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Nice: An Unexpected Jewel

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



30.11.2015

John and I went to the prehistoric dig Terra Amata above the Port. The museum was supposed to be open but the curator told us that the government didn't think they have enough visitors to be open 6 days that week. He, like so many others, was very friendly. Although we didn't make it back to that museum before our 7 day passes expired, and we missed a few others, we will be back to visit them soon. We have lots of time to do that. And once we have our temporary residency we'll get free tickets.

After missing the paleontology museum we walked to the docks which was filled with sail boats and yachts. The water was just as lovely as the beaches. We passed a scuba shop that had a scuba attired statue in front. As usual I clowned around with the statue.

We found a pet store on our travels and shared a few wonderful moments with some Frenchies watching the kittens and puppies.

Ruth and the Port of Nice John and the Port of Nice Ruth and a Scuba guy
Sign for the pet store Kittens The smallest puppy and a kitten



29.11.2015 Place Masséna

At various times these last few days John and I would pass Place Massena and catch glimpses of decorations in progress and the construction of the Ferris wheel, ice-rink, the giant snow globe and a decorated very tall tree carousel with very large ornaments serving as carriages for the riders (about 1:40 on the video). So cool.
Video


28.11.2015 Musée Masséna

John went to the Musée Masséna today and I stayed home nursing a cold. The Musée Masséna is a museum of local Nice history from the Napoleonic era to the early 20th Century. The museum is housed in a villa built by the grandson of André Masséna.

Musée Masséna Dining room on ground floor Bust of youthful Napoleon
Napoleon's sword Napoleon's death mask Local dress for Nice in the 1850's.



27.11.2015

Archaeology is another of those things that John loves that I never got into. Because I never got into it, I never visited ancient sites before. I've been to natural history museums with pottery and other artifacts and to paleontology museums with dinosaurs, but not anything like what we saw today.

Inside the Musée d’Archéologie site de Cimiez building were all the artifacts, statues, pottery, games, small little lamps that resembled incense holders, hair clips and jewelry and outside the Museum building were the ruins of several buildings of the ancient city of Cemenelum, capital of the province of Maritimae Alps, after the conquest of the Alps by Augustus.

The "baths" consist of one or more buildings used for varied purposes in a community setting. Some buildings were for public bathing in hot water. Others housed swimming pools, a library, gardens, recreation and exercise rooms, a cafeteria, a theater, temples and other social gathering places. The bath buildings were ornate, with very tall columns and vaulted ceilings, arches and many large statues. This site was constructed almost 2000 years ago.

The pipes and water heating area definitely caught my attention. We read and hear about Roman engineering marvels with their arches, bridges, aqueducts, clay pipes, systems of roads, water delivery, sewage disposal and the like, but this was my first up close viewing. But it wasn't all Roman brilliance. In their engineering, architecture, art, and more, the Romans borrowed heavily from two cultures they conquered: the Greeks and the Etruscans. The Etruscans are interesting -- they showed up in Italy in 900 BC, they treated men and women equally, they were very advanced in engineering, governance, architecture, artistic tools and more. Archaeologists and historians believe they probably emigrated from Lydia (Turkey) in Asia Minor because of droughts and lack of food. Anyway -- that's another story but I'll be looking into it.

John and I are going to Pompeii in a few months. He keeps talking about the beautiful mosaics and well preserved ancient buildings and personal effects. The bath buildings we visited today were also constucted with ornate mosaic tiles, but they weren't preserved.

There also is a section in the museum for little kids to play and explore. It's very cool. There is a small rotating platform with a replica head of one of the stone statues that the kids spin 'round and 'round very fast. And they giggled a lot. 'made me smile.

About the Cimiez Ancient Roman Baths museum: Read more

More About Roman Baths: Read more

And More About Roman Baths: Read more

About Ancient Roman Baths (UK children's web page): Read more

Ancient Rome for kids: Read more

Ruth clowning with the Roman family. New excavation area Tiny Ruth waving near the Roman baths.
John with Roman temple ruins in Nice. Water main under Roman road. Water main running through housing area.
Roman dice Statue found in Nice ruins. Ruth with new friend.
John with two thousand year old amphora used to carry wine and olive oil Bronze Pan recovered in Nice ruins. French school kids at hands on exhibit at museum.



26.11.2015

John and I went to Matisse museum today and while there we bought passes for 7 days of museum visits to 13 of the 14 Nice municipal museums. The Chagall museum is closed until February. In addition to the municipal museums there are several national museums in Nice. We won't be museum deprived for a very long time. Read more. And more.

In January of this year the municipal museum charges went from free to 10 Euros. Read more. But the 10 Euros primarily targets tourists. Locals can get a free 3-year all-access Passe Musee card by bringing a recent utility bill, rent receipt, or property tax bill, plus some ID to any of the museums. We didn't know about that when we went, but now that we do we will complete the 14 museum tour in the months to come.

Behind the Matisse museum is the Ancient Roman Arena. John took a pic of me standing in the ruins. He was all impressed. When we headed home we were sitting on a bench just across a narrow street from ancient Roman ruins. John asked me, "How cool is that?!"
Read more

After our museum visit today we had kabobs for our Thanksgiving dinner. The kabobs are Turkish, so we had Turkish instead of turkey today.

Late tonight (22:00 my time, 13:00 Eugene time) I video chatted with several of my CFI friends during their Thanksgiving gathering. That was fun. It's so good to see them again and share more info about what is happening here and also with them! Cool group.

I told them that we saw the giant Nice Ferris wheel being re-assembled in the Place Massena and that I'm gonna ride that sucker (while John watches me from the ground). Bob told me the story of the invention of the Ferris wheel (the original one, not the one here in Nice). Brief History of the Ferris Wheel: Originally the American answer to the Eiffel Tower, the summertime amusement became a hallmark of summer fun.
Read more

View from the Nice Ferris wheel

Description of the Nice Ferris wheel."Located in the huge main plaza of Nice right next to Old Town and the beach, the Ferris Wheel is one of the most recognizable sights in Nice. The plaza itself is a major gathering place for both locals and tourists and is a wonderful place to sit and people watch and admire the artistic setup of the plaza. Its hard to miss this plaza as its located at the end of Jean Medecin Ave."

Slideshow of images of the Nice Ferris wheel

During the video chat we talked about a ton of stuff and I showed off my Christmas tree and cats and they passed around the laptop (or iPad??) and so I saw everyone as they talked with me. I really enjoyed the experience. It was almost like being there.

I asked Joan what she was doing these days (it's been almost 2 months since we moved to Nice). She said she was doing water color paintings. That's cool. I asked to see some of her work and she sent me several images. She gave permission to post some on this blog. See Dog, Early Flowers and Abstract below.

Shannon and I discussed Marvel's Jessica Jones TV series produced by Netflix. TRAILERS. David Tennant plays a narcisistic, psychotic sadistic serial killer (yes, all those adjectives apply and are needed). He was a natural. John told me that David Tennant played Richard II for the Royal Shakespeare Theater. Richard II was also a narcisistic, psychotic serial killer. A prep role of sorts for David playing the Purple Man on Jessica Jones. Oh yeah -- he was also one of those Drs. Who. If you want to know what's coming to the movies from Marvel and DC comics see the links below:
Marvel
DC

Musée Matisse Musée Matisse Henri Matisse with cat.
Woman from paper cutouts. Matisse collage. Head of Lorette With Curls
Odalisque in Red Trousers Ruth in Roman arena ruins Nice Christmas Ferris wheel halfway through construction.
Dog by Joan Early Flowers by Joan Abstract by Joan



25.11.2015

I video chatted with Betty, testing our systems for my Thanksgiving chat with CFI friends who will gather at Bob and Mary's tomorrow afternoon (21:00 my time).

I called Charlotte tonight. She was shoveling snow in Quincy, CA. She and Dave have a cool-looking pointy-roof chalet-style house far away from the nearest (tiny) town. It's covered in snow now and I'm sure that is a pretty picture.

Charlotte told me our blog has heightened their desire to get back to Europe. She said they might visit in the spring 2016. I'm looking forward to seeing them again soon and here in France. We should be in our one-year rental and fairly well settled-in by spring time.

Dave, Charlotte and Scout



24.11.2015

John went to the nearby households store to see if they had hangers for Christmas ornaments and the kind of blankets and sheets that he likes. We haven't been able to find ornament hangers anywhere. I could get them online at amazon et al., but it seems that they aren't used here. They use string. The strings that came with my globe ornaments are not long enough to easily hang the ornaments from the branches. So we decided to use paperclips (trombones in French). When we first learned that paperclips were trombones we thought, "OK, that makes sense - they kinda look like trombones." When I bought the paperclips there were several kinds (as there are in the states) but almost all of them were wide and angular. When I saw a small box with an image like the trombones in the states I was like "YES!", and happily carried them home. When I poured the clips out of the box I saw that they didn't resemble the image on the box at all. Instead they were wider and angular like pictures on the other boxes. Hmmm. Where's the truth in advertising?!! In the end they served the purpose we needed, so all's well.

Paper clips or trombones (slang) in French. Trombones John transforming trombones into ornament hangers.
Disney Christmas ornaments waiting to be put on the tree. Tommy in his nest under the tree. Tommy



23.11.2015

Yesterday and today we were sick and stayed home. I spent some time investigating our future trips and John studied French. I learned that Disneyland Paris DOES have a fast pass system. I also looked into science and art museums and zoos and aquariums and national monuments all over Europe. We're also gonna trek to the Alps in the near future. Maybe stay in a chalet overnight. Lots of cool stuff to do.

The kitties slept all day today (and yesterday, and the day before ...) John and I pretty much followed their lead.

Terrorism

In a sweeping advisory, the United States told its citizens to “exercise vigilance” when traveling anywhere in the world because terrorist groups continue to plan attacks in multiple locations.

The worldwide travel alert recommended “particular caution during the holiday season and at holiday festivals or events,” an ominous warning that could cast a pall over upcoming events.

Chocolate

When John and I go shopping -- anywhere -- we see an amazing number of chocolate. Remember the choocolate covered sardines and the chocolate/candy shops? Tht's just the beginning. There's chocolate everywhere!

Chocolate is everywhere here. You'd think this was Switzerland!

In the states you'll see some chocolate flavored processed breakfast cereal. In our neighborhood shops 80% of those kinds of cereals have chocolate in them. Lots of other food has chocolate in it and Nutella crepes are sold on every street corner.


21.11.2015

As you know, Frenchies don't celebrate the American Thanksgiving holiday so there aren't any restaurants advertising turkey dinners. If there were a Thanksgiving holiday here the dinners would probably be like their traditional Christmas dinners, anyway, which are widely varied. Any cooked meat, seafood, pate, with wine, vegetables and casseroles with wine, breads, cheeses and wine and the standard ending of the meal: salad, desert with wine and then coffee.
Read more. And more.

But ya know what? I AM Jonesin' for a turkey leg. I'm pretty sure we'll be hitting at least one Renaissance Festival somewhere in Europe next year. I'll grab a leg then for sure.

The Venice Renaissance Faire occurs as part of the Venice Mardi Gras - and we are definitely going to the Venice Mardi Gras in 2017. Next year in 2016, we'll be in Nice for its Mardi Gras.

European Renaissance Festivals Links
Read more And more And more still And more even more still

Turkey leg, mmmmmmm! Renaissance Festival Renaissance Festival
Carnevale di Venezia Carnevale di Venezia Carnevale di Venezia
Carnaval de Nice Carnaval de Nice Carnaval de Nice



20.11.2015

The high today was 79 F and the temps were warm tonight. John told me the accordion guy came by again today serenading the neighborhood. This is my first time living in a high rise (well, actually a medium rise - only 5 stories) experiencing the neighborhood from several floors up. It's cool. And it beats not experiencing the neighborhood in American suburbia.

There is a CFI group here in Nice but haven't contacted them yet. Christmas seems a good time to do so. I started investigating the Nice CFI group. It is both CFI Nice and CFI France and I think it may be the only CFI group in France. I think they don't have the same opportunities for just hangin' with like minds, but that's cool. Henri Broch is the founder and Director of CFI France. His history is pretty cool. I'll likely meet him soon.
Read more.

There's also that Internations group which I contacted before our move here and I occasionally get newsletters from them. We needed to take care of a few things first, but we've done much of what we needed to do.


19.11.2015

I had some cabin fever so I did a little shopping at about 21:00 tonight. The streets were boisterous still (I like that - a lot). Many places were closed, but the neighborhood Carrefour store, 11th Art (11e Art) and other high end restaurants, some small eateries and stores were open.

I walked a block to the beach and saw fewer people than during the day, but still a lot of people.

I didn't see any memorials or signs of the vigils for the victims of the Paris attacks. I wish I'd joined them earlier in the week, but I was ill. Unfortunately I'll likely have the opportunity for joining a vigil again soon.
Read more.

"French MPs agreed on Thursday that the national state of emergency would be extended to three months."
Read more.


18.11.2015

Today we received our notices in the mail with our assigned appointments for a 17.12.2015 meeting with OFII (said o-fee)(Office Français de l'Immigration et de l'Intégration). We haven't translated the materials sent to us but we know a medical check up is involved. We need to determine if they assign a medical doctor to us (I think this is what will happen) or if we need to do something with our primary care physician.

I called my CFI friends tonight (about noon their time). It was good to hear their voices again. I talked to Hugh, Betty, Joan and Hermina. Mostly they asked if we were doing well and gave their "I love yous." So sweet. We talked a bit about Paris, of course.

I told them many months ago that I'd be calling during one of their coffee klatches. I don't think they believed me back then. The background sounds were noisier than we expected, but 2 of my dear sweet friends got in the janitor's closet so they ccould talk with me without so much noise. Seriously - how cool is that?

After we hung up I realized that I forgot to tell my friends about the two guys who had just walked up and down my block -- one with a boom box and one playing an accordion. They were serenading the neighborhood and doing a great job of it!

Some of my friends are having a get together for Thanksgiving and will give me a call then. I'm hoping we can do a video call. I'll try to get my cats in the act on my end and I'll be able to see everyone on their end if they sit together when they call. But taking turns is cool too.

John and I will be taking a trip to Antibes next week or the week after. I always pronounced Antibes as "an tib bees". It's pronounced ahn teeb uh (the last syllable is barely pronounced) in France.

Soon after our visit to Antibes we'll visit Pisa. On December 23 we'll go to visit Disneyland Paris, stay in a hotel near Disneyland and then meet with one of my friends from San Diego who will be in Paris on Christmas Eve. David has friends in Paris and here in Nice. He's a family law attorney who used to be a family social worker. Very nice guy. Funny guy. And, of course, smart. It will be good to see him again.

Nights here are cool now but the holiday lights aren't on. They were lit for 2 or 3 days - testing, I guess. But so far the weather is still warm in the day. Temps have been Farenheit low-middle 60s/low 50s for a long time. Friday the range will be 58-69 then temps drop to highs of mid-50s and lows of low 40s.

I kept seeing the word Niçois everywhere -- on signs, in the paper, on building plaques, on the web page masts... so, finally, I looked it up. (I also looked up noisette which is everywhere too, but not on building plaques.) Residents of Nice are called Niçois (pronounced nee kwah). Niçois is also dialictic of the area in and near Nice and even throughout the Alpes-Maritimes region.

A noisette is a hazelnut and they are MUCH more prevalent/popular in Europe than in the U.S. Read more. "Oregon grows 98% of hazelnuts produced in the US—but only a fraction of the world's supply of hazelnuts are grown here; the vast majority of hazelnuts are grown in Turkey, Spain, and Italy.

Hazelnuts are also called filberts. "The most widely believed story explaining this second name is steeped in religion. The feast day of St. Philbert, a French saint, falls on August 20th. That also happens to be peak harvest time for hazelnuts, which traditionally mature in late August. So people started applying the saint's name to the nuts that were in season on his feast day."

Nutella, the chocolate-hazelnut spread, is a big time product in France, but it is produced by the Italian company Ferrero. Ferrero is also well know for its crunchy chocolate candies Ferrero Boucher. One of my young friends in San Diego, Esteban, was just crazy about that candy.

Ferrero Boucher



15.11.2015

At about 23:00 my time last night I started writing a blog entry about our day's activities. Our schedule had been full and we accomplished alot. After a few minutes writing I switched over to Facebook and saw what had happened in Paris. So, I abandoned the blog entry and spent the next several hours reading about the attacks in Paris. Here's some of what I learned:

Many French schools are normally open on Saturdays, but the French government ordered them shuttered as part of emergency security measures.

As a precaution, all sports events were cancelled on Saturday, while access to public facilities such as museums and swimming pools was restricted.
Soldiers were deployed at key sites around Paris, including Parliament buildings and religious sites, while in a highly unusual move Disneyland Paris has been closed to the public. Read more

The day-after coverage fairly consistently says 127-129 people were killed in the attacks. Last night a few sources said 153 or 166 had died. All reports seem to agree that almost 100 are critically injured and another 250+ others are injured. I also read that 100 Americans and many other foreign nationals are unaccounted for. Read more

Several countries lost citizens in the attacks including France, Romania, Belgium, Britain, Sweden, Germany. Read more

ISIS has claimed responsibility and made more threats against, Fraance, other European countries and the US. Read more

Western media calls the terrorists ISIS and ISIL the Islamic State. Hollande (pronounced O - lon) says it is insulting to call the terrorists the Islamic State and he calls them Daesh. Hollande said, "The Arabs call it 'Daesh' and I will be calling them the 'Daesh cutthroats.'" From the article:
"The name Daesh, according to France24, is a "loose acronym" for "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" (al-Dawla al-Islamiya al-Iraq al-Sham). The name is commonly used by enemies of ISIS, and it also has many negative undertones, as Daesh sounds similar to the Arabic words Daes ("one who crushes something underfoot") and Dahes ("one who sows discord")."

A brief history of Daesh: The name "Islamic State," as opposed to ISIS or Daesh, is at its heart a propaganda tool. By claiming to be the caliphate, ISIS is implying that it's the only state true Muslims should obey: Around the world, they should pledge loyalty to the one and only Islamic State. This message is part of how ISIS recruits and thus keeps fighting."

Cartoon by Bill Day



14.11.2015 Attacks in Paris

The attacks occurred last night about 9:30 PM Paris time (12:30 PM Pacific time).

In 8 venues multiple gun and grenade attacks in Paris killed at least (varying sources report from 129 to 166) people. 100 young people were killed at a heavy metal concert at the Bataclan concert hall. 352 people were wounded (99 critically). President Hollande placed temporary controls on the borders of France and nationwide local authorities were given authority to place curfews and take other security actions as needed. Nice imposed a curfew after the attacks. An extra 1,500 soldiers were deployed to Paris after the attacks. Some accomplices of the gunmen may be at large.

The only thing I noticed near here that is likely related is that several restaurants and clubs closed early tonight.

U.S. citizens in Paris who are safe are being asked by the State Department to call their families. Those Americans in France needing assistance should call 001-202-501-4444. Americans concerned about loved ones in Paris should call 1-888-407-4747.

The Paris attackers hit the city’s young, progressive core.

"This is the land of hipster socialists. These neighborhoods recently elected a female socialist mayor, as well as a slew of Green Party candidates, even as the rest of the country voted for the more conservative and anti-immigration parties on the Right.

The attackers, whomever they may be and whatever their motives, went after the heart of progressive Paris."

News Link 1, News Link 2, News Link 3

Soldiers deployed in Paris. Newspaper headlines around the world. Posted on Instagram this morning.



13.11.2015

I look out our big bay windows several times a night to see what is happening below. When I have the windows ajar I can hear noises of young people laughing, music coming from the clubs or workers pulling a street sweeping shift (with human sweepers, not machines). I saw city workers completing the installation of holiday lights up and down our street. I was happy - clapping my hands, hopping a little, dancing with the kitties. A little later I looked and saw that some of the lights were lit , and they were very cool! All white lights animated with little dots racing around the swirly designs. So cool. I'm like a kid with the pagan holiday rituals. I'm in my element for sure.

I took pics of the workers and of the lighted lights, and then I strung lights on our tree. Tommy immediately made a home for himself under it. I kept adjusting the location of the tree for his comfort. Tommy went to get some water and Danny took his spot. When Tommy came back he climbed under the tree on the other side and whacked Danny in the head, Then there was a cat fight which I broke up effortlessly. Kids! Later I took pics of the boys under the tree sleeping. They seemed like such sweet little kitties then. Hah!

Ours is a much better situation now with the cats and the tree than it was when they were younger. I remember trying to get Tommy out of the tree once and being hugely amazed at how strong he was. He was just a little kitten. This youtube video Cats vs Trees aptly illustrates the chaos rained down on our holiday tree by our kittens and cats each winter.

We went to the Post Office to see if our bank account application had been approved. It had. We also got our bank cards in the mail today. Woo Hoo! -- we're gonna be Frenchies. The people at this post office are super cool. They like discussing American politics with us. The manager who helped us said he likes John Kerry a lot. That guy is really sweet. A lot of the people we work with here are sweet. At the bank I met a young man from Algeria while we were waiting and he told me he wants to do an internship in DC or some other US city with a high profile national government agency that deals with national or international policy issues. We exchanged emails. His English is very good.

Earlier in this blog I said there were Catch-22s we had to deal with, but after some thought I remember that, for the most part, apartments in the US won't rent to a person without a local bank account and the banks there won't open an account for you without a local address. that's not a motel/hotel, It can be done both there and here, I'm sure. But we don't know the language here much less the ins and outs of nuanced contracting.

Anyway -- we have the bank account now so we can look in earnest for a one year apartment lease and once we get that we can start looking for a house to buy (not in the center of town and on a good transportation route). We'll keep you posted.

A very helpful La Banque Postale employee who helped us get a French bank account. Salim from Algeria Christmas lights in the street below.
Shy Danny nesting under the tree. Tommy waiting for prey under the tree. Our Italian and French Santas.
Christmas decorations we brought from home. More Christmas decorations that survived.



12.11.2015 Odds and Ends

Yesterday was Armistice Day and the whole of France (well, almost) was closed for the holiday. It's a VERY big deal here. Someone across the street put out a French flag. We want to get one but we're still pondering the symbolism.

More and more lights are going up around town. Mostly giant snowflakes but also some lighted abstract swirly designs. The lights aren't lit yet but it will be lovely when they are. The lights are on every major street we've been on - not just the tourist areas.

John and I bought an artificial tree a couple of days ago at Carrefour and some lights and cheap plastic ornament globes today. I'm gearing up for the holidays big time. Our tree lights have a controller to blink flashing or glow steady but they also have options to blink 2 colors at a time in several combos and low glow and flash fast enough to provoke an epileptic fit and more. I want to put the tree right in the window for all the Frenchies to see. We also intend to hang our four winter flags off the shutters of our two large living room windows which face Rue Meyerbeer. We'll post pics.

Do you remember when you were a kid and you insisted that your mom cut the crust off your PB&J sandwiches? Yeah, me neither. But if I had I would be in reminiscing heaven in France. They sell loaves of bread here with the crust cut off. I wonder if that's just supposed to be for kids. Maybe it's supposed to be for Americans. Here they call the loaves of bread with squarish slices "American bread."

As I've mentioned before - traffic is very entertaining here in Nice. Every few days someone will block the street downstairs - to pick someone up, to let someone off with their luggage or to delivery parcels to a residential building or boxes of products to a store. In those situations of the driver takes very long a procession of cars lines up and people start honking their horns. Today was a delivery of product boxes to a store. As the delivery was being unloaded drivers would start honking . One would honk and then several others would honk then the honking would die down for a minute then a driver would honk and all the other would chime in -- honk! honk! honk! honk! honk! honk! honk! Then the delivery guys started yelling at the car drivers (in French - I don't know what they said). It was all pretty funny. We are so glad we don't have a car.

Neighbors across the street observe Armistice Day. 1.4 million French soldiers died. Testing new Christmas tree lights. French sandwich bread with crust already cut off.
One lane downtown road blocked by grocery deliveries. Traffic blocked and horns are honking.



10.11.2015 Carrefour

We bought our Christmas tree!

Christmas tree in a box.



7.11.2015 Carrefour

The larger Carrefour stores are huge and surrounded by small shops and stores. The Centre Commercial TNL where the Carrefour is located also has another huge store, Conforama, that anchors the mall. Conforama is primarily a furniture and appliance store. The cost of eating out (especially where we live now) is high but appliances are not. Several brands of front loading washers were in the range of 300-500 Euro. The specs on those and the low costs ranges, refrigerators and freezers and washing machines were all good. There were no dryers for sale. The furniture was very average. I need to find a local consumer reports for those appliances. The size of the Carrefour store we went to exceeds the Costco in Eugene and is laid out in a fashion resembling a cross of Costco and Target/Wal-mart. Most of the prices are OK or good. We found our rolly thing there. The colors were limited but it has three wheels on each side in the back so it can climb stairs. It has many features and a 3 year guarantee and it has TWO POCKETS FOR BAGUETTES. Fancy!

I also found some diet cherry Pepsi there. The whole town seems to have a contract with Coke such that Coke takes up 10 times the space of Pepsi in their soft drinks section. I don't like Coke but Pepsi is another thing I should cut out of my diet. There not being much Pepsi in Nice should help me with that. We bought some other supplies before we headed home.

Before we left the mall John and I were looking for a toilet. I saw many signs of a line-drawing figure who appeared to be running. I told John that was the bathroom sign . He looked at me funny and told me the Emergency Exit sign. He's probably right. Soon we saw signs overhead with arrows directing us to the WC. We walked forever following those signs (we did the same thing at the Frankfort airport and nearly missed our flight). We found a map that said the WC was just outside stores numbered 16 and 17 but the WC was nowhere to be found. We asked some people near us if they spoke English. They were from Germany and they spoke perfect English. I told them our dilemma and that we did not understand the map and he replied, "I don't understand the French either." He told us that (something on the map indicated) the WC was downstairs. I had no idea what was the indicator, but we got to pee so we were happy. Later I learned that the signs and maps have a plus or minus sign next to things that are on another floor. Reading this text you may think that the plus or minus signs make perfect sense for upper or lower floors. In theory, yes. In practice I'm still trying to piece together the mechanics and readability of that mapping method.

Carrefour (which translates to Intersection in English) The shopping center looked much like the shopping centers in the States. Elusive WC
Exit sign (although running man could be trying to get to a WC) Pull cart with pockets for baguettes. Ruth demonstrates the baguette pocket. Very French!



7.11.2015 Bus Ride

Each time we get on a bus we need to validate our tickets in a little machine. Our first time we put our tickets in upside down and/or backward (both of us). It reminded me of trying to put a credit card in the right direction for the reader.

For the first 3 or 4 bus trips we played a game of "where or where has the validator gone?", we realized that the validator is not in the same location for every bus. So far we've identified 4 locations for validators. We're empowered!

The bus wasn't very crowded so John and I could easily see the sights. John paid attention to where we were and where we would get off the bus. On the way home the bus driver drove past our stop. John kept saying, "He blew right through our stop." I was thinking, "Yeah, he drove past where wanted to get off, but isn't "blew right through reserved for running red lights or stop signs?" We had already looked for a cord or lever to pull or a button to push, but all we saw was a bright red big button labeled STOP. We thought it was an emergency stop button. When we got home John looked it up on the Internet. Now we know.

We ventured out on the bus again and used the stop button this time. All is good with the world.

Ticket validation John checking the bus schedule and routes Magical stop button



6.11.2015 Sights in Nice

When we walk through and explore Nice we often take photos of sights that we feel are cool or unusual including the novel transportation here. Below are pics of some of the cute vehicles we've seen in Nice: three wheeled mini cars for rent, a Segway dealer, and a very small electric car charging at the curb-side charging station. It's not just that these vehicles exist here, of course. It's that they are so prevalent. We often see itsy bitsy cars parallel park into tiny spaces, which they fill completely. It's a trip to watch that happen. Traffic here is interesting and we are very glad we opted not to drive here. Maybe later if we live in a less crowded community.

A quirky sign: A liquor store down the block has two displays each a meter tall, of Van Gogh ad for absinthe in triple vision. I think it's very cool. One of my favorites, really.

Double-take: A few blocks away is a high-rise building with large ornate windows. We've passed it many times on our way to and from running errands. For a while we even consider renting an apartment there. Later we realized that the windows are a painted optical illusion (see pics below).

Another oddity we encountered is the local Marriott with two 8-story tall bronze Venus statues, by the local artist Sacha Sosno, embedded into it's sides. Sosno has a lot of surrealistic style works around Nice, especially very large outdoor sculptures. We both like his work very much.
Sacha Sosno's bio
Images of Sacha Sosno's sculptures and buildings

Sosno also designed the library building in the shape of a cube with a lower jaw jutting out below (see image link above). La Tete-au-Carre (also known as "square head") was built for the Central Library of Nice. Inside that guy's skull are three library floors housing digital, paper/print media and books. It is made entirely of aluminum. Basically, he's got a building in his head.

People in the water

The area of the Mediterranean where we live is called the the Baie des Anges (The Bay of Angels). Here's some info. It was named after fishermen found in their nets some long fined sharks that appeared to them to be angels.
The Bay of Angels

John and I like to watch people swimming, fishing and sailing in the Mediterranean. He took a pic of a guy fishing yesterday. I want to go sailing in the Bay soon.

Three wheeled rental cars Two seater with motorcycle steering Official Segway dealer for Nice
Single seater electric car charging on street Nice Railroad Station Ticket buying machines in the Nice Railroad Station
Double decker train Departures board French flags at railroad station
The informational diagrams were easy to follow. The railroad station map Van Gogh ad for absinthe
Apartment building with faux balconies and windows. We couldn't tell until we got closer. Fisherman on the Nice beach at sundown.
Three story statue embedded in the AC Marriott Hotel in Nice The front of the AC Marriott Hotel The other statue at the other end



4.11.2015 New Home Take Two

We're in our new place now. Very nice. The owner is a Latvian fashion model so there's a lot of fashiony stuff around the place. This is a vacation rental. The owner tailored our contract to what is needed for us to acquire a bank account. She's been very helpful. I've included some images of the apartment and of her fashion photo shoots below.

We had intended that this be a year long rental but because of a Catch-22 situation (we had to have a local bank account to get a year long lease and we had to have a lease to get a bank account) we are currently limited to a short term rental (1 to 3 months). The bank said they would accept the 3 month rental as our place of residence as long as we have an original contract (the one we had for the one month rental was a copy that had been emailed to us). It's a little complicated (Refer to the blog entry for Oct 23).

Because we now have all the paperwork required (including an original rental contract) we applied for a Frenchie bank account through the Post Office this week. After that, the only business we'll need to take care of will be the interviews, medical check ups and paperwork for our French residency status. One step at a time.

Our Latvian landlady A larger kitchen A larger living room
Tommy gets comfortable in new digs Danny's found his bed. Tommy likes watching the pedestrians five stories below.



3.11.2015 Communicating

We've been here a month. Lately we've been very busy. I just finished filing claims for all our damaged belongings. They say we need receipts or professional estimates of value for all broken and missing items. Seriously. So I gathered what I could. PLUS -- their web site was messed up for several days and never accepted my input on their form. That happened about 6 times. Fortunately I had a wordpad file of my entries before I entered that info on the form and tried to submit it. Still it was a waste of an hour or more.

We've got a routine now for dealing with our language impairment. Before we go anywhere we translate some sentences about what we want to accomplish. We try to not have any open-end questions. All our questions have Oui or Non answers and the rest of what we translate are statements (such as I want to open a bank account -- see the blog entry for Oct 23).

We're also buying a newspaper once a week and leaving it on the dining table so we can read what's happening locally. It takes us at least a week to translate it. To translate we use Google translate's OCR (Optical Character Recognition Software) program (the one that lets you hold your phone up to a sign and have the English language translation displayed). But we also sometimes just type in the words we don't know to get the content. With most features of Google there is a speaker icon so you can hear the text in French. The OCR feature doesn't have that option, but OCR is very helpful nonetheless.

John is using Rosetta Stone and inputting three books of French vocabulary and verb conjugations into Quizlet, a flashcard creation software that we use on our phones to build our French language skills.