Summertime in Nice

It was the potted palms I noticed first.

I was running along the Promenade the other morning, and realized I was doing an obstacle course along one section, ducking under palm branches and weaving between the eight large white boxes housing the palm plants. They weren't on the Promenade last month.

Summer has come to Nice. That means that the tourists are here. I had noticed some of the preparations, when they started back in April, after Easter. The beach clubs, which previously had only a few chaise lounges set up on the beach, all of sudden started setting up rows and rows of the chairs and the accompanying parasols along the seafront.

Then the "Postes de Secours" appeared on the beaches. These are the lifeguard posts on several of the public beaches along the Promenade. They include the firefighters, too, for some unidentified reason, other than, perhaps, they are good looking. The firefighters here are definitely cute.

The potted palms along the Promenade are a beautification element provided by the city, for the benefit of our visitors. And the newly-sanded volleyball courts on the beach are for the entertainment of our visitors. And the concerts on the beach are all probably part of that entertainment package. Nice likes to keep its tourists happy.

For me, the other starkly apparent change in the city is the number of English-speaking people. Of course, Nice is a cosmopolitan city, with its share of Italians and English living here on a regular basis, along with Russians and Germans. But the English pretty much keep to themselves, so I haven't had to interact with them much during my time here. But now, I am getting asked directions on the street by Americans (for a long time, it was only by French people). I hear American English on the beach, in restaurants, in the supermarket. I forgot that Nice was a destination for those from the States too.

My friends here (Priscilla, Christiane, and Erick) are all happy to have the tourists back in Nice. They like the activity and excitement that they bring to the city. But me, I liked my adopted the city the way I found it last August. By the time I had arrived the last week of August, most of the tourists had left the city (although the beach clubs did not really roll up the chaise lounges for good until the end of October). I enjoyed the quiet beaches and having the sea to myself most of the time. I liked it when the merchants spoke to me in French, rather than assuming I was from somewhere else. I preferred running along the Promenade with other serious runners, rather than with the tourists getting in their first workout in a long time.

I only have six weeks left to my sojourn here along the Mediterranean. I'm going to enjoy every moment, even if I have to share it with thousands of others here, like me, here for the sun.