about as cold as it had been when we left, but the bus driver said it was going to get warm the next day. We had chicken in champagne sauce with lots of veggies for supper. Almost twice as much food as our usual meal in France would have been. Tuesday our drive home went very smoothly with a stop in Mequon for veggies at Sendiks and at Pick and Save for food. Rex and Sally were waiting for us at the day care, looking out of the same windows that they were looking out of when we left.