Exploring Nice

Nice, France

Yesterday I went to Antibes. It was not my favorite. Today I decided to explore Nice. I walked up a hill to the ruins of an old Chateau (castle) that was there. I had a view of the entire city. I then walked down and through Vieux Nice -- the old part of Nice, with the narrow streets and old buildings. It was cool. It seems that most cities have an old part, and I generally like it. Then I walked along the Promenade des Anglais -- the boardwalk along the shore. A week ago, at the market in Aix en Provence, I purchased some old postcards from the 30's from different cities, including Monaco, Cannes, Montpellier and Nice. So I went to the areas on the Promenade des Anglais where the pictures of the postcards were taken. It was very fascinating to see how much had changed. There used to be a large pier with a domed building upon it. That whole thing is gone. I eventually made my way to the beach, if you can call it that. In Nice, the beaches do not have sand; instead they have stones, just like river rocks. It wasn't the most comfortable to sit upon, but it was definately a new experience. I went for a swim in the Mediterranean, which was a bit chilly at first. However I took my mind off the cold by singing songs with such original lyrics as, " I'm swimmin' in the Mediterranean... I'm peein' in the Mediterranean," and , "The salt water heals all things..." or something like that. When I'd had enough I trekked back through the tiny waves atumblin' the stones, to my towel. Some time later, I was shooting some video of the Impressionistic sunset, when the silhouette of a man slowly approached from the distance. At some point he stopped and set up his fishing pole. I captured all of it in HD (thanks to Gene's video camera suggestion) and it looked stunning -- more beautiful than in real life. I then did some journaling and sketched a picture of the coastline and fishermen. The sun set and it started to get dark -- yes, apparently that also happens in France. As I finished writing a couple of post cards, it started sprinkling. I have to admit that I was a bit cold in my shorts, t-shirt and sandals, but it was wonderful. For being such a large city, I think Nice still manages to possess some of the charm found usually in smaller towns.