First Day in Nice

We were given a mini-tour of the area around our hotel by our guide (see earlier post). Following that, we walked with our friends, Penny and Ivan Diamond, to the beach, stopping along the way to admire a beautiful linear park, Mediterranean architecture, and waterfront. Nice is a beautiful and clean city. One of the more interesting sites was an operating carousel, but a double-decker one. Quite unusual...see photo.

We had lunch at a restaurant right on the beach, then hopped on a bus for a visit to the Matisse Museum. While the works there aren't his best, there was an interesting comparison of the impact that Matisse and Rodan had on each other, with samples of Rodan's work included. There was also an exhibit of objects that inspirec Matisse in his paintings, some quite ancient, and some quite modern. Photography was not permitted in this museum. However, at a park adjacent to the museum, there were busts of notable American musicians, proving the impact that they had all over the world.

Then it was off to the Chagall Museum, where non-flash photography was permitted. This museum housed an incredible collection of his work, including stained glass windows. (See accompanying photos.)

A meeting of others on our tour was held at 5:00 p.m., followed by unpacking and dinner at a local restaurant. Then off to bed to try to catch up on sleep!

Flight Status...

Our flight to JFK was right on time, leaving us more than 4 hours to get to our gate for the flight to Nice. Everything was going well until about 15 minutes before schedule boarding time, when a gate change was announced. That led to pretty much utter chaos, as a flight to Barcelona and our flight were going out of the same gate. (The "gate" wasn't actually a gate -- it was loading onto a raised carrier that transported us to our airplane.) Wheels were up about 2 hours and 20 minutes late. But, proving the existence of time warps and worm holes, we only were 45 minute late for our arrival in Nice. To make up for all our delays, we found that our hotel rooms were ready when we arrived, many hours ahead of the 3:00 p.m. posted check-in time.

May cancel trip...

Just discovered that there are fewer Starbuck's in the entire country than there are within a ten mile radius of our home! Who would have thought that France was a third world country?? I guess I'll just have to drink my two-week allotment of Dopios at JFK Sunday while waiting for our flight.

Heard from our tour's program director today...

Here she is --Balwinder de Bois Juzan

Frantically preparing...

We're still frantically packing and taking care of last minute details. We arrive in Nice on Monday, August 31, so don't look for additional postings until late on Monday...and maybe not until Tuesday! (We're 6 hours ahead of EDT.) Viva la France!