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

31.12.2015

On my way to the festivities at Place Massena, I walked along the North side (as opposed to the beach side) of the Promenade d'Anglais. The clubs and casinos were all rockin'. Both floors of the Hard Rock Cafe were packed and music was everywhere. On the Promenade people were elegantly dressed. Elsewhere - not so much.

I was at the top of the Ferris wheel at midnight when sirens blared, fireworks went off and the crowd below began singing Choral des Adieux - the Frenchie equivalent to Auld Lang Syne. Lyrics.

The lead singer of this cover is Eugene Achi. He was born in Lebanon and raised in Louisiana - both French language cultures. He still has a band and sings and plays instruments but he's also a neurologist in Louisiana. Pretty cool, huh?

There are two different lyrics in French for the tune.

It was wonderful. My first New Year in France.

I saw fireworks from every direction but the displays were subdued. Nothing very big. Nothing lasted long. I was just all jazzed to be at the top of the Ferris wheel at midnight.

I met a very nice British couple while I was standing in line for the Ferris wheel. They told me that they were hoping to be at the top at midnight also. She mentioned that there was to be a much more subdued celebration because of the November attacks in Paris. She was right. The fireworks lasted for only 10 minutes at the most and there were dozens of police cars in and near Place Massena. There were very few police cars there during the Christmas festivities.

As I wandered about Place Massena I encountered some people who were dressed to the Nines, others were in costume and there were lots of little kids about. I had on my mechanical Santa hat and twice when kids were crying I pushed the button on my hat and it started singing and dancing and the lights flashed and the kids quit crying. Isn't that AMAZING??!!

;-) They were so cute.

Happy New Year EVERYONE!!

Outside the Casino	Pedi-cabs	Standing in line at the Ferris Wheel
Thousands of Niçois welcome in the New Year	Promenade de Paillon and the Mediterranean Sea beyond	On the way home

28.12.2015

When we get our new place we will get 2 very comfortable couches that are imminently sleep-able AND we'll have an extra bedroom, so we can have a few people visit at a time. We had the best couch and love seat in Eugene. They weren't fold-outs and didn't need to be because they were made to be so comfortable. If the back cushions are removed, the bed of the couch is plenty big for sleeping. This time, if we have enough space, we will get 2 couches instead of a couch and a loveseat. I think we'll have enough space for 2 couches.

We're going to go to Menton and Antibes soon -- probably within a week -- and also to 2 western suburbs of Nice (St Laurent and Cagnes-sur-Mer) to check them out as potential places to live. No decisions have been made yet but those places look like possibilities.

John wants to live in a smaller locale and I agree that we don't need to live in the center of Nice. The experience here, for me, was very nice so far (except for dog poop in the streets and prolific cigarette smoke).

Menton has a micro-climate better than any Mediterranean town or city because the Alps provide protection from Northern winds and rains. It is also considered one of the cleanest towns by the sea because the residents there are older and compulsive cleaners (John can identify).

Menton also has some impressive political sciences, math and physical sciences facilities and events. See notes below. I haven't found any negatives to Menton yet except for having only one English speaking GP doctor. I'll keep checking it out.

Antibes is more than twice the size of Menton and less than a third the size of Nice. It has a decent amount of activities and both Menton and Antibes are about 30-40 minutes from Nice by direct bus. It's an hour (and cheaper) by the scenic route. Anyway -- we will likely go look at those places within a week.

We're still recovering from our latest illness but we're close to adequate recovery. I'm prone to infections, but John -- not so much. I think it's just that we are not yet adapted to the local germies. Or - it's just flu season and I haven't had my flu shot this year (and not for whatever is hanging out in Nice vs Eugene). I've been looking for a local doctor who speaks English and is close to where we live. I found some doctors very close to us, but they don't answer their office door and they don't have email on their site. At this time, since we'll be moving very soon, I can forgo the requirement that the doctor "is near where we are." I will be changing docs after we move anyway.

NOTES ON MENTON:

POLITICAL SCIENCE and ECONOMICS

The Mediterranean Model United Nations Conference, organized by the Mediterranean Model United Nations will take place from 01st April to the 03rd April 2016 in Menton, France. The Conference hosts 350 delegates. Immerse yourself in a world-class MUN experience and explore the theme: "Water: The Common Resource Precipitating Global Divisions". Read more.

Menton's top-notch political science and economics university (Read more.), Sciences Po, is France's leading university in the social sciences and the 2014 QS World University Rankings ranked Sciences Po 13th in the world for Politics & International Studies. Since 1872, Sciences Po has educated decision-makers in the public and private sectors.

Sciences Po has six campuses outside Paris, each with a unique cultural identity. Located in Dijon, Menton, Nancy, Poitiers, Reims and Le Havre, they reflect the desire to further increase the diversity of the student body as well as academic programmes and languages. These campuses offer the same core curriculum and methodological training as in Paris, and introduce a strong comparative approach to their respective regions of focus.

The Middle Eastern and Mediterranean Undergraduate College of Menton focuses on political, economic and social issues in Mediterranean countries, the Middle East and the Gulf. Read more.

MATHEMATICAL AND PHYSICAL SCIENCES

The NATO Advanced Studies Institute (Mathematical and Physical Sciences) International Symposium is held in Menton every few years.

The International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science in Menton, France, every third year arranges an International Congress in Quantum Chemistry (ICQC). Read more and read even more.

Antibes	Menton	Menton

27.12.2015

John and I were feeling better today so we wandered out to the beach and sat in the sun for a half hour or so. Near the house are a couple of restaurants on the beach side of the Promenade d'Anglais. They put chairs on the beach in cordoned areas for their customers (there's plenty of non-cordoned beach nearby for non-customers). On 27 December this is what the beach looked like near those restaurants and along the other beach areas - about a block and a half from our apartment.

Beach restaurant at the foot of the Mediterranean	A family watching a kayaker.	Lots of people walk along the pebbled beach.

25.12.2015

John and I stayed home nursing our colds, but because I shopped yesterday we are rich, rich, rich with Christmas Day goodies. I gave John a Frenchie National Geographic Special and some Historie magazines in French. He gave me a Sudoku book in French (don't laugh -- it has instructions, ads and a contest to enter) and a book of Sudoku-like puzzles in binary (trickier than you might think). I wanted to give the kitties catnip, but I procrastinated too long. I did give them tuna juice with a few chunks of tuna. They were happy with that.

French food is good food. Not just in restaurants and fast food joints, but also in microwave dinners (bouillabaisse, paella, ratatoulie, chicken cordon bleu, duck, goose, veal in cream sauce - all amazing - and cheap - about 2 Euros per).

An aside: Speaking of microwaves - the cooking instructions on microwave dinners is: MICRO-ONDES followed by directions to pierce, lift or remove the film and for the settings for the microwave. If you are familiar with French you will know that i's are pronounced like e's (such as in wee fee for WiFi) and that two vowels together are joined or 'smeared' and that in plurals the last 's' is usually not pronounced. So the word micro-ondes is pronounced mee-crond with a slightly guttural 'cr' and a slight (and rapid?) pronunciation of the second 'o' . Note this is the French word for microwaves, not microwave or microwave oven, but that's how the instructions are written. "MICRO-ONDES: " ... When I first saw the instructions - in my head - I read 'micro undies'. I started saying that to John and we started making jokes about the microwave wearing bikinis or briefs. It was cute the first 47 times (OK - the first 6 times). It's a bit old now. In French, the start button on the microwave (or clothes washer or dishwasher) is labelled 'depart.' Depart means START. For a while (not nearly for as long as the micro undies running joke) John would say 'departing' when he started the microwave (or clothes washer or dishwasher). Then, before either of us would start the microwave (or clothes washer or dishwasher) I would make revving sounds, put my arms out and make like a plane rolling down the runway, after saying "flight (unintelligible) ready for departure". OK -- enough of the aside - on with the food raving.

Even instant mashed potatoes here are good. John and I have sore throats so we are pretty much sticking to the soft stuff.

The produce here tastes fresh off the farm. Really nice - in Nice. This is a citrus climate and I love the tangerines and oranges. For Christmas dinner we shared 2 microwave dinners: chicken with mashed potatoes and pureed carrots and a veal in cream sauce with carrots dish that was divine. I added some extra mashed potatoes, a couple of small apple tarts and voilà -- Christmas dinner. We were pleased.

I stayed inside but stuck my head out the window fairly often. After 9 PM the streets were still busy on Christmas night -- almost as busy as week nights in general here. Some people carried shopping bags. Our neighborhood is filled with kebab shops owned by Turks (who are Muslim). Other non-Christians, including atheists, probably own many shops here too and were open Christmas Day. Some of the Christmas travelers (maybe tourists?) wore bulky sweaters with Christmas scenes or decorations in knit, sequins, lights and 3D images. They are known as 'ugly Christmas sweaters' in America. I never thought most of them were ugly.

By midnight Christmas the streets were empty and, with the windows opened, the noise level was down to an able-to-sleep level. Kitties are snoring softly now. Beau rêves, minous, doux rêves.

24.12.2015

Today is Christmas Eve. It feels wintry, but very mild. Yesterday there were sailboats on the Mediterranean.

I'm glad we did touristy holiday things last week and I'm glad we took pics. Our first Christmas in Nice has been a treat and more.

John and I still have colds, but I'm feeling better so later today I'll check out the nearby shops, walk down to Place Massena, maybe stop in somewhere for a savory crepe.

I finished our low-key holiday shopping yesterday and the day before and we now have red and silver wrapped presents under our first Frenchie holiday tree. The holiday street lights added to the festive spirit last night and Christmas music played at every store I entered -- all of it it English.

I brought out some of the kitty toys that had been stashed. Old toys but the kitties forgot they existed so the toys are new to them. I need to get some catnip for the boys today -- for Christmas. I think Carrefour across the street has some. Not sure. The kitties are so cute on Catnip. Danny rolls in it and rubs it on his face with his paws. Tommy eats it and goes into action mode batting, chasing and chewing toys.

Happy Holidays! Meilleurs voeux!

22.12.2015

It's John's turn to be sick. The last three days he's been ill with a bad sore throat and general malaise. I went shopping each day and I tried to see the GP doctor I looked up on the Internet. No one has been home each time I went to the office. I want a female doctor because of the success I've had with them and because they know that not every woman has an unfeeling cervix. But that's just part of the story, of course.

Back to OUR story. Tonight John and I listened to a few Garison Keillor Christmas tales. His stories are sooo funny. Especially the one about the guy who maxes out all his credit cards: The Christmas Companion, disc 1, track 2 Bebopareebop Rhubarb Pie (NOTE: If you look it up online it's not just the Rhubarb pie commercial - it's the monologue that starts with "it's two weeks before Christmas - two weeks! You still don't have anything for your mother.")

This is his take on the 12 Days of Christmas: which is also on disc 1 of The Christmas Companion. Goofy. Cute. Another good monologue of his.

Small fun activities, making memories. Constantly pinching ourselves -- "We're in Nice! France!" We are both so glad we did this.

I play English and French Christmas music most days of late. Our tree is decorated and lit. We have Christmas flags outside our windows so the tenants across the street three, four, five and six stories up can see them. One of our outdoor flags is a Santa and snowman flag that says 'Welcome Friends' (in English). The other is of kitties in a sleigh with presents and candy canes. In French, the word kitties is minous. It's pronunced mee-new (no 's' sound). To hear how it's pronounced go to Google translate and type 'kitties' in the English box then click on the speaker icon in the French box.

Inside the apartment we have a Winnie the Pooh and Piglet flag titled 'Let it Snow' and another Santa-shaped flag hangs behind the Christmas tree. It feels all warm and cozy inside our home on the French Riviera. A little Merlot helps, as do happiness, contentment and love. There's a lot of all of the above going on these days.

Our cats excited about Christmas.

21.12.2015

The shopping forays I've made these last few days have been pleasant. I've found that several of the 'made in France' consumable 'exotics' are commonplace and cheap here. I bought a 350 ml bottle of Gran Marnier for €14 today. In the tourist part of town! That's about half what it costs in many places in the US. Chocolates, wines, pâtés, pastries are everyday things, not over-priced - not even in the tourist areas of town.

Near the end/beginning of Place Massena (Rue de France becomes Place Massena) is a children's clothing store with very sad children advertising their products. In the states you'd see images smiling children being physically active. Here you see children looking depressed. Fashion.

There were fewer tourists out today. The city is less crowded. Holiday lights are lit up everywhere and many stores are playing (mostly English) Christmas songs. Several of the small stores were sold out of decorations and wrapping paper. To me it's enjoyable to shop here. New stuff to learn: bleach is eau de Javel - and they have bottles of hydrochloric acid in the household cleaning supplies at most stores. Everyday I see new faces and some familiar faces, and everyone is so nice.

Yesterday I was walking home with 'Rocking Around the Christmas Tree' playing in my head when I passed a Frenchie guy softly singing in French. I didn't recognize the song, but the melding of his and my music was a cool experience for me. I definitely am in love with the differences and the newness of this place.

For the last 2 days, in my mind, I've been composing a letter to the mayor of Nice, He's Christian Estrosi, who is also the guy who won the Regional elections for our area. I want to tell him how much we appreciate how very very nice the people of Nice have been to us - and to each other from what we've seen. This is a beautiful place with beautiful people. But there are a couple of caveats: Doggy poop on the streets and too many smokers.

Nice should run a fierce 'clean up your dog's poop' campaign with extra waste bins and plastic baggies every block or so. Signs with an icon of a poopied-on foot with a frowny-face might be appropriate. Maybe televised, Internet and poster campaigns imploring them to think of the unkindness they are doing to their neighbors by leaving poo on the sidewalk for other people to dodge or step-in? Maybe making the public more aware of diseases dog poop harbors and sheds would be helpful?

But all of that may not work: in a Chesapeake Bay, USA, survey, 44 percent of dog walkers who did not pick up after their dogs indicated they would still refuse to pick up—even if confronted by complaints from neighbors, threatened with fines, or provided with more sanitary and convenient options for retrieving and disposing of dog waste. Read more.

I guess one workable approach might be to have the city do the clean up 2 or 3 times a week or to have fewer dogs allowed. In France, I think that second one is an impossibility.

We think the Nice city admin should also consider a stronger anti-smoking campaign with higher cigarette taxes, ads/flyers, free effective smoking-cessation aids and pervasive advertising. There's a lot of Nicorette-type products in the pharmacies, but a coordinated non-smoking campaign needs to be enacted.

A couple of years ago there was talk of enacting anti-smoking laws similar to Austalia's. Read more.

The French government says it's still considering its options including increasing the tobacco price again, banning smoking in outdoor seating, and plain packaging. I don't know what the current legal situation is regarding smoking except that today the French people can't smoke indoors in public. But they smoke constantly in the outdoor part of the cafes and in the street. It's much more pervasive than what I experienced in Eugene and San Diego.

John says it's depressing since his mother died from strokes and a heart condition related to cigarette smoking. For me it's very unpleasant because my lungs hurt if I inhale too much cigarette smoke. I have a bad allergy to something in the smoke. John has asthma and frequent respiratory allergies. Inhaling smoke is even worse for him. The smoke we unwillingly inhale hurts us physically, so we are looking at less populated areas that still have good transportation and easy access to Nice. I love Nice. I prefer cities, but I'll be happy to have fresh air and clean walking spaces as long as I have transportation to the airport or the city a few times throughout the year.

Children's clothing store.

20.12.2015

Now that we are residents we're going to upgrade our bank accounts so we can get credit cards and checks for our Nice (post office) bank accounts.

I found a nearby doctor via the Internet. I'll go see her very soon to check out her office and make an appointment for a check up and to get some prescriptions refilled. My first doctor's visit in France!

We haven't yet decided for certain what we will do Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, but for the next few days we will be exploring more Parks in Nice. We'll visit Parc Chateau (Castle Park), aka Parc de la Colline Chatequ (Castle Hill Park), which is beautiful and has dozens of events (many free to the public) throughout the year. It's up a hill near here so we'll either walk there and take the park elevator up to the top of the hill or we'll ride the little white tour train that goes there. We'll also go to Luna Park which is a giant indoor amusement park with arcades, bumper cars and a huge number of other rides, events, displays and activities. I'll probably get sick unless I stick to the little kids' rides.
VIDEOS: Luna Park 1, Luna Park 2, Luna Park 3

(Luna Park is indoor this winter - in the Nice convention center, the Acropolis).

On Wednesday or Thursday we are going to a live Nativity scene in Old Nice and also taking a walking tour of 72 creches (Nativity scenes in widely varied styles) throughout the Old Nice market place area including one animated one.

We are considering going to Menton for Christmas Eve and Antibes for Christmas Day dinner. They are small towns on the coast close to Nice that have special activities for Christmas, but we might visit them after Christmas instead. We are also considering Antibes (and less so Menton) for a possible future home. Menton is tiny (30 K population) and Antibes is not much bigger at 74 K, but both are imminently livable and both have bus access throughout the town and a very short train ride to Nice, so I can go to Nice for activities and to the airport for longer distance travel on the cheap. It's all conjecture at this point, but we're working though our due diligence.

18.12.2015

We went to see The Good Dinosaur (Le Voyage d'Arlo) movie as a reward for getting our residency certifications. It's in French. Trailers. The experience was more pleasant than I had anticipated even though I understood no more than 20% of the movie's verbiage. The story was understandable, of course. It's an animated children's tale. The theater was nice. Large seats, very cushiony. It was like being in someone's living room (almost).

After the movie we walked back to the Nicetoile shopping center. I bought a ceramic frying pan at Habitat, high-end housegoods store. The pan has the German Weilburger Greblon non-stick coating (said to be the best of the best). It also has a thick, pressure-cast aluminum base with steel plates for induction cooking. It's also oven safe even though it's handle looks kinda rubbery. It was only 27 Euros, which actually is less than I could find it online. So, again, I'm happy and will likely return to Habitat for more household goods. Hurray! I'm building my list of go to places for our ongoing needs.

I am researching doctors nearby to find a primary care physician for us. We have private insurance at this time. So this is my priority project now.

Our near-future plans are:
December and January: Explore other Nice neighborhoods and Antibes as we investigate where we want to live longer term.
January: Visit Paris on January 5 and 6 to see Disneyland, the Louvre and other museums.
February: Celebrate Carnivale in Nice (next year in Venice)
March: For our birthdays we will visit Barcelona to see a huge five-mansion Picasso museum, Gaudi's Sagrada Família and the Gaudi park. The next day we will travel by train for an hour to see Salvador Dali museum in Figueres and then return to Barcelona to visit the Gothic square before we fly home to Nice. If you make your flights several weeks in advance the flights are very cheap. For example, our ticket on Jet Easy are $25 each way per person to Barcelona in mid-March. Hotel prices go down too when made several weeks in advance, but not as much as airfare.

If you do decide to visit us try making your flight reservations 2 months or more ahead of time. Depending on the time of year, flights within Europe, on Easyjet.com, can be as low as 25 Euros each way. Flights from Boston or Washington DC, on wow.com (Icelandic airlines) to European capitals can be 99-130 Euros each way.

John likes all things Pixar

17.12.2015 Residency / Medical Appointment

Sometimes it pays big time to have an obsessive spouse. John went over all the details of the paperwork needed for the residency application and what we could expect of the medical exam. When we went everything was very smooth and our residency status was approved for a year. Thank you, John! We can renew it every year for five years. After five years, we intend to apply for French (dual with US) citizenship.

16.12.2015

Today we walked up the hill from old Nice to the shopping center, Nicetoile (Star of Nice). It's about a mile from our place. I wanted to buy a medium-light weight soft robe so I went into a few clothing stores before I discovered C & A clothing store. They had a bunch of well made/good quality robes with hoods in exactly the weight I wanted (and many other weights) for only 30 Euros (about $32.50) and really good quality fuzzy socks and medium weight socks which are good for walking. I'm happy with that store. We only visited a few stores so we'll be back later.

On the way home I stopped in some pharmacies trying to get some Aleve (naproxesn Sodium). A few weeks ago I purchased an expensive small box from a pharmacy near our place but today 4 pharmacies told me I need a prescription. They did sell me codeine (with Tylenol) over the counter, though.

The pharmacy system here is comprised of pharmacies (often called chemists but they are trained medical professionals), parapharmacies and pharmacy/paraparmacy combos. The parapharmacies sell "beauty" stuff, baby care, homeopathics and other stuff. Homeopathics is big in France. Apparently even doctors prescribe them. If you find a pharmacy in a large store (such as Carrefour) or even a stand alone store in a shopping center, it is usually a parapharmacy and will not sell even aspirins. I'm not completely clear on all this but it seems to me that the completely stand alone green cross pharmacies are the only ones that can dispense aspirin and the like.

The weird structure of the pharmacy system and strict restrictions on dispensing over the counter meds is apparently caused by union concerns for pharmacy jobs. Read this article for more info.

Also, France has more pharmacies per person than any EU country except Germany. In our area of town there is one on nearly every block. On some blocks there are 2 and rarely, even 3. Realtors are even more prolific here. That's probably because this is a tourist area.

15.12.2015 A holiday visit to Old Nice

I was wrong -- I thought Old Nice was going to be decked out for the holidays, but only a few shops have holiday decorations. We toured areas where we had not been previously and there are many more areas to tour. While we were there John pointed out the hills leading away from old Nice and old stone staircases heading up the hill. He told me there were many shops along the streets. We decided we would visited them tomorrow.

Christmas tree market surrounding the Monument du Centenaire	Carousel in the Promenade du Paillon	Christmas tree at the Mayor's Office
Ruth and Santa	Music box samplers	Narrow walkways ascending up through the Old Town
Palais de Justice in Old Town (Vieille Ville)	Place du Palais de Justice	Exiting Old Town Nice
Place Masséna with Ruth in foreground	A covered Fontaine du Soleil as a snow globe	Christmas decorations in a candy store

13.12.2015

We finally made it to the Promenade de Paillon and Place Massena Christmas market and winter festivities.

We walked through dozens of portable chalets selling holiday wares such as original arts, crafts, fresh produce, various foods and drinks, clothes, jewelry and more. There were many vendors, but this assembly of markets is dwarfed by the expansive Vieux Nice Christmas markets. We'll go there next week.

We continued past colorful carnival arcades (ring toss, water squirters, darts, ball toss) and to eateries with chocolates and other candies, candied apples, hot drinks, churros stuffed with chocolate and many other delicacies. John and I both thought churros were Mexican in origin but they may have been brought to Portugal from the Ming Dynasty.

I rode the giant Ferris wheel in Place Massena and took a lot of pics from above. John took pics of me in the Ferris wheel.

The Public fountain water jets at Place Massena shoot water every few minutes with no discernible pattern, so we walked along the edge of the "pool" to stay dry. Some kids and young adults walked through the "pool" - which by all appearances was just a large concrete area that was wet -- until the jets came on, catching them off guard, but not quite soaking them.

Across the "pool" from the Ferris wheel is a faux ice castle. Designed for appearances it has no rooms to enter but it does have silver plastic mirrors at the "entrance" which adds a minor fun house effect. The structure is white metal with small globes and Christmas lights wrapped around the metal. It is pretty, even up close. It is enchanting from a slight distance.

The Ferris wheel is in Place Massena, along with the statues sitting on poles created by Jaume Plensa, a Spanish artist who specialized in monumental art. For the holidays the statues have color changing lights which fade in and out at different speeds for each statue. The light changing speed is slow for all of them.

A giant "snow globe" encases the Fontaine du Soleil -- the statue is temporarily under a plastic dome. Lights inside the dome change color -- slowly fading in and out. I thought there might be an air-blower and some fake flying snow, but alas, no.

Near the statues is a temporary outdoor ice rink. We took pics of families skating together. I think the sign said the skate rental was included in the 5 Euro/hour price. Not bad. Almost everyone wore blue shiny patent ice skate boots.

In 2013 Place Garabaldi had those large ornate ornaments, but this year, with 'Baroque" the chosen theme for the Winter Fair, the decorations in Place Garabaldi are stylish fake ice sculptures made of LED mini lights and globes.

To fit the 'Baroque' theme, Nice is festooned with glittering (outdoor) chandeliers, dramatic ‘light’ curtains across and along streets and walkways, ribbons, columns of crystals, gift boxes, and of course giant snowmen and Santa Claus. I read that all of the lights use new generation LEDs that offer a luminous power 5 - 10 times greater than the formerly used halogen lamps, while requiring only one ninth of the power. I took pics of some street Christmas decorations that looked like chandeliers.

Some of the large LED decorations used in Nice and other places in Europe came from the Greek company "Illuminations". I imagine there are several other business throughout Europe with the same business model but different designs.

Hard Rock Cafe in Nice	Christmas Village in Nice	Wooden toy shop at Christmas Village
More wooden toys	Little French baby at Christmas Village	Tram passes through Place Massena
Christmas street lights in Nice	More Christmas street lights	Ferris wheel in Promenade de Paillon
Ruth in front of ice rink and Ferris wheel	Reflective pond and ice castle from top of Ferris wheel	Place Massena from top of Ferris wheel
Ruth rides the Ferris wheel	Exit sign in French	Smiling Ruth exits the Ferris wheel
Christmas ornament ride	Statues sitting on poles created by Jaume Plensa	Fontaine du Soleil covered as a snow globe
Ruth in Christmas Village	Ferris wheel in reflective pool	Ice castle in reflective pool
Pool jets shoot water on the unwary	Temporary ice rink at Christmas Village	Fontaine du Soleil before becoming a snow globe
Jets shooting from reflective pool	Wooden whale as playground fun at Promenade de Paillon	Monumental sculpture by Sacha Sosno marks the end of Promenade de Paillon

We still have a very long list of to dos for the winter holidays. Soon we'll drop by Place Rossetti with it's giant living nativity scene complete with farm animals. There are holiday themed animations and concerts Dec. 22-26, 10am-6pm.

The winter festivities deserve high praise but the park itself and its adjacent areas are marvels without the holiday spirit.

John told me that he saw maps of Nice from the 1800s when he went to the Musée de Massena. It showed the Promenade de Paillon alongside a river (now gone) and among swatches of forest. The area was designed to be a public space about 150 years ago.

Two years ago was the end of a ten-year project to redesign those areas and more (including removal of unattractive hanging gardens, parking areas and the old bus station).

Promenade de Paillon opened in October 2013 and is 1.2 kilometres covering 12 hectares. It's path is right through the heart of Nice It's very green. The park has 1600 trees, 6000 shrubs and 50,000 perennial plants pumping oxygen into our fair city.

It also includes a reflecting pool of 3000 m2 equipped with 128 upward shooting water jets and tea mists of 1400 m2.

Lawns also cover much of the park space but children's play areas are also prolific with large wooden structures in animal and abstract shapes. And abstract animal shapes.

If you'd like to see some Nice Holiday activities on web cam click on a link below:
Live feed Promenade du Paillon from the Hôtel Boscolo Plaza
Live feed Promenade des Anglais (we live a block and a half inland from the white structure).
If you want to watch the sunset over the Méditerranée, check in at about 7:30 AM Pacific time. For a more precise time check here: Nice, France — Sunrise, sunset and daylength, December 2015.

11.12.2015

NOTE: click link below and then right click on the web page and select translate -- or -- copy and paste the url into Google translate -- or -- just read our English translation.

Super hero window washers in Nice

Five superheroes wash the glass windows of the Foundation Lenval Childrens' Hospital in Nice.

From December 7 to 18, Batman, Superman, Spiderman, Iron Man and Captain America wash the windows of the hospital center for the children, parents and caregivers.

"On Wednesday, a little boy, who is currently in hospital called us to thank us for this initiative," recalls Heloise Patrigeon. "Just for this call, this small gesture was worth it," she concludes.

Superhero window washers

8.12.2015

Early this morning I walked along the Promenade de Anglais and took a few photos of some of the holiday decorations. I had seen the red trees previously so I snapped a couple of pics. I saw the workers putting the lights on the palm trees but this was my first time seeing them lit. Very pretty. I was ill again (neck pain this time) so John and I haven't been to the Place Messena where the major holiday festivities are happening but we will go very soon. I'll post pics.

Info on holidays in Nice.

Pics of holidays in Nice.

Decorated palm tree on the Promenade de Anglais	Red Christmas trees in front of Casino Palais Méditerranée	Christmas village nearing completion with Ferris Wheel in background

Danny had his first visit to a Frenchie vet today. He needed to refill his asthma meds. The doctor was very thorough and very funny. His entire staff was pleasant. Great personality, plus he explained things and answered our questions in a way that gave us confidence in our new vet.

One of the assistants, Pauline, spoke English, but not as well as our vet, and she was helpful in so many ways. Everyone working there seemed to be very happy. I gave the office a 5 star review in Google maps. I will do that also in Yelp.

The doctor explained that in France companion animals have to have a passport to be treated by French vets or to travel. He gave us a passport for Danny and filled it out and gave us paperwork to register his chip with the French authorities. We'll need to do the same for Tommy very soon.

Veterinarian staff	Dr Vergnangeal	Pauline
Tosca, the snoring dog, sleeps at the receptionist's feet.	Danny's French passport	Inside Danny's passport

7.12.2015

Yesterday's (and next Sunday's runoff) elections are for the new Regions which take effect on January 1. There are now 22 Regions. Beginning January 1 there will be only 13. This election is for the seats of those 13 Regions. In the first round the Socialists faired very badly.

The election results from yesterday show the Socialists lost a lot of ground and the FN (we call them the Nazi Party) came in first in 6 of the 13 new Departments. Just as 9/11 gave fuel to far right politics in America, the 13.11.2015 bombings in Paris did the same in France. Read more.

The Socialists have decided to pull their candidates in the Regions where they came in 3rd and they are telling their constituents to vote for Sarkozy's conservative Republican party.

Our Department, Alpes-Maritimes gave the niece of the party leader, Marine Le Pen a second place slot for leader:
At a recent rally, Marion Maréchal-Le Pen, 25, said Muslims could not be French unless they “yield to the manners and our way of life” inherited from France’s Christian traditions. Far more socially conservative than her aunt, she has vowed to stop state funding to family planning centres if elected head of the region, accusing them of “making abortion commonplace”.

Click on map to see election results:
Election Map

Campaign posters in designated areas	Casting ballots	Counting ballots
French voter	French election card

6.12.2015 Elections

Today is the first day of the regional elections

Read more.

"The two-round election system is ... based on proportional representation in each of France’s departments. This means that voters in any given region will vote only for candidates in their own departments, and may not vote for a candidate or party leader if he or she is not a candidate in the voter’s department."

"With public fear and discontent exacerbated by the November 13 attacks in Paris, many voters may be tempted to oust the incumbent Socialist Party. The Socialists currently head 21 of the 22 regions and therefore have much to lose."

"It is likely that Marine Le Pen – party leader and daughter of the party’s founder, Jean-Marie Le Pen – could take the northern Nord-Pas-de-Calais-Picardie region. Her niece, Marion Maréchal-Le Pen, could win Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur in the south with 41% according to opinion polls from Ipsos/Sopera Steria from 22 November, with Les Républicains’ Christian Estrosi at 34%, and Christophe Castaner of the leftist coalition, polling just 25%."

Sigh. Our region, PACA (Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur), is one of the two most conservative regions in France.

John and I can't vote in France on a local or national level. I thought I read in 2013 that we could after we became residents but now I can only find info that says we can't. I think I read that Sarkozy was pushing it.

Foreigners are not allowed to vote at the national or state level in the US.

Some history of attempts by the Left in France to allow foreigners to vote (always blocked by the right in the Senate).

5.12.2015 Travel

I was bragging about TGV fast trains between major cities in France and Nice is on that route. However, when I started planning our long trips I learned that Nice is not a stright shot (as the crow flies) to anywhere. We're on the tail end and off to the eastern side of the TGV route so, one way, it takes us 5.5 hours to reach Paris by train from Nice. From Marseille it is 3.5 hours and from Lyon only 1.5 hours.

These are the TGV routes

These are the travel times

NOTE: You may have to wait a second or two for the page to scroll up to the Domestic connections in France.

4.12.2015 Weather

It's raining (if you can call it that) today and for the next 2 or 3 days. Dark clouds hang over the horizon but there is barely a drizzle here. Lots of umbrellas. So different from Eugene. The temps are moderate - highs are in the high 50s to low 60s and the lows are mid 40s to low 50s.

Current weather

Very comfortable.

3.12.2015

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas everywhere we go. I love these aspects of Christmas - pagan rituals, secular celebrations including grog and wines, holiday cakes and Buche de Noel, decorations. Shops are decked out in red, green, silver and gold. Uniquely animated Christmas lights and decorations are high in the air on every corner and lamp post throughout the city.Red ribbons and wreaths adorn doors of private homes and businesses of every ilk; and festive activities including the seasonal shops, winter activities (with fake ice and snow) and a giant snowglobe and Ferris wheel. Woo Ho! Ho! Ho! The city celebrates using both Santa and Père Noël and the secular activities out-number the religious by far.

The "official" start of Christmas -- the day when holiday events start - is December 4 (this Friday). John and I will take nightime walks to the Ferris wheel and past the dozens of new temporary shops festooned with decorations and artificial snow that span the Promenade d'Anglais. The open air ice rink (artificially chilled, of course) will be operational then.

Some winter activities available in Nice and Monaco

Christmas market in Nice	Ferris wheel in Nice	Christmas village on the Promenade du Paillon

2.12.2015

I read about the mass shooting in San Bernadino and I offer my deepest condolences. I wonder why the world doesn't mourn for U.S. mass shooting victims. Is it because our terrorists are primarily "lone wolfs"? I keep hoping the U.S. (and other countries) will do as Australia did when it enacted very steep controls on guns after a mass shooting murder there. I hope something changes. Maybe somehow make non-violence a priority in our culture? Part of war studies in school, perhaps? (It used to really creep me out that there were so many studies of past wars in school. The studies weren't about avoiding wars - they were about "winning wars" and the "facts/history" of the execution of those wars.) Also, educating children how to use critical thinking in evaluating the validity of their fears and the consequences of using force. And expose people like Bill Maher who preach that the "feminization (his use was the first definition here: Read more) of our culture" is dangerous.

1.12.2015

Today we visited the Natural History museum. It's a very small museum with typical natural history dioramas of local animals and vegetation. We took several photos including one of me with 'shrooms and one of John with wild flamingos (he gets very excited about wild flamingos).

We went to the Modern Art and Contemporary Art museums. I was confused about what was contemporary and what was modern. Most of it was awful. An old crushed car painted rust colored on every exposed surface.

The most horrible one was a canvass with glued on doll heads with black painted stripes across their faces. Ick. And they had little kids on tour there!

If you Google search Nice Contemporary (or Modern) Arts Museum you'll see a lot of cool stuff. There were a few cool pieces like works by Sacha Sosno, the Nice artist who designed a library in the shape of a block head and many other surreal sculptures in Nice. I like that stuff. John and I had fun at this museum, though, making fun of the art. I forgot what we said that was so funny, but it was fun.

We also intend to visit many other museums in Nice and along the coast (and later many others throughout Europe). We intended to visit the the Musée International d'Art Naïf which displays 18th- to 21st-century works by "naive" artists - those whose education was self-taught. Some of the artists included are Grandma Moses, Rousseau, and a wide range of media including paintings, sculpture, graffiti and more. We'll visit it soon.

Below are some links to the work of the Naïf Art Museum.
Naïf Art Museum
More Naïf Art Museum

Ruth with mushrooms	John and wild flamingos	Wild boar common in southern France and northern Italy
Smashed car	Matchbook	Toga by Sacha Sosno