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The most recent entries are at the top of this page. Earlier entries follow in reverse chronological order.

31.10.2015 Halloween Night

We wandered out on Halloween night to see what there was to see. The kids were Trick or Treating among the shops and restaurants. I really don't know what they said -- I wasn't close to them when they hit up the shop owners for treats, but I read that they only say treats because tricks are not part of the Halloween culture here (it really isn't in the states either but the kids there still say "Trick or Treat").

The articles below have similar intros and some duplicate content but they provide good background about Halloween in France. In the 90's American style Halloween started to be practiced in major cities in France. France's youth drove Halloween parties and commercialism here but that started to wane in the early 2000s.

Frenchie Halloween Vocabulary

According to the links below, the French custom is no cute Halloween costumes for kids: No Disney princesses, no Sponge Bob, no dancing cupcakes, baby pumpkins, minions or even super heroes. Just witches, devils, Frankenstein, aliens, mummies, and a few other scary creatures I don't recognize. But most of the kids looked very cute in their scary costumes anyway.

in French (very cool):

In French 1, In French 2

in English:

In English 1, In English 2, In English 3
In English 4, In English 5, In English 6

Two French Halloween kids	Halloween friends	Scarecrow in Candy Store
Halloween display in candy store	Halloween display in candy store	Typical spooky Nice passageway at night
Waiter at an Italian restaurant	With his scary waiter friend	Halloween menu
Outdoor cafe on Halloween	Halloween display	French alien boy
French boy getting into the Halloween spirit	Halloween family	Ruth and John squeezing into a selfie

29.10.2015 Cellist on Promenade des Anglais

Today I was running errands near home when I heard haunting (and very appealing) music coming from the direction of the beach. I walked 3 blocks to see a young man playing a beautiful and transparent string instrument. The musician was playing an electric cello on the Promenade d'Anglais (see pic below). I listened for a while, dropped a few Euros into his collection container and took a few photos. His name is ??????? ???????? or the Anglicized version (which is on his card) is Valery Mikhailov. He is Russian and speaks English without much of an accent. I asked for his web site address. He told me he had channels and he gave me his card. He said if I emailed him he would send me links to his channels. I sent him an email also asking when he would be playing again because I wanted to take videos. I told him if I couldn't make his next performanace I'd be back in touch to get more info on his performances. I think his local performances are a bit impromptu so a schedule isn't available but he replied quickly. From his channels it appears that, for the most part, he plays jazz with one or two other musicians. He did play some jazz at the Promenade, but the music that drew me there wasn't jazz.

Youtube Video 1, Youtube Video 2, Youtube Video 3

Valery Mikhailov on Promenade des Anglais	Valery at the Belgorod State Philharmonic Organ Hall

28.10.2015 Christmas lights in Nice

The city workers strung holiday (Christmas) lights across our street in about 16 places. We have big windows and John and I were discussing putting up a tree in the window so the neighbors can see it. Just like we always did back home when we displayed our tree in our living room picture windows. The weather is still warm but with occasional tinges of coolness. We've already put up a few small Christmas decorations including our Christmas Bakers Couple and my dancing Santa Hat that sings "We Are Santa's Elves".

Christmas lights on the street below.	Ruth and Christmas decorations.	These guys survived the trip from the States.

27.10.2015 Our Local Mexican Restaurant

NOTE: Starting with this entry our blog dates will be in the European day.month.year format.

After a few attempts on days or at times the restaurant was closed, John and I finally made it to our local Mexican restaurant, Poco Loco. We had enchilada verdes. The sauces were wonderful - much like those made by friends of mine from Mexico who own a Mexican restaurant in San Diego. My dish had black instead of pinto refried beans (I really like black beans). Lunch and dinner entrees are identical but lunch prices are half of dinner prices. The English speaking owner said he would be happy to assist us in our getting acquainted with the city or with how things work in this culture. We encounter a fair amount of that - offers to guide and otherwise help us. Kind folk here.

Because of the excellent food, the congenial manager, the low lunch time prices and my love of Mexican food, we will be back often.

Outdoor cafe portion of the restaurant.	Lunch prices.	Ruth outside the restaurant.

October 25, 2015. John and I decided to go to the large Carrefour store today to get a cart thingy so we don't have to carry bags filled with groceries long distances. Carrefour is in very large shopping center (TNL) not very far from our residence. To get there we needed to brave the public transportation system for the first time.

John has a phone app that shows bus timing and routes and stop locations. John is very pleased with that app. This morning he created a schedule for us with times and locations of bus and tram stops for us to go to TNL and get back home from there.

John and I walked to the first bus stop and sat for twenty minutes waiting for a bus that was supposed to run every seven minutes. We finally decided to get on another bus that would take us to the tram that would take us to the shopping center. We missed the tram by seconds, so we walked to next bus stop. But the bus we needed wasn't listed there.

So we started to walk to another bus stop. We saw steps leading down to a bustling area and we paused at the entrance to the old town of Nice (Vieille Ville). Our serendipitous discovery down the steps into a below ground level area that was simply amazing. Old, yes, but with a diversity of specialty shops, restaurants, cafes, art galleries, open air markets, music (for example, the Cranberries' "War Child" in French). The architecture was very cool, and the people spoke many languages.

Words can't tell the tale of our adventure in Old Nice. Check out the two video links below that we found on Youtube to see what we experienced today.
Nice, France: Old Town stroll
Nice, France Old Town at night

We walked home through parks, and past museums. Today we had a wonderful walking adventure.

Narrow pedestrian streets with lots of shops in Vieille Ville.	Handmade soaps.	John in the foreground.
Lots of interesting outdoor cafes.	The streets and buildings created quite a maze.	This shop sold herbal scents from Provence.
Nice Cathedral (Cathedrale Sainte-Réparate de Nice) built in 1650.	Birds-eye view of the cathedral and Vieille Ville with the hills of Nice in the background.	Dolphins with legs as part of a playground in La promenade du Paillon.
A tram passes through Place Masséna.	A seagull sits on the head of a sculpture in Place Masséna.	One of the many fountains in Nice.

October 24, 2015. To get an apartment here you must have a bank account. To get a bank account you must show proof of residence such as a utility bill. You'll also need a rental agreement with paid advanced rentals as well as passport and visa.

We checked into how to get utilities in our name because we will need to do that eventually no matter what. France's electric service is very different from the U.S. and I don't know why the service is delivered as it is - in tiers, rather than the one size fits all as in most homes in the U.S. French Electrical Systems

Also, an outlet adapter is required to interface with the European plugs' shape, size and the configuration of its prongs.

John and I brought with us several plug adapters, 4 small transformers and one large transformer. Additionally many of our appliances didn't require a voltage transformer because they automatically switched. French Power Plugs and Sockets

Most laptops, tablets and most portable electronic devices come with power supplies that switch automatically and do not have a voltage selector switch. Desktop computers that do not automatically transform the input voltage used will usually have a manual voltage switch near the power plug. There are two switch positions on the input voltage selector - a lower range (typically 100V-127V~7A - 115V) and an upper range (200V-240V~4A). To switch the selection, unplug the power cord from the computer and use a small screwdriver to slide the switch to the opposite position.

Another anomaly with electrical usage here is that you toggle a switch up to turn power off. It's taking me a while to get used to that.

The owner of our vacation rental gave us instructions about a hundred things, one of which was what to do if the power went off. The solution entailed our simply re-setting the master breaker.

Because the owner gave us that circuit breaker information we assumed we would need to deal with a tripped breaker at some point during our stay here. But I managed to blow a fuse, because I thought our power strip was 120/240. It wasn't. :-(

When I caused the fuse to blow we had been here only 2 days. A lot was going on and we were still exhausted and stressed. The owner of this place lives in Montpellier so, of course, we didn't want him to make a trip out here. We also didn't want him to talk us through anything because I barely speak French and the owner speaks spotty English. (Are you noticing a pattern here?) Many of our problems either wouldn't be problems at all or would be much less significant problems if we spoke the language. We are picking up our study and practice.

Some outlets were still live so we bought some Frenchie extension cords to power the WiFi (they say "wee fee" here).

Later that day I got my wits about me and diagnosed a blown fuse. I removed the first fuse and saw that it had a ceramic body, not glass like I was used to. I had seen ceramic fuses previously but I had never worked with them.

Finally I realized that we could tell which fuse blew by the labels identifying the fuses. I couldn't read the French labels so John volunteered to look up and translate the labels. Once that was done we knew which fuse was blown.

In addition to circuit overload problems we also have flickering lights that often are quite dim. I learned that home owners in France are required to either pay more for a higher KVA or choose a lower KVA and determine whether that is the correct KVA by whether or not breakers are tripped or fuses are blown in the house. More info on Frenchie electrical service can be found here: French Electricity Tariffs

An outlet adapter .	Heavy duty voltage transformer we bought for desktop computers.	Smaller 50W transformer we got for small appliances.
Voltage selector switch

October 24, 2015. Another long walk today. Three miles this time -- because I got lost. John went to get moving boxes. I went to talk with realtors. And got lost. I got lost going home because I left my phone and I didn't have maps or GPS.

I couldn't see the Mediterranean or the mountains. My French is awful so I had difficulty getting directions. One woman I met who spoke fluent English gave me very good directions. However, when I got to the street she said was Rue du France I didn't see a street sign for Rue du France. I asked a guy on that corner who wasn't local but he pulled out his smart phone and fiddled with it. After a few seconds he said, "This IS Rue du France!"

Woo Hoo!

In Nice not all streets have signs. Many of the streets that do are on sign posts which have MANY street signs plus many other non-street signs that look just like the street signs. See the example below. Even then there might not be a street sign for the actual street I'm on. Many street signs are not on the street sign post -- they are on the side of a building, even though the street sign post has every other street name within 5 blocks.

To further complicate matters, sometimes the signs are in 2 or more languages (not English).

So, today I did a lot of walking and I got to know our neighborhood much better. Oh, yeah - I also got some useful information from one of the realtors!

General direction street signs.	Street signs on the side of buildings.	Multi-language street sign.
Musée Masséna, the history museum of Nice.	Another of the 175 Vélo Bleu stations in Nice.	The "Turkish Delights" kebab shop below our vacation rental.

October 23, 2015. John and I were in the Nice Post Office today to open a bank account. Many European Post Offices serve their customers' banking as well as postal needs. For years progressives in the U.S. have tried to add banking to official Post Office services. Initially this was so people in out of the way places who had access to a post office would also have access to a bank. It was also so everyone would have an additional banking option - a bank and correlated financial services that wouldn't be a rip off. Of course, the banking industry hates the idea:
Banking Groups Pan USPS Proposal to Offer Financial Services

Later, to curtail the size and function of the U.S. Post Office Congress passed the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006. A Manufactured ‘Crisis’

Then Post Office closings began -- as an austerity move. Adding banking services to the Post Office would bring in more revenue but adding the banking functions has been fought vociferously by conservatives who want to allow corporations to take over Postal Service functions.

Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders are two of the high profile progressives in the U.S. who are pushing to add the banking function to Post Offices.
USPS now one step closer to providing financial services

John and I didn't get our bank account yet because as non-residents (so far) we have a lot of hoops to jump through. Our not speaking French exacerbated that situation but we have some tools at our disposal. Especially Google Translate!

The French Post Office combines postal with banking functions.	The post office was very clean, orderly and the lines moved quickly.	Ruth is ready with Google Translate.
I found a Subway in Nice with outside cafe tables.	Vélo Bleu is a self-service bicycle rental service for just a euro a day.	Fromagerie Carré d'Or, a local cheese shop

October 22, 2015. We can tell native Frenchies from visitors because they don't yield to pedestrians. They yield consistently and in every regard to disabled people, they smoke, and they also have a consistent attire: Frenchies wear tight pants. Men, women, old and young (not the children, though) - they all wear tight pants. Before we moved here John found a news article about the bus drivers in Marseille going on strike because their pants were too tight. We snickered at that too, but now we realize that Frenchie bus drivers complaining about too tight pants is a very serious thing!

Another remarkable distinction of French attire (or at least of Nice's attire) is that everyone wears jackets if the temp drops below 66 degrees F. John and I are in tee-shirts and shorts at that temp. So are a few visitors ( Northern Europeans or Canadians, I would guess)

October 21, 2015. Today, John and I spoke with realtors and banks trying to get settled here. We needed to wait 30 minutes for our realtor so we waited in a local park and watched French teenagers act like teenagers.

Walking home we passed the most wonderful candy store. I picked up a few items - a skewered quasi sculpture made from chewy marshmallow material, a "nougat" (very heavy candy with medium hard chewy chocolate and crushed nuts with a strong coffee flavor, 2 chocolate covered "praline" candies (not like pralines I'm used to). The inside is chocolate with a crushed nut paste. Wonderful. I got one drenched in white chocolate for John. Very tasty candies all. Plus they are so very pretty and cute. The place was packed with sculpted candies - spiderman, hello kitty, halloween characters, some that looked like Mr Hanky (but that probably wasn't the intent) Star Wars, fruit shapes and flavors, candy bouquet arrangements, Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs.

The Palais de la Mediterranee is an exclusive hotel and casino located on the Promenade des Anglais.	The Hotel Negresco was built in 1912 on the Promenade des Anglais.	This jazz player sculpture by Niki de Saint Phalle stands at the entrance to the Hotel Negresco.
Wonderful candy store on the Rue de France.	Little figurines of sculpted candy.	Candies sculpted as fruits and vegetables.
More of the wonderful candy store 1	More of the wonderful candy store 2	More of the wonderful candy store 3

October 20, 2015. We've been apartment hunting for our next, longer term, residence. The laws for renting and residency are not what we thought they were but our Century 21 agent knows the laws very well and is helping us traverse the ins, outs and Catch-22s of acquiring a home here.

We'll certainly learn a lot about French laws related to renting and owning homes, as we've been discussing both with our realtor. The process is byzantine (to us) but we hope that soon it will be routine (not that we intend to buy more than one house in France).

While our realtor was showing us an apartment she told us about the utilities we would pay, she would repeatedly use the term "consummation" (the word she wanted was "consumption"). Her English is very good but there were few words and phrases that didn't make sense (not to mention that occasionally she'd slip into speaking French to us). She explained to us that in French "consumption" is "consommation" When we told her that consummation in American English (I'm never sure about British english) was completing something as in the first sexual act of a marriage, she was tickled. :-)

October 19, 2015. I've been living off Camenbert cheese or duck pate' on baguettes (or heart-attack on a baguette as my brother-in-law describes that) since we got here.

John and I haven't dined in a Frenchie restaurant yet mostly because we've been busy with moving-here tasks, but also because of the prevalence of smokers where we would dine. The diners can't smoke inside a restaurant building but they smoke profusely in the sidewalk cafe portion of a restaurant. A few days after we arrived in Nice we picked up some kebabs from downstairs and took them home. Yesterday, I wanted to go to a nearby Mexican restaurant, but it was closed (open several hours later, though). We walked around the tourist area looking to see what food joints were open. There were many Italian restaurants, a few seafood, South America, Cuban, Eastern European ...

But I started Jonesin' for a hamburger. I know, I know ... how could I? But I did. - Maybe it was one of those slight homesick things? So we visited Quick Burger -- which is their take on fast food American (I rarely ate it back in Oregon). The burger and fries were good. Smaller than in the U.S. but tastier. The milkshake was OK. Small -- just the right size. Kid size I think.

I hate the milk here. I heard that the French think adults drinking milk is nuts. Speaking of nuts -- there's no almond milk here. Or rice milk. Or soy milk. I think the only milk they sell here is cows' milk. It has the same texture as whole milk but with almost no flavor. Now that I think about it the flavor of whole milk is nothing to write home about. (so to speak). NOTE: we eventually found rice milk and soy milk, so now we're OK with that.

The other milk they sell here tastes exactly like reconstituted powdered milk. Yuck! OK - so milk is no longer in my diet. That's not a bad thing. Now I just need to cut back on the wonderful breads, cheese and pate.

Oh, yeah. Meats. Pork is the most common meat in the grocery stores. Then duck, beef and goose. Chicken is usually available but in smaller quantities and varieties than the others.

Because the refrigerators and freezers are tiny in most homes, the packaging of foods is short to fit the short space between shelves and the short freezer compartment. And the tiny kitchen mandates one person in the kitchen during cooking.

Adventures in the Frenchie holiday rental home dining and Americans in Nice dining out.

Jonesin' for a hamburger.	Two French boys enjoying ice cream cones.	Me with the hills surrounding Nice in the far background.
Today we ate at Le Milo's, an Italian restaurant. The food was wonderful!	Pharmacies in France are distinctive with their large green crosses.	Ruth found that they are also distinctive with their outside condom machines.

October 16, 2015. Our last box finally arrived on Friday after MANY trips to the Post Office. Fortunately the Post Office is less than 2 blocks away.

October 14, 2015. So far 3 of our 6 boxes have arrived -- beaten to hell. We're OK with that, though, Not what we had expected, but by now I should have known.

3 boxes were delivered and twice the 3 other boxes were "attempted to be delivered". There was no attempt (they didn't ring the doorbell) so I have to try to get them delivered before they get shipped back to the states.

We got a SIM card for one phone. With the SIM card out, there should be no connection at all to any company on an unlocked phone. So now I'm emailing AT&T and the people who sold me that phone. The Ting service we had uses ATT as it's carrier so that may be why there was no problem before. Fortunately we have one working cell phone.

Icing on the cake? I don't speak French well and the phone people and the post office people don't speak English well. Sigh. I knew I should have studied more.

To communicate with people over the phone I use Google translate for the sentences I expect to say and then I play the vocal for those sentences over and over until I feel that I know how to say them. Sometimes I write them phonetically too for my reference while speaking. That works OK sometimes, but other times my brain just freezes and I can't say anything more than a couple of words. In public I use my cell phone translations and show people the text. A bit time consuming but it usually works. And the people are usually nice.

I went to the sidewalk cafe across the street for a morning cup of coffee. Here in Nice I've learned that asking for a cup of coffee will get me a cup of thin mud that tastes (to me) like dissolved coffee grounds x 12. However, if I ask for Cafe Americain I get expresso. I haven't yet learned what to say to get a regular coffee.

The sidewalk cafes here are interesting. I remember that in Paris they were tables with umbrellas situated next to the wall of the restaurant. Here the cafe rents the parking spaces on the street in front of the shop and puts a platform in that space. Daily they set up tables in the platform area and the awning of the store reaches out over that platform. The people using the sidewalk simply walk through the middle of the customer seating area. It brings potential clients in close to see the goods.

Ruth pointing to a tap dance sudio.	I'm showing the French true American style.	Danny was glad when his toys finally arrived.
Danny looking through the small window in our vacation rental.	Pedestrian only streets are common in Nice.	One of our damaged packages.
Outside our vacation rental window.	An example of a cafe using parking spaces for extra seating. First, you lay down the deck in the street.	Then add tables and chairs and an awning.

October 12, 2015. We've been in Nice a week now. We walk a lot around this touristy area of town and stroll by the beach daily. Nice beach. In Nice.

We've only been here a week but walking up and down 72 steps (each way) once or twice a day and a few long walks (2 miles each which well outpaces my previous stints) has increased my stamina and respiratory health quite a bit.
We're still working out the logistics of banks, tracking our boxes of belongings and other things, but other than those tasks we are on vacation.

At least 70% of the people we've encountered spoke excellent English but John wants me to quit asking people (in English) if they speak English and to try to speak with them in French. Sigh. That's work. But I'll do that work because we need to know French well to become citizens in five years after we get our residency.

Last Saturday John and I went to a local outdoor market. Beautiful sunny day! One booth had sardines with chocolate. (ewwwww!)

We sat on a bench on the Promenade des Anglais and watched the sailboats and a Corsican ferry coming in to the port. Lots of kids, couples, bicycles, segways and segways without a steering bars.

Our cats are finding hiding places in nooks and crannies here - "secret clubhouses" as John calls them. Tommy and Danny seem entirely back to normal now. I'm so glad.

Ruth on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice.	Beach restaurant with omnipresent umbrellas.	A dozen folks on Segways. You can rent them on the beach.
A small Statue of Liberty in front of the Nice Opera House.	Ruth working the Roy Orbison shades.	Fish seller at the open market.
Not sure why they put the lemons in the mouths.	Chocolate sardines!!! Yum.	Huge flower section of the open market.

October 8, 2015. Already John and I are learning more French. Trying to determine what items are in the grocery store has been a trip.

The place where we are staying has a toilet literally the size of a small closet, The dishwasher, washing machine and refrigerator are all the same size and are under the counter The stove fits between the washing machine and the dishwasher and it is only a stove top - no oven. I've seen that such a set up is common especially in older buildings or smaller apartments.

We are staying very near the old town and in the middle of the nightlife section of town. Many stores and restaurants are open until midnight and some are open until 2 AM -- even on Sunday night. Lots of young people laughing and talking. It was pretty cool.

The apartment we are in is very old and musty - the location is excellent though. It has walls at least 4 inches thick and solid - adobe, I think. Makes for great insulation from heat, cold and noise. The windows are doubled-pane but much thicker than I've been used to.

We are looking at realtors who will help us rent an apartment, for a year in Nice, but we’re also looking at apartments and houses in Antibes and suburbs north and west of Nice.

So far everyone in Nice has been very nice. The people in Frankfurt were also very nice except for the woman who stamped our passport. She was the stereotypical East German grumpy matron.

We've ventured out a few times and scouted the area. There are many services, restaurants and conveniences nearby.

At least 70% of the people we've encountered spoke excellent English to us but John and I will pick up a lot of French even with there being so many English speakers here.

Huge storm on the Riviera.	Resulting floods near Antibes.	Tommy and Danny resting up after their 5,642 mile or 9,080 kilometer ordeal.
Our first experience with a European kitchen.	Our first experience with a European clothes dryer.	The vacation rental lacked some things, but the location was great! From our window we could see the Mediterranean Sea at the end of the street.

On October 2-3, 2015 Ruth and I departed Eugene and drove to Portland Airport for our trip to Nice, France with a short stop in Frankfurt. We were very concerned about the cats in cargo, but they did fine. It took them a couple of days to lower their anxiety levels. We arrived in Nice during one of the worst storms in recent history. 19 people died in the flooding along the Riveria. Our first night in France saw hail, lightning and lots of rain.

Leaving our temporary quarters at Holiday Inn Candlewood Suites after a month.	Packing our rental car for the trip from Eugene to Portland.	Ruth packing the kitties in the back seat with extra care.
Portland Airport waiting for departure.	Giant mobile in the Frankfurt Airport.	An exhausted Ruth looking for meaning in the giant mobile at Frankfurt.
Nice Airport waiting for the kitties to appear in baggage claims.	Our boarding passes for the trip of a lifetime.	Heavy rainfall outside our window in our vacation rental.
View across the street from our vacation rental in the storm.	View across the street from our vacation rental with lightning.	Another view across the street from our vacation rental in the storm.