Was it nice in Nice in December 2008 ? YES!
 

This was our first major trip since I had my knee replacements, and it was just great to be able to walk all over without pain—and to be able to climb stairs again.

We flew to Nice via Dallas and Heathrow, having snagged free business-class tickets using our AA F/F miles last January. (FYI, getting tickets in the first and part of the second week of December is generally easy, according to the passenger agent.) Our flights were pleasant, and it was nice to fly again on British Airways, even for the short connection. The cabin crew were great, and we even had an “expanded breakfast” on the 1-1/2-hour flight: lovely Wiltshire ham slices, tasty cherry tomatoes (in winter!), and wedges of cheddar and stilton to finish.

We arrived in Nice around 2:00 p.m. and waltzed through Customs (no one was there, as usual) and Immigration (we got our passports stamped for a change) and were met by a driver from the shuttle firm that’s listed on the Nice airport site. We expected a van; we got the equivalent of a Lincoln town car with a uniformed driver, amazing for the price of 14 Euros per person.

Our three days in Nice came with sunny but cold weather. The Mediterranean sparkled in the sun, and we enjoyed looking at the big (comparatively) waves crashing on the pebbly shore. We stayed again at the Mercure Promenade des Anglais, with a sea-view room for 140 Euros, and enjoyed the very comfortable bed and large bathroom. The hotel, just above the Casino Ruhl, shares walls with the pricier Le Meridien and is very well located for visiting Vieux Nice and the shops along the rue Masséna. The rooms on the third floor are being renovated to superior standard, and judging from the photos in the lobby the new rooms should be very nice. The current rooms, however, were renovated in 2005 and are still fresh and attractive, in vivid colors.

That night the Mistral was blowing, but we went out for a walk before dinner and happened on Lou Nissart, an old-Provençal restaurant not far from the Promenade. My husband had fabulous gnocchi in olive oil and basil, while I had a big plate of excellent pissaladière. We fought the wind back to our hotel and collapsed.

Instead of having the Mercure’s buffet breakfast we walked the 3 blocks over to the excellent Le Pain Quotidien (Daily Bread), at the edge of the Cours Saléya, for croissants and other delicious pastries . My husband ordered hot chocolate instead of our usual Earl Grey tea one morning and was served with a mug of steaming milk and a chocolate lollipop to stir into it. He liked it so much that we brought six home. (We are now down to five.)

Our first whole day in Nice was spent wandering through Vieux Nice, making stops at Martinetti’s for some of his posters and beautiful postcards; he’s a great photographer. At a nearby stationery shop I found the first set of metallic stickers to take home for Christmas-card envelopes next year but sadly couldn’t find any non-holiday ones (I am obsessed with those stickers!). We bought a few New Year’s cards—the French send those more than Christmas cards—and were horrified at the prices: 4.6 Euros each. Finocchio’s gelato shop was closed and seemed to be undergoing major renovations; we hope it hasn’t closed for good.

That night the Mistral was blowing, but we went out for a walk before dinner and happened on Lou Nissart, an old-Provençal restaurant not far from the Promenade. My husband had fabulous gnocchi in olive oil and basil, while I had a big plate of excellent pissaladière.

The new tram system is up and running, with the Place Masséna back to normal again. There are 8 tall posts in the Place, each one topped with sculptures of meditating Japanese monks, made of frosted glass in glowing colors. Galeries Lafayette is on one side of the Place, and the big branch of BNP is just across—convenient for hitting the ATM. The exchange rate that we got averaged 1.30, not bad considering how high the Euro had been not all that long ago.

In the largest area of the Place Masséna a Christmas market was going up; we saw the forest of real Christmas trees and the wooden chalets for vendors. Unfortunately the market didn’t open until December 6th, the Feast of St. Nicholas, which was also the day the Nice evening illuminations were to be turned on. We planned to return at a later date to see both, as we had to leave for Grasse that same day.

One day we hopped on a tram (cost is 1 Euro) and stayed to the end of the Pont-Michel line, enjoying people- and store-watching along the route. The trams are very modern and stylish, looking rather like TGV cars. At each stop the front car hooks up to overhead wires for a charge, the only wires to be seen, and the ride is quite silent. When we emerged at the last stop we discovered that we were just across the street from a large René LeClerc supermarket and explored it for a bit, getting a feel for prices—and they have certainly gone up since our last visit to France two years ago.

We had dinner on our second night in Nice at La Pizza, on the rue Masséna, with the daughter of the family who were our neighbors for the 1999/2000 academic year. The pizza there is absolutely fabulous, and the servings are huge. We sat outside in the glow of large heat lamps and thoroughly enjoyed our Pizza Reine (with ham and mushrooms and that wonderfully runny cantal cheese).

Most of the other restaurants in the area appeared to be hurting for business; at one we were offered two meals for the price of one. That was a good deal, but my husband wanted moules frites; so we continued down the street and made our Big Discovery, the O Palermo, which has wonderful French/Italian food at moderate prices. Bob had a huge bowl of fresh, sweet mussels, while I delighted in a salad of warm goat cheese and greens. We liked the restaurant so much we returned for dinner that evening after a hard day of shopping, this time enjoying a creamy lasagna.

Just down the street from the Mercure, on the rue Halévy, is a tiny place called Le Yummie. It’s owned by a guy named Ali, originally from Marseille, and offers assorted fine coffees and teas. Customers can lounge on the small sofas and sip drinks, listen to jazz, and enjoy conversation with Ali, whose English is fluent. Ali’s current special is a Mocha Obama, made with Kenyan coffee and melted white chocolate, a real winner. Clever idea!

The rue Masséna makes for excellent shopping—many boutiques (including a clothing store apparently aimed at large Russian ladies), shops featuring those gorgeous Provençal fabrics, and cafés for resting the feet. At one small boutique I found a long black feathery boa, which was perfect for keeping the cold away from my neck--our French friends pronounce it very chic. I also bought there a very snazzy cell-phone holder for a friend, black velvet with wrist and neck bands and decorated with a huge fake diamond.

Just down the street from the Mercure, on the rue Halévy, is a tiny place called Le Yummie. It’s owned by a guy named Ali, originally from Marseille, and offers assorted fine coffees and teas. Customers can lounge on the small sofas and sip drinks, listen to jazz, and enjoy conversation with Ali, whose English is fluent. Ali’s current special is a Mocha Obama, made with Kenyan coffee and melted white chocolate, a real winner. Clever idea!

The French seem to be really amazed about the election of Barack Obama and excited at the idea of an African-American leading the U.S. after a long period of perceived racism. On several occasions we were congratulated on the election’s outcome, and people wanted to talk about what it might mean for both the U.S. and for Europe. We had interesting moments trying to explain how the Electoral College operates.

This brings us to Friday night, which we spent packing up all the stuff I’d been buying in preparation for moving on to Grasse the next day.

Hi Underhill
I'm enjoying this so much. Have stayed at the Mercure and would again. We also breakfasted at Le Pain Quo. I'd love to return and will take in your recco's. Keep up the report. Happy New Year. CJ

Underhill, thanks for the news from Nice. We are going in May and so any and all information is appreciated.

We are intrigued with your "find" O Palermo. Will you share the address? Thank you.

I'm jealous. Please continue to keep us up to date on your trip. Thanks so much for posting.

Sounds like it was a great trip. Too many people here ignore Nice (and Marseille).

The address for O' Palermo is
29, rue Masséna; according to the business card I snagged, the restaurant is open daily from 11 a.m. until 1 a.m. Rue Masséna is a pedestrian-only street, but watch out for the occasional moto-rider. Oh: besides all the regular dishes you can get pizza.

Note: it's Le Yummi, not Yummie, and it's officially a coffee, tea, and smoothie bar. An expresso costs 1 Euro. Also, it's open on Sundays.

It's great to read a report about one of my favorite cities. I certainly hope Finocchio's isn't closed.

Hello Underhill, I am so happy to read your knee operations were such a success! Good news that.

And I am so enjoying your delightful trip report. Like your husband I too love mussels, sigh. And oh my, the New Year's card were expensive. Imagine they were quite beautiful however. I look forward to your next installment.

Is the "La Pizza" restaurant in Nice a branch of the one in Cannes?

The one in Cannes has wonderful food.

Yes, it is, and we went there a few days after we left Nice! I could live on that pizza.

At this point I am going to digress to report on our luggage woes. When we flew from Nice to Heathrow for an overnight (couldn't get flight connections the same day) we "short-checked" one of our four bags for overnight use. The other three--one large, two medium holding most of our purchases for Christmas gifts--were checked directly to Dallas.

The next morning we checked the overnight bag and thought we were all set.

NOT! When we arrived in Dallas (hate that airport, nice and bright that it is) we found only the two large bags. The medium ones were missing. So we schlepped the two big bags through Customs and Ag Inspection (even though all the foods were in the medium bags) and then turned them in at the AA transfer desk for the final leg of our flight.

When we reached Sacramento we were met at the plane door by an agent who apologized that our two bags hadn't made our flight but that they would be delivered the following day. Fine.

By now it was 12:30 a.m. because our plane had been delayed 2 hours in Dallas while waiting to be de-iced. We trotted--well, dragged, really--over to the baggage carrousel, and guess what? Only one of our two large bags was there. The bleary-eyed agents tried to find the bag, but apparently something was not right with the code on the suitcase. Were advised to try the on-line site the following day.

The two medium suitcases arrived as promised. Then we began the search for the final large bag and ultimately found that it had been located and would be delivered the following day.

It was indeed, but it looked as though it had been in a battle with a maniacal robot and lost. The zipper was torn nearly off, there were heavy grease markings on the case, and it was in bad shape. Fortunately it contained mostly clothing, and nothing was damaged--amazing, given that the case was nearly destroyed.

We spoke again with the Baggage office and were told to bring the suitcase in and AA would give us an equivalent bag. When we return the suitcase I am going to ask someone why we would want a similar bag considering what shape the damaged one was in!



We did, and after several hours the bag was found. It was delivered the next day. We were

Thanks so much for your report on Nice Underhill. I've saved all your tips for Nice for our next visit there, whenever that might be!

Our adult daughter decided today to join us for our trip to France next September so I may be looking at changing some of our plans to satisfy her.

Talk about coincidence--I was just browsing Nice apartment rentals and discovered the perfect one...right above O'Palermo! Clearly this is meant for us.

This report has made me homesick for Nice. I truly love Nice, but I won't be there again until April 3 for 5 nights then again in June. I also like the pizza at La Pizza. And I like people watching around the Messena. The bus ride up to Eze village provides some beautiful views. I've done this several times when I am there solo. I love the entire area surrounding Nice.

Nice report ! I like Nice (and Marseille) more and more, having been to both cities 3 times each only in this year.

> Place Masséna .... There are 8 tall posts in the Place, each one topped with sculptures of meditating Japanese monks

Curious, where did you read/hear those statues are of Japanese monks? I have passsed by the Place and walked underneath the statues many times now but they never reminded me of Japanese monks. I just thought they were made by local artists or something like that. I ask myself why they don't look like Japanese monks : They look like nude figures (Japanese monks should be wearing kimono) in sitting postition (not in zen style crossing legs).

We got the information from the art-student friend with whom we had dinner.

I found the following.

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Place_Mass%C3%A9na

There it is said the statues are " en forme de bouddha ou de scribe" . It also says they were part of the contemporary art installation. Since it is "contemporary" art, they can call them bouddha or whatever they like I guess even though the statues don't look like traditional Japanese monks at all, not even buddha. Being nude, perhaps "scribe" makes more sense.

A knowledgeable Nice resident at the tripadvisor.com wite provides this, probably definitive, information.

The sculptures on poles in Place Massena are by the spanish Artist jaume Plensa and are not jamaenese monks or yogis- despite this being a common urban myth in Nice The other myth is that the figures represent the quartiers of Nice.

In fact the seven figures represent the seven continents and intercommunication. However, in our house they are called the jelly babies.

Underhill,

I'm really enjoying your report, especially since I know so little about the south of france. Having been to Paris 2x, I'm really starting to think that I should explore a totally different part of France. All the details of your meals sound wonderful, and I'm waiting to here more!

Are you going to post pictures of your trip? How else will ignorant people like me see the beauty of Nice :)

Underhill,

Your post is great! I love how positive you are about everything. It makes me think you would find enjoyment in almost anyplace or experience - my kind of traveler. Also, thanks, for all the information about restaurants, etc.

Thanks for the comments. Is it okay if I complain a little about the 2-1/2 days of pouring rain we had while staying in Grasse?

> The sculptures on poles in Place Massena are by the spanish Artist jaume Plensa and are not jamaenese monks or yogis- despite this being a common urban myth in Nice .

Ok that makes more sense. When you don't know about that urban myth, you would not think of Japanese monks or buddha when you look at those statues at all.

We did, actually...depends on the angle, I think.

Thank you so much for such a good report. I am going to Nice in May for about 10 days .I have not been to the south of France for about 8 years and I am anxiously looking forward to this trip. I will be travelling alone and using public transportation,My memories of this area is that Nice is perfect as a base and just to enjoy as a great city.

It is indeed--I wish we had just stayed there, pleasant through some of the rest of our trip was.

The balance of this trip report is going up under the title of "There and Back Again: from Nice to Grasse and onwared."

ttt to read later

The next segment is now up.

I forgot to say that the Mercure is entirely non-smoking, a nice bonus.

With smoking banned in restaurants (there are signs posted giving information for people who want to quit) we could again smell the food. It was wonderful.