9:40 a.m. Arrival Nice Cote d’Azur airport, Delta Flight 82. I met my mom and dad at the airport shortly after 10 a.m.. They were looking none the worse for wear after leaving home the previous morning. And happily it’s a beautiful sunny day in Nice! We all took the express bus to the downtown train station; then walked the two blocks walk to my apartment in the Musician’s Quarter.
We spent the rest of the morning getting settled in my apartment. I let Mom and Dad have my room for their visit; I moved myself into the living room – which turned out to be a good arrangement for all of us.
Afternoon – I took Mom and Dad down “my walk” to the beach, showing them places and people that I have come to know over my five months here. We walked briefly through the Old Town as well, so that they could see the open air markets, the courthouse, the gelato place, and the St. Répérate Cathedral, which they found quite interesting. I could tell the long day/short night was taking a toll on my folks; we took the tram home.
9 p.m. – Arrival of The King. After a cheese, cracker and hummus dinner, we walked over to Place Massena and enjoyed the first night of Carnaval with the King and Queen. The music was loud, the announcer was uninterpretable, but we enjoyed the festivities. And we experienced our first silly string, one of the traditions, it turns out, of French parades.
Saturday, February 14 – Valentine’s Day
Morning – I had given my folks the option of coming to my gym with me, and Mom took me up on it this morning. After having figured out what she would wear the night before. Mom joined me for the Abdominal (Abdos) and Stretch Class at FitnessLand. On our 15 minute walk over there, Mom spied the bakery with Valentine treats; on the way back, we bought a few fruit tarts for Dad to celebrate the holiday.
2:30 p.m. Flower Parade – Priscilla arrived to join us for a walk to the Promenade. It was chilly, and we came prepared with hats, gloves and a fleece blanket. I carried snacks as well, always a good idea. The parade began late, but once it started, it seemed it would never stop. The floats did a circuit up and down the Promenade in front of the stands at least twice – maybe three times. Part of the reason is that the flower floats (think Rose Bowl Parade on New Year’s Day) distribute their flowers after one full circuit has been completed. There were other floats too, sponsored by different countries, and different regions in France. The sun was out the entire time, so we didn’t get too cold.
6 p.m. My friend Christiane joined us all for dinner in my apartment after the parade. We had ratatouille and German wurst, and celebrated St. Valentines with gifts and chocolate, of course! Our guests leave around 9:30, and my travelers were in bed not long after…
Sunday, February 15
10:15 a.m. Church service. Mom and Dad were pleased to come with me to see my church in Nice, the Église Réformée. On our way into church that morning, they met Odette and Philippe, my choir friends. I tried to do some interpreting for Dad during the service, but he finally indicated that he was happy enough just to sit there. Neither Mom or Dad know French. I gave my Dad some instruction when he arrived that there was a 50% rule. Fifty percent of the time the word in French that looks like an English word is the same as the English word. The other 50% of the time, it is a different word completely. After the service, Odette asked me if we could have dinner over at their home while my parents were visiting. We finally agreed on dinner on Tuesday night; and once they heard we would be in their neighborhood that afternoon, they invited us over for coffee later that day. I was slightly apprehensive about how this would all work out, but I need not have been.
After an omelette lunch (made by Dad), and a few short naps, we headed out on bus to Musée Chagall. Dad had Rick Steeve’s Provence and Cote D’Azur Guide that I had given him for Christmas, which turned out to have a very handy “tour” of the museum, explaining Chagall’s paintings. It gave us a better idea of what we were seeing, for sure! The museum holds only about 20 paintings of Chagall’s, and is one of the few museums in Nice that you have to pay for. But then you can say you’ve been there!
After leaving the museum, we wandered around the Cimiez neighborhood, until it was close enough to 5 o’clock for me to call Odette and let her know we were on our way over for tea. We had a lovely visit with them for about an hour; I learned that the two of them were quite good English speakers, and realized that dinner with them on Tuesday would be quite pleasant. Philippe drove us home afterward, and we had a quiet pasta dinner at home.
Monday, February 16
Mom and Dad are still waking up at odd hours in the night, and sleeping late, so I get up in the morning and go for a run. After breakfast and some puzzling (Dad has started the puzzle Mom brought along for the trip – hmm, that’s a new one, eh?), we head out around noon for our trip to St. Jean, picking up sandwiches on the way to the bus station. We take the 1:15 bus to St.-Jean-Cap-Ferrat and enjoy the walk around the point – with wonderful views of Nice to the west. There’s a strong wind, but the sun is out and it is quite pleasant. I warn Mom and Dad before we set out that it’s a long walk, but they are definitely troopers, and we finish the walk within 2 hours. When we get to the St. Jean harbor, we have a well-earned coffee and croissant before heading back on the bus to Nice around 6 p.m.
Tuesday, February 17
Morning – Trip to Grasse. As arranged with Priscilla over the weekend, this is our day to visit Grasse. I find out before we leave that the newly-open International Museum of Perfume (Musée Internationale de la Parfumerie) is not open on Tuesdays, but there will be other things to do in town. We take 11 a.m. bus to Grasse (about an hour and a half trip, with some lovely views as the bus climbs into the mountains outside Nice) and meet Priscilla in town for lunch. We enjoy pizzas and salads and Provencal rosé wine at a restaurant in the old town. After lunch, the three of us visit the Fragonard Museum (Fragonard is one of the three major perfumeries in Grasse), and luck out with a private tour in English, as there are no other English-speaking visitors. We buy quite a few soaps before heading out to visit the Cathedral and a few shops before heading back to the bus station to catch the 4 p.m. bus. It’s the bus taking all the kids home from school, it appears, so the ride back is noisy, but we get home in time to take short naps before our evening engagement.
7:30 p.m. Philippe arrives to take us to his home for dinner. It turns out when we arrive for dinner that Odette has invited her next door neighbor to join us, as she also speaks English well. This phenomenon of inviting English speakers to help make the English-speaking visitors feel at home is familiar to me. Every time I visit my friend Uli in Germany, he is great about inviting the folks he knows speak English well to join us for dinner (I visit enough now that I know most of these people pretty well too!). Although she is not feeling well, the neighbor stays through dinner, and she and I have an animated conversation. We have champagne for the cocktail hour, along with paté on fruit bread, and salty snacks – and for dinner Odette prepares a scallop/asparagus appetizer, followed by a Provencal stew with rice. Lovely. Dessert is fruit compote with cinnamon ice cream. Philippe pours white and red wine, and after dinner, treats me to a homemade plum brandy (made by Odette’s uncle). It is lovely, and he offers me a bottle to take home – which I accept!
Wednesday, February 18
I wake up and go for a run, instead of the gym visit originally planned, so we can be ready to meet Philippe at 10 a.m. He has offered to take us to La Turbie, a little town on the cliffs above Monaco, to take in the view. We visit the Roman Trophée – Philippe, Dad and I climb up the tower for a fantastic view, and then visit the small museum on the grounds. Then Philippe takes us to another lookout spot (Place of the Dog – referring to the dog in the Nice flag, I believe), for another gorgeous view of the Mediterranean and surrounding coastline.
Philippe then drives us to St. Laurent du Var, to meet up at La Moorea restaurant for lunch with Erick planned for 12:30. Erick has trouble finding parking, but eventually joins us and we enjoy a lovely lunch of seafood appetizers and paté. We share a chocolate moelleux dessert, and then the owner sends over Limoncello for our après lunch drink – Mom is in seventh heaven! It’s her favorite drink since being introduced to it two years ago in Italy, when we stayed in Ravello for Christmas. Erick drives us back to Nice, and we listen to three songs he would like to record as part of our song project. It’s 3 in the afternoon…
We take the afternoon to relax and pack for the trip the next day to Provence.
8:30 p.m. I leave for choir rehearsal at the Église Réformée. Odette is there – and has lovely things to say about mom and dad: “sympa” – very nice (“sympatique”) in colloquial French.
Thursday, February 19
Morning – Dad and I go to Europcar to pick up our rental car at the train station at 8 a.m. Once we’ve packed up the car on Avenue Auber, we head out East toward Provence around 9 a.m. We arrive in Aix-en-Provence around 11 a.m. and park so we can walk around the town. We use Dad’s book, Rick Steeve’s Provence, to take the walk around the Old Town (the book is coming in handy!). We find some open air markets, and mom has a chance to buy some things (she likes to shop). We wander into the town hall square, and find students protesting – or rather, supporting the faculty, which is currently on strike, I believe. We find some lunch in the square, and then head back to the car around 2, so we can head to Oppède, where we will spend two nights.
We find Oppède easily, and since we are there before our announced 4 p.m. arrival time, we wander around the old town, and explore the castle. Mom has some trouble with the steep climb to the castle, but we take our time. It is perched high in the valley, and has some lovely views. It is beginning to darken, and the chill starts to seep into our bones…
After 4, we head into the hotel, and Roger welcomes us and shows us our room. It is on the first floor (second, for Americans) and has two beds and a lovely bathroom. But it is a COLD, even with the small kerosene heater on the floor. We curl up in bed to get warm (I take a bath) before our dinner, scheduled for 7:15, downstairs.
Priscilla arrives just before 7:30 to join us for dinner in the basement (cave) restaurant of Belle de Nuit. The basement used to be used as a bakery, and has a lovely old bread oven, and very low ceilings. The room is decorated with art from local artists, and with lots of candles for illumination. Laurie has cooked up a wonderful dinner: Salad with popcorn shrimp and avocado, duck with regional vegetables, and a apple tart dessert with homemade vanilla ice cream. It’s a bit chilly in the restaurant too, but our conversation warms the room.
Friday, February 20
I wake up early, having had a very warm night under too many blanket, and head out for a run in the chilly morning air. The sun is shining and it looks to be another beautiful day. After a breakfast of pancakes and good coffee, Mom and Dad and I head out for Avignon for day trip. Priscilla is off to do a day hike on her own in the valley. With some good instructions from our host Roger, we find our way into town, and find a parking spot even! It’s about 11 when we get there, and once parked, we just wander for a bit. We try and figure out where we are with the guide book, and are looking for the farmer’s market that is supposed to be in progress on Friday mornings. We aren’t successful in finding the market square until later in the day (too late for the farmers), but we do find the “permanent” market in town, and wander through the cavernous hall (reminded me of Philadelphia’s Terminal Market downtown) with all of its vendors of pasta, olive oils, shellfish, fruits and vegetables, breads and pastries.
From the market we headed toward the Pope’s Palace and then to the Avignon Bridge. Along the way, Mom did some shopping at a Provençal tourist shop - by now we were doing cost comparisons on items, to make sure she was getting a good deal. ;-) We found that you had to pay to cross what was left of the bridge, so instead we walked up a long flight of stairs to the Palace (Mom doing a good job of keeping her heart rate down), and took in the lovely views from above across the river. Up there, we found a garden and sat down on a bench in the sun near a small pond filled with ducks to enjoy our picnic lunch. We had bread and cheese, apples and chocolate. It was really quite pleasant, if not warm.
Afterwards, we walked back down past the Cathedral (a quick walk inside, it was too cold!), and then back through the town, where we found the market square and some other shops, and the Tourist Office, where I picked up a map. We were looking for a place to buy a beignet, which my mom had spied earlier in the day and wanted to get – and then a place for coffee. We found the beignet (chocolate filled) and then found a nice outdoor café in the sun, in a quiet location not far from our car. We enjoyed café crème and the sun before getting in the car for the ride back, around 3 p.m.
When we got back to Belle de Nuit, we all took naps, getting up around 7:30 to head out toward a nearby town, Bonnieux, where we were told we could find a restaurant for dinner. It was a long and windy road, but we finally found the town, and a brasserie-pizzeria, Les Terrasses, perched on the side of the hill, where we enjoyed a hardy dinner. We especially liked the open wood fireplace in the center of the restaurant. I had a local sausage with pommes frites, Mom and Dad both had a cutlet of some sort. It started getting more crowded as we were leaving, around 9:30 p.m. But we were ready for bed.
Saturday, February 21
This morning we sleep in a little, and meet up with Priscilla again for breakfast prepared by our hosts. It’s oatmeal this morning, another good choice for a chilly morning! Over breakfast, we share with Roger and Laurie our plans to visit Marseille, and Roger provides me with ideas for where to park, where to eat, and what to do while we’re in the city. We say our goodbyes and head out for the autoroute to Marseille. Just as we go through the toll booth, Dad pulls his hand out of his pocket and says, “I have the room key!” I stop the car on the other side of the toll booth, and we try to contact Laurie to see if we should turn around. But we finally decide that we don’t think they have any more visitors arriving (that’s what we remember) and that we can mail the key back promptly. Not a crisis, we deem, and I head back down the highway to Marseille.
It’s another beautiful sunny day, and we get to Marseille around noon. We find parking on the street where Roger had suggested, and we get out and wander around the Old Port and into the city. We can see the Notre Dame cathedral on the hill above the port, and we encounter a flower market on the sidewalks as we walk. Mimosas are in full bloom in this season; we saw them in the Carnaval Flower Parade, we saw them proliferating on the hills outside Mandelieu on our drive to the west, and in all the flower markets in the towns we have visited. Beautiful yellow flowers in big bunches. Makes you think of spring.
We find the Tourist Office to pick up city maps, and then I encourage us to the commercial center, where I can find a public bathroom. We wander through a Galeries Lafayette store, and visit a Nature et Découverte store to buy a back pillow for Dad (I have found mine to be extraordinarily helpful on long trips where sitting is involved), and then Mom and Dad share a chocolate gelato before we head back into the downtown melee.
We don’t have to wander too far to find the seafood restaurant that Roger had recommended highly, Toinou. They are busy shucking oysters and preparing shellfish platters on the street; we head into the restaurant and bag an outside table to enjoy our lunch.
After lunch, I race back to the car to make sure we don’t get a parking ticket, and Mom and Dad follow. Soon we are on the road, after driving around the seaside drive around the town (Boulevard John F. Kennedy) for wonderful views of the sea. Once on the autoroute, it doesn’t take us long to get back to the Nice area; so I drop off the A8 in Cannes, and drive from Cannes to Nice along the seaside. It’s Saturday afternoon, and there’s quite a bit of traffic, but Mom and Dad get to see the boats and crowds along the small towns of the Cote d’Azur (Cannes, Juan-le-Pins, Antibes, Villeneuve-Loubet, et Cros-de-Cagnes).
Once back in Nice, I return the car and we all crash. It was an enjoyable but long three days!
Sunday, February 22
Sunday morning, Mom and Dad are game to join me for church (in French) once again. They get to see Odette and Phillipe again, and I get to introduce them to a few more people.
After church, Dad makes omelettes again, and we relax. Dad is still working on the puzzle, and he’s starting to get anxious about finishing it before he has to leave. So Mom and I head out to the beach, to get some sun and catch up on things. We do a little more shopping too. Quiet evening at home.
Monday, February 23
This morning, after my run, I find out that my Dad has been up all night feeling sick….which puts a pall on things for sure. Mom and I do what we can for Dad, but he’s just not a happy camper. We finally leave him alone to do some food shopping, and later spend some more time at the beach. He just needs to sleep, it seems. It’s a good day to have some down time anyway. Nobody complains.
Tuesday, February 24 – Mardi Gras
I head for the gym this morning, and learn that Dad is feeling better, if not well. We take it easy again, and Mom and I plan the evening’s dinner, as Christiane will be joining us in advance of the Parade of Lights later in the evening.
Christiane arrives around 6, with a lovely chocolate cake for our dessert. I have planned for us to Cassoulet, which is a traditional Provencal dish, with goose. I had made Cassoulet for a dinner party at my home in Arlington a year ago, and wanted to see what the real thing was like, so I bought a few cans of the casserole in my local Carrefour. I served it with rice, and Mom made brussel sprouts – it was a good dinner.
Dad didn’t join us for dinner, but he did join us for the Carnavalesque Illuminé. We headed out for the Place Massena around 8:30 for the 9 p.m. start. The lights were strobing, the music was thumping, and there were definitely crowds on this Mardi Gras evening. We had tickets so we could sit in the stands and watch the parade, but it was also possible to stand in the center of the plaza between the stands and watch the parade for free – not something you would see at an American parade of this type! The vendors were selling confetti and silly string – items with which we were now well acquainted. For this event, Mom had bought a yellow-haired wig – her way of getting into the spirit – but there were few others dressed up for the event.
The theme of the Parades this year was “Deception” – and while a few of the floats were recognizable in their message, many were not. A little bit lost in translation, I think. But it was a fascinating evening, and unlike any other parade I had attended – with the light show, the fantastic floats, the milling crowds and the incessant head-throbbing music (oh, that comes with everything these days, doesn’t it?).
The parade ended with a whimper (as do most things French), and we followed the crowds out of the stands and walked home around 10:30 p.m.
Wednesday, February 25 – Ash Wednesday
There was only one thing left to do that was on the list that Mom wanted to do – go see the Matisse Museum. And happily, Dad was feeling better enough this day to want to join us for the trip. We took it easy in the morning, but headed out on the bus north to Cimiez around 2 to visit the Musée Matisse. We didn’t have a tour book to walk us through the museum this time, but we enjoyed it anyway. Lots of paintings from every facet of the artist’s oeuvre, and in a lovely old Italian mansion on the top of the hill. No charge for this museum. After wandering around, we walked back down the hill towards Odette’s home. She had called to see if Mom and Dad could come over once more, but hadn’t realized their stay was so (!) short. We had arranged to come by for a last visit after our museuming; and so we arrived around 4 p.m. to spend some time with her (Philippe was at a bridge game). We had a lovely visit with her, and then she drove us back home, so we could be there for Priscilla’s arrival – she had asked to join us for dinner that night.
I have to say, the welcome that all my friends, French, American and German, gave my parents was wonderful, and made their visit here that much more special. They still say, “Tell all our friends hello” when they call me now. And I am happy to return the favor.
Our last dinner together was over ratatouille and cheese and bread and other leftovers, including chocolate cake and ice cream. Priscilla, Mom and I did Amherst catch-ups while Dad worked feverishly to finish the puzzle (which as yet remains unfinished in my living room). Mom and Dad had packed earlier in the day, so there was no final rush needed…
Thursday, February 26
Everyone is up early, although unnecessarily, as we don’t have to leave until 9 a.m. from the train station. But Dad is anxious, and we get there in plenty of time, and are at the airport in plenty of time for their 11:25 flight. We give big hugs, and I am sorry to see them go. It was a good visit.
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