… something to write home about.

After we left the airport, we drove up the Promenade des Anglais, looking at the stormy weather and rough seas.  Since it was raining, we drove up to the apartment where we would be staying for the next couple of days and dropped off our bags.

We then opted to go to the center of Nice (I think) and take in the flower shops and soak in a little ambience.

It was still raining at this point but we thought it might ease up a bit.  Not a lot of photo opportunities from the car window and it didn’t seem to be a good idea to stop in the damp on a busy street.  We drove back along the Promenade des Anglais and Andre dropped us off and parked the car while we wandered about a bit.

We had a little bit of a snack, a chick pea crepe type of dish cooked on an outdoor oven made from a 50 gallon drum.  It was delicious!

There were lots of murals and frescos in the square, but most of them hadn’t been looked after so they had faded at the bottom so that only the tops remained with any color or detail.

We walked around and down some alleyways, but the rain was getting stronger as we went and we were expected back for lunch at the apartment.

We drove back, had a wonderful lunch prepared by Andre’s wife Jeanette and discussed genealogy and the reunion coming up on Sunday.  Jim opted for a nap and Andre, Mom and myself drove to pick up Mel from the airport.

After we left the airport, we decided to go on a driving tour of Nice. We headed down the Promenade des Anglais again, past the War Memorial and up the side of Mount Boron.

I took quite a few pictures as we stopped at different overlooks, using both still and video.  I have no idea how much of these media I’ll use when I put together a travelogue, but it is better to have more material than you need than less than you need.

When we got to the top of Mount Boron, Andre drove us to a medieval fort at the top, Fort du MontAlban.  It is quite an impressive structure and it over looks the southern coast.

I wish I could say that I got up early as I prepared for my trip to Italy, but I’d be lying - I didn’t sleep at all.  Instead, I packed my back pack, did laundry I would need and then built a playlist or two for my MP3 player.  Oh, and watched a bunch of crappy, late night television.

So, as the time approached, I showered, left and drove up to my mom’s where I joined her and my brother to drive to the airport.

Some highlights of the morning:

• My (other) brother forgot that I go by my middle name so when I checked in, my passport didn’t match my ticket and I had to get a live person to assist me in getting a boarding pass.
• I forget that other people don’t fly very often and with electronics (such as a laptop).  I was through security and ready to go while my brother was still trying to pack his laptop back up and get everything put back together.
• I’m traveling on a Delta ‘buddy pass’ for this trip.  My brothers both work for Delta Airlines and as such, he and my mom were third and fourth on the standby list.  However, buddy passes aren’t put in as a high priority so I was last on the standby list. Not a big deal for the flight to JFK, but it ended up that they both ended up in first class from JFK to Nice, France, while I ended up in coach.  However, I had a whole row to myself and with the assistance of no sleep and Ambien, I slept most of the way.

We arrived with no problems and met my mom’s cousin, Andre, just as we came out of arrival area.  He speaks French and Italian  and quite passable English, even though he apologized for not being very fluent.

We’ve picked up our rental car, so it is time to go - more later!