Nice 21-28 September 2019

September 20th 2019

My birthday! I can't believe the age I now am, I certainly don't feel it inside. It's also tinged with a little sadness as inevitably I think of my mother on this day too. But this birthday was different from the usual as I spent it in a b & b near Newcastle airport as I was heading off to Nice early the next day. It was called Stone Cottage and was basic but clean, handy and really excellent value for money and I got a very warm welcome too.

September 21st

Up early and drove the short distance to the airport, parked the car and got the shuttle to the terminal. The plane left on time and for most of the journey we had clear skies, I saw London below with the Thames and the O2 gleaming in the sunlight. Such a big city looked small from that height.

Our gorgeous terrace

We landed on time in Nice, it was cloudy and there was a little rain. Debbi also arrived on time and we got an Uber taxi (much cheaper than the normal fare) to our small apartment building, Les Nereides, east of Nice on the slopes of Mont Boron overlooking the Mediterranean. We were met by Madame Anselmo who showed us round the accommodation. It was as gorgeous as it looked online.
We went shopping for groceries and had a steep but short walk uphill to the supermarket. We had so much stuff my foldaway trolley gave up the ghost so we decided to get an Uber back to the apartment!!

That evening we ate in and had a little birthday celebration for me Debbi gave me a card and nice pressies and we had wine and prosecco.

September 22nd

We decided to have a lazy day today, the weather wasn't too good and we were tired from yesterday. It was good to relax and chill. We did go out with the purpose of getting a pizza for our evening meal but when we got to the shop it was closed! But we had food in that we had bought so I made a nice meal for us and we had a lovely evening.

September 23rd

View on the walk into Nice

Today we walked downhill into the city with beautiful views of Nice, the mountain backdrop and the huge blue Baie des Anges glimmering in the sunlight.
We walked round the port and went to our favourite patisserie Serain Cappa but it was closed on Mondays! So we went on into the nearby old town and wandered it's myriad of streets and alleys full of shops and eating places. We   had delicious pizza for lunch at a restaurant calledLa Mama.

Nice Old Town

Afterwards we wandered on and I went into the cathedral which was very beautiful and ornate inside.
We then stopped off for a yummy raspberry meringue and coffee in one of the squares of the old town and relaxed and people watched.


After that we made our way back to the bus stop so we could catch the bus home - it was all uphill and our old legs just can't cope with that anymore! We had bought ten bus trips online which was really cheap (all local fares cost 1.50 Euro which is cheap but this ticket made it one Euro per trip.)  It took us a while to fathom out how we had to validate them when we got on the bus but we managed fine and in no time we were off on our way home. There is a bus stop right outside of our apartment so that was perfect!

Tuesday 24th September

Villefranche-sur Mer

 Today Debbi was having a writing day so I decided to go to Villefranche just along the coast from where we are staying. I got the bus and once there and it looked very beautiful on the hillside on the sweeping bay with Cap Ferrat in the background. I walked down to the old town which was smaller than that of Nice but similar in many ways. It was also much quieter which made it very atmospheric. One part was 14th century covered alleys that reminded me a little of Edinburgh. There were many cafes and restaurants in the harbour area, the whole place had a relaxing feel about it.

Nice Cathedral Opposite
Restaurant

Debbi

Afterwards I got the bus back home and then later we decided to go into the city for our evening meal. We waited ages at the bus stop until a kind English tourist told us there was a bus strike that day! So we ended up getting an Uber into the city. We had no firm plans on where to eat but eventually found a place called La Claire Fontaine in Place Rossetti  in the old town that had a very reasonable set menu. Our table was right beside the fountain and overlooking the cathedral, all so picturesque! We enjoyed our meal, it wasn't five star but good value for the price we paid and it was a lovely evening.

Wednesday 25th September

Today was our lazy day which we have on every trip we make together, a day of just mooching about, taking it easy

Fountains in Nice

and eating and drinking where we fancy. We got the bus into town and where we got off was a fantastic art shop which felt very old and very French. The easels were cheap compared with home, paint and brushes about the same price. Our first stop was the Brewdog pub which is one of Debbi's favourite watering holes. We walked past a park and fountains on the way there, very lovely, Nice has a lot of fountains. 

After a drink in Brewdog we then walked up  to Gaglio restaurant on the edge of the old town which we had seen the previous night and thought it would be good for lunch. It was rather windy and we had to re-position plates, glasses etc to stop the tablecloth whipping off!

Me in Gaglio

Unfortunately the cheap lunch was finished but the lamb and mash we had was not too pricey and delicious.
After this we walked to our favourite patisserie and had some of their lovely, creamy ice cream for afters! We looked at the cakes and said we'd come back to take some home.

We crossed Garibaldi Square and had a pichet of rose wine at L'Augume and just chilled and watched life pass by.

We then bought 4 cakes and got the bus home. For our tea we just had cheese, baguette, crackers, pate and other nibbles along with wine. The evening was spent relaxing and enjoying the most beautiful view our terrace had.

Thursday 26th September

Creative Day

Yesterday was our lazy day and today was going to be our creative day.  I'm an artist and Debbi is a writer and we decided to try each others art. Unfortunately you need a lot of kit for oil painting which wasn't practical so I brought items to create cyanotype instead.  Cyanotype is created by mixing two chemicals and brushing the solution onto paper, letting it dry. Once dry, under false light, you either place objects on the paper or create a picture on an acetate to put over the paper. Then you weigh it down with glass and place in sunshine for around 15 minutes. Then the picture is set by soaking and washing the paper in cold water and then left to dry. You end up with a picture that is white where you have placed articles or lines and the parts open to the sun turn a beautiful cyan colour. 
It was 1pm so we opened some wine (for artistic inspiration) and I prepared the paper and put it in a cupboard to dry. Then Debbi did a writing exercise with me that consisted of her giving me an opening sentence followed by random prompt words every minute for 15 minutes which I had to incorporate into what I was writing and I had to write non-stop. I enjoyed it a lot and it's amazing where such an exercise can take your writing.

I Love Baguettes!

We then went out to forage for plants to use for our cyanotype and then made our pictures inside before taking them onto the terrace to magically change in the sunshine. Then we washed them and let them dry, they turned out ok! I did another writing exercise which ended up totally different from the first. After that we just kind of chilled and had more wine whilst drinking in the stunning view.
The rest of the day we just relaxed, talked, listened to music and scratched our mossie bites! The one downside of being by the water was the mossies, the other two times we'd been to Nice we didn't get bitten at all.

Friday 27th September

Our last day already and we were going to spend it in Nice shopping. We got the bus into town and first stopped at the

Salt/Herb Shop

wonderful patisserie Serain Cappa, where the cakes are a work of art. We'd hoped to have our favourite cake, meringue chantilly, each but there was only one left! We decided to share it and also bought a millefeuille that looked delicious to share and we had espresso to accompany them. All wonderful, the meringue especially was light as a feather and the cream so tasty.

Soap shop

We then went into the old town to look around the shops. I bought some soap, savon de Marseille, that has real plant oil in it and smell delectable. The choice was amazing, hard to choose which to have. We then had along look around a fantastic shop that sold flavoured sea salts and herbs and spices of all kinds. We both bought some of the salts, it's just something you don't get here.  I also bought a grinder for the salts. 

Le Barbecue, First in Again!

We sat in a bar in Place Garibaldi just enjoying the ambiance afterwards. Then we went to to our favourite restaurant Le Barbecue, which actually is a Portuguese establishment, not French. It is quite small and set in a stepped alley off the main lanes of the old town. The setting is very atmospheric, surrounded by the tall buildings that are home to locals.

We had a very reasonably priced set meal. Cod and shrimp fritters to start, followed by a huge, tender steak with roasted veg and potatoes. Dessert was the famous Portuguese custard tart, Pastéis de Nata, which was warm, the puff pastry melted in my mouth and the custard was delicious. Another great meal in Le Barbecue, it never disappoints. 

Place Garibaldi

We walked up to Place Garibaldi which looked beautiful all lit up and we soon got an Uber home. We stayed up later than we should have as we didn't want our holiday to end. But we knew we were lucky to be able to have a week in this paradise. This apartment was the nicest accommodation we've ever had on our many trips together. We both needed a nice relaxing holiday and as we'd been to Nice twice before we had done all the touristy things and so could just chill and this time enjoy all the things we love so much about Nice and France. And on our last night we got a great farewell too as we watched an amazing firework display at the tip of Cap Ferrat which we watched from our terrace.

Sunset Over the Baie des Anges

The Gig That Never Was .... For Us!

My friend Kath and I went to Newcastle yesterday to do some shopping and see the Scottish band Runrig.  I've seen them a few times in the past and always enjoyed their shows, for Kath it was going to be the first time, she'd had tickets to a gig of theirs once before but had been unable to go.

The weather hadn't been good over the previous 24 hours, with lots of snow in some parts of the country though none in our area, but it had snowed in Newcastle.  We were glad to see the road to Newcastle (55 miles from where we live) was fine and there was just a light dusting of snow over the countryside.

We found our hotel easily and soon were in Ikea shopping.  It was blissfully quiet in there - it's not the kind of place most people shop just before Christmas.  I only spent £25 but had a load of stuff, that's what I love about that shop!  We came out and were surprised to find the snow was falling heavily and had been for a while by the look of it.  We slithered on the roads in the car as we headed back to the hotel - England doens't often get snow and is always woefully unprepared and unable to cope with it. 

Our hotel was in Gateshead which was a few miles from the City Hall in Newcastle where the gig was being held. (That venue holds special memories for me because as a young teenager I went to some of my first gigs
there).  We decided to take a taxi into the city as the roads were lethal.  But try as we may we could not get a taxi, most firms didn't even answer their phones, reception staff at the hotel were very helpful and tried too but to no avail.   Kath and I had a discussion, our only option was to drive into the city in Kath's car and as the roads were so bad and it could keep snowing, we reluctantly decided to forgo the concert.  Luckily we had brought a bottle of wine and some nibbles with us so we ate, drank, chatted and watched TV and had a good evening. 

At least we could see the funny side of travelling 55 miles to see a gig and ending up only seeing the inside of Ikea and our hotel!  Seems Kath is doomed when it comes to seeing Runrig live, maybe it'll be third time lucky for her.

A Mother's Love

In these days of bad news, negativity and selfishness, it was heart-warming to read the story below in today's paper. It shows a (feathered) mother's devotion and kindness and compassion of two men. So sweet, and good to have such a happy ending!

(Taken from the Daily Mail 17th June 2008 - By Paul Sims)

Trapped in a dark sewer, the six little mallard ducklings found themselves cut off and facing an uncertain future. Their only hope of seeing daylight again lay with their mother - who they had last seen more than a mile away as they were sucked into a drain. Rescue seemed impossible. Yet somehow the mother duck had managed to follow her offspring for more than a mile, apparently listening to their cheeps of distress at manhole covers as they were swept along below ground. Her incredible journey took her across a busy roundabout, countless roads, a metro rail line, a housing estate, two school playing fields and hospital grounds.

The trail finally ended when she waddled on to Barrasford Close in Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne, where her chicks suddenly stopped. And it was there, standing over another man-hole cover, that the mother remained for the next four hours until local residents heard chirping coming from down below. They in turn launched a rescue operation, removing the manhole cover and using a child's fishing net to scoop all six from the sewer one by one and reuniting them with their mother in a paddling pool.

Peter Elliott, 59, said he first noticed the mother duck at 6am as he left his home on Sunday for a run. 'I was so surprised to find she hadn't moved when I got back,' he said yesterday. 'I went over wondering if she was injured but there were no visible signs of a problem.

'I went in and had breakfast and looked out again. I saw she was waddling away from a drain cover but then immediately going back and sitting down on it.

'It seemed odd, I couldn't figure out what was wrong.'

It was only when his daughter, Vicki Jefferson, 30, took her two-year-old son, James, out to see the mother duck that they first heard the ducklings in the sewer below.

'Vicki said she thought she could hear cheeping sounds,' said Mr Elliott. 'It was fairly clear that her chicks were trapped underground.'

Mr Elliott, his son-in-law Rob Jefferson, 30, and neighbour, Jim Calder, 62, returned armed with spades, a crow bar and spanners.

'We managed to haul this heavy manhole cover up and saw six little ducklings scrabbling around in the drain,' said Mr Elliott. 'We got a little fishing net from the house and lifted each duckling out in turn.

The sewer access point is close to the River Ouseburn, near the Three Mile Inn on the Great North Road, Gosforth - two miles away from where the ducklings were finally rescued.

'I called the RSPCA and they said to let them wander off. But in such a built up area we didn't feel happy doing that. So we drove them to a lake near Newcastle airport and watched them swim happily away. It was a lovely moment.'

Northumbria Water said the nearest sewer access point to Barrasford-Close was more than a mile away, close to the River Ouseburn. 'We believe the ducklings entered the surface sewer system there,' said a spokesman.

Owen Joiner, from the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, said: 'I can only think that she followed the cries of her young from manhole cover to manhole cover. Had she not done so, the ducklings will almost certainly have perished.'

Dancing on Ice

Those of you in the UK will be familiar with the TV series Dancing on Ice where celebrities learn to ice dance with professionals and compete to win the series. This year was actually the first time I've watched the series and I really enjoyed it. So, when my cousin Glenys asked me if I'd like to go to see the Live Show in Newcastle I said yes.

Last night, straight from work, we headed over to Newcastle Metro Arena an hour's drive away. We had a smooth journey and before going into the venue we ate our sandwiches in the car park as we were really hungry by then!

The show was not what I expected, I thought it would be skating shows with both the professionals and celebrities. But the first half was like the TV programme, each couple skating and being commented on and voted for by the judges. In the interval you could vote for your choice of celebrity by text. The whole show was being filmed for the next Dancing on Ice DVD.

The celebrities involved came from all the three series. They were, Kyran Bracken, Chris Fountain, David Seaman, Gareth Gates, Zaraah Abrahams, Linda Lusardi, Suzanne Shaw (who had to pull out after the first half as she had hurt her knee), Claire Buckfield and Bonnie Langford.

The second half had various skating routines which were wonderful. the professional skaters were amazing. The speed, grace and strength they showed was beautiful, I thoroughly enjoyed it. And of course Torvill and Dean performed as well, and captivated us with their routines including a stunning "flying" routine. They do so well considering they are around the same age as me now!

Finally the results came in and it came down to the final two celebrities chosen, Kyran Bracken and Chris Fountain, to dance Bolero to decide the Newcastle champion. They were both good, but Kyran had the edge and was voted the champion.

All in all, it was a great evening's entertainment, talented skaters, striking lighting, good music (including U2's "One") and lots of laughs - audience participation was encouraged and the Geordies are not ones for holding back! If the show comes your way try to see it, it's something different and good family entertainment.