trip to Monaco from Nice December 2007

19th December 2007

This is the large Christmas tree in the centre of Monaco's Christmas Village. You can see the three of us reflected in the silver bauble, the orange blob is an Hermès bag, Happy Christmas to me.

We had spent the morning in Cimiez at the Matisse museum and in the afternoon we decided suddenly to nip to Monaco on the new 100 xpress bus.

The 100 xpress is a new service this autumn and the fare is still only 1,30 euros. On the information leaflet, it says this will be reduced to 1 euro in the new year (2008) Not sure if that will be universal for all TAM routes or just for the xpress service. A leaflet can be downloaded here

There are a limited number of bus stops for the new 100 xpress bus route from Nice to Monaco

The regular 100 from Nice to Menton via Monaco is still in operation. The time difference is about 20 minutes - it's about a 35 minute trip via the 100 xpress and at least an hour via the 100.

The new 100 xpress from Nice to Mnoaco via the autoroute

It feels quicker on the xpress as there are only about 6 stops in total and it goes via the motorway for part of the journey so you feel you are on your way. It's every hour at 10 minutes to the hour from the Gare Routière or bus station, quai 19, pay the driver. It returns from Monaco at half past the hour up to 6:30pm.

100 xpress timetable, click on the image to enlarge

We took the express to its last stop in Monaco by Place des Moulins, right outside Ladurée where we bought a couple of boxes of their famous macaroons. From there, a 5 minute stroll takes you to the Casino.

Macaroons from Laduree
Photo: Courtesy www.laduree.fr

outside Ladurée, bag of goodies in hand


If you wanted to start at the other end of Monaco, the bus first stops at Place d'Armes where you can take the lift or walk up to the Palace. We had great views of the Port and Christmas village and big wheel as the bus descended into Monaco.

Our plan was to walk from Ladurée all the way back to Place d'Armes at the foot of the Place hill to catch the last xpress bus back to Nice at 6:30pm. We had about 3 hours but if we missed the last xpress, we could always take the regular 100 and jump off at the Port. It's an easy walk from this far east end of Monte Carlo as the direction is always down hill. If you walk from the Palace end, it's up hill although there are regular local buses to get you you about. Our walk took us past the Casino and past Hermès, my favourite shop where I bought myself a new enamel bangle for Christmas.

Outside Hermès, avenue de Monte Carlo

In general, the shops, streets and gardens were much more Christmassy than Nice - far more effort with lots of tasteful lights, displays and decorations. In Nice you have to hunt a bit to see any decorations part from somewhat dismal looking municipal Christmas trees in concrete planters each with a couple of strands of tinsel and about five large baubles.

Onwards and downwards towards the Port where the Christmas Village was set up. A similar format to Nice (and every other city in Europe) Wooden chalets, an ice rink and a big wheel. Generally, it was bigger and glitzier than Nice with better decorations, more stalls and a bigger ice rink - they had covered over the open-air swimming pool. There were also more fun things for children to do - snowshoe walking on real snow and motorised ski quads over mini courses of real snow.


There were also lots of stalls providing food and snacks plus picnic bench seating. Hot dogs, socca, waffles, pancakes, baked potatoes, sandwiches etc. We had hotdogs, pancakes and socca, watched the iceskating for a bit and continued on towards the big wheel. At this point time had gone by so we headed across the road and up the pedestrianised Princess Caroline Street, turn left at the top, cross over the your are at the Place d'Armes bus stop, on the north side of the road, headed for Nice. There's a convenient bar here for a coffee, beer and loo. One thing I've noticed about the bus stops in Monaco, they are reluctant to display the TAM 100 bus signs, you have to just trust that they will stop at the main stops and stick your thumb out just to make sure. It's all local bus information. There was a small poster for the xpress bus though, which was reassuring. A 100 bus turned up first and we were about to jump on, when the xpress appeared behind it.

It's the first time we had been to Monaco in December and I would go again, it was lovely and an interesting contrast to Nice.

Summer holiday in Nice 2007

Sunday 8th July 2007

Daughter finished school on Friday so we are off to Nice for a month. Daughter and I flew out of Liverpool Sunday evening. Dear husband had to stay behind to work but will fly out on Wednesday, no doubt expecting a clean studio and a fridge full of beer.

Flight delayed 30 minutes but fairly uneventful and arrived in Nice around 10pm, bags too heavy to cope with the express bus so we took a taxi, 28 euros, the cheapest fare in five years, no idea why. Found out a couple of days later that the 98 express bus continues on past the usual end stop, the Gare Routière, to the Port until September which we probably could have managed inspite of two large bags.

Monday 9th July 2007

Woke to no food in the house. I am determined to lose the 20 extra pounds I have gained over the last couple of years so I got up and went for a run. Very pleased that I kept going for 23 minutes without stopping. The rest of the day we unpacked and shopped. The sales 'soldes' are on everywhere in France. I bought two pairs of shoes from Arche, they are the only make of shoe I can wear as I get very sore feet. So comfortable I wore my new sandals out of the shop and for the rest of the day.

Stocked up on a couple of T shirts from Petit Bateau, 30% off the stock and dropped by at Hermès to look at scarves. Found a scarf I have been coveting but in a colourway I've not seen before, they will hold it until husband arrives to give the OK. There were a few sales things in the back, winter ready to wear and some lovely shoes if you were a size 36. Saw the new bag - the Victoria fourre tout I think it's called, big but it can be shouldered, not for me though. Unlined which makes it light, still over 2,000 euros. They had some white Picotin bags which are gorgeous plus a fairly rare Barenia leather Picotin in the smallest size. Daughter very fond of the Picotin in white but as it is about 2 years pocket money, she'll stick to the cheap bags from Aratto for 6 euros each. She did well in Arrato, lots of bling for about 17 euros.

Meeting friends in Juan les Pins tomorrow, knowing the French queues can be bad, we bought tickets in advance at Riquier train station - the closest stop to the Port, one stop east of the main train stop Nice Ville. Picked up a new train time table. For J les Pins, we need the slow stopping at all stations trains, it's about a 35 minute ride, a return ticket for me was about 9 euros and about 4 euros for my daughter. The bus 200 to J les P would have been 1,30 euros each way but it's very slow, over an hour.

For supper we had a take out pizza from Choix d'Anna on the corner of our residence, 5 euros a full size pizza, not worth cooking at that price.

Tuesday 10th July 2007

Legs and feet very sore from running. Went out an drank 24 minutes. Up and out to Juan les Pins by train to meet friends staying at the La Juana Hotel. It's lovely there and we spent the day on a private beach - Les Pecheurs, very nice indeed a little further away from the main beaches at J les P , just past the Port Gallice. Had a wonderful lunch there too. No idea of cost as we were guests of our generous friends but I expect it was fairly pricey. I took a card on the way out, there's a website : http://www.lespecheurs-lecap.com/

If you are visting Juan les Pins and want a luxurious day on the beach with waiter service and a lovely restaurant, this is the place for you. When you want another bottle brought to your lounger, they have a great but very simple system to attract service - you merely clip a red ribbon onto the parasol and a waiter will come. I wish they had adopted this simple technique on the private beaches in Nice where trying to get a cup of coffee requires many minutes of neck-craning and trying in vain to catch the eye of a passing waiter.

Wednesday 11th July 2007

Woke up very sore from running but I am persevering. I haven't dared weigh myself yet, ran for 25 minutes but very slowly as my shins are hurting, no wonder, I am running with the equivalent of carrying 4 large bags of potatoes. Tidied and cleaned the studio and bought beer for the fridge at our favourite supermarket - Ed on rue Cassini it's the cheapest supermarket in Nice, particularly their own label 'dia'. Husband's plane arrived early and have just had a phone call to say he waiting for the 98 express bus. The Nice airport website is great for monitoring flights, lets you know exactly what's going on as it happens.

After 70 minutes another phone call to say he had nearly arrived at the Port, in spite of everything going well and ahead of time, the 98 express bus was a let down - 35 minutes waiting at the airport and a great palaver when it arrived with people struggling off for planes and a huge queue trying to board simultaneously. He got here ion the end and had a welcome cold beer from the fridge. Back to Eds for all the stuff I has forgotten.

We went to Hermès later on to check out a scarf I fancied, got the thumbs up and the sweet assistant brought out another scarf I had been asking about so husband kindly and generously bought both. They are 'In the Pocket':

and 'omnibus' the smaller scarf, one of the new vintage range, a smaller 70cm square compared to the large 90cm carrés. The 'Omnibus' is a re-issue of Hermès' very first scarf design:

Thursday 12th July 2007

Less sore today but ran carefully and slowly for about 25 minutes again. I have noticed for the last few days that the beaches are free from campers - last year there were always several groups sleeping on the beach in sleeping bags, out in the open. Either I'm setting off later or they have been shooed away to help spruce up Nice's image.

We went to the beach today, only half full, the free public one nearest us, next door to Castel Plage private beach. A cold wind made the sun feel deceptively mild. My daughter red her book under a parasol snug under a towel from the cold wind but husband fell asleep in his chair and burned his thighs a bit. I tend to hide away from the sun anyway so I just about escaped. Inspite of burning, it was too cold to swim and too cold to be in the shade so we packed up and headed home. Had an email offering me a job at the end of August so accepted that, phew, I can pay back for the scarves, and shot out to Agnes B which I had been avoiding as I had no money. Nothing left in the sales but bought a simple very plain cashmere/silk black dress for me and a white fleece with fluffy pompoms for my daughter who now fits the Lolita range of clothing at Agnes B - for teens-20s.

Spent the rest of the evening re-jigging flights so that we could all be back home in August in time for by job to start and to stay in Nice as long as possible beforehand. Meal on our balcony. Can't eat out and shop.

Friday 13th July 2007

Ran for about 25 minutes this morning, definitely less painful. After that, had a lazy day, wandered around the Old Town and bought some Nicoise Olive Oil to take home from the famous shop, Alziari, at 14 rue Saint Francois de Paule. It's one of the few, if not only olive oil in France that has Appellation d’origine contrôlée (AOC), like French wine. 16 euros a litre.

Short holiday break in Nice, May 2007

Sunday 27th May 2007

Next trip July 2007

website: allaboutNice.com

Very brief trip this time but the highlight was lunch at La Cambuse, more info below, a restaurant recommended in Rick Steves' Provence & the French Riviera 2006 which turned out to be very good. Here's the link to see this book, the 2007 edition is also now available: Rick Steves' Provence and the French Riviera

We left the rain in Liverpool to arrive in Nice around 10pm for a 2-day quick visit. In spite of two heavy suitcases, more presents for the studio, we caught the express 98 bus as we are on an economy drive. A taxi at this time of night with luggage is likely to be about 35 euros as opposed to 4 euros each for the bus.

The 98 express bus came on time 22:23 hours, handy to know they run so late. People needing the the train route, the 99 express bus also need the 98 at this time of night and to tell the driver who will go on to the train station after the Gare Routiere. As we are so used to the bus terminating at the Gare Routiere (bus station) we forgot to ding the dinger and we were on our way to the train station before we noticed. In our defence, we thought the driver was taking a long route around because of all the tramworks. The driver pulled over reluctantly on Felix Faures to turf us out and we had even further to lug our stuff.

Apartment still looking smart with its new paint job. Very late so we just faffed about a bit, unpacked a bit and played on the computer, connection is working this time, no word from the daughter who is away on a school trip in Normandy. The main reason to coming here for such a short stay is to keep an appointment on Tuesday morning to have awning installed on our balcony.

Monday 28th May 2007

Warm sunny day but felt cold due to unpleasant cold blustery wind all day. It was enough to make you seek out the sunny side of the street, the shadowed Old Town was very cold. Had a long-sleeved top, long skirt, but not enough, had to add a jacket later on. Unpacked all the goodies for the studio.

The bathroom looks much better with new towels, mat, shower curtain. We brought along a poster for the flat, it was meant to go in the main room but we decided it looked better in the loo. We have a large empty wall that need something pretty big to fill it, our little poster looked a bit lost there. I am considering buying this to fill the space.

We needed a frame, a simple clip frame, this proved hard to find but eventually hit the jackpot at Habitat in Nice Etoile. Bought a very smart frame, held together by magnets, paid about 30 euros, not too bad. Very heavy so we took the bus back to the Port.


Here's a close-up of the poster, it's appropriately Raoul Dufy's 'Nice in May'. The actual location is at the back of the Old Town in a building called La Treille. La treille means 'climbing vine' and the vine is still there.

Since about October 2006, La Treille has been a centre of information about historic Old Nice, with guides to the churches, walks based around the Old Town etc. It's open most afternoons and you can pop in and pick up a couple of leaflets for self-guided tours and to find out information about guided tours for example, there is a tour that concentrate on Baroque churches in Nice. I think many of these will be French commentary only. The staff are very friendly and enthusiastic and were giving out free cherries when we went by.

The opening times are Monday to Friday 14:00 hrs to 19:00 hrs. This spot appears to be a favourite place to sit and sketch. Another artist painted La Treille, in a naive style:





I couldn't quite make out her name, Elizabeth something. I think it's popular with artists because it's off the main street and there's a small square to sit and work in relative peace and quiet.

After five years use, we decided it might just be time to wash our quilted bed throw before packing it away in our cave for the summer. It's large and padded and didn't fit in our washing machine so we risked the local launderette, Laverie Bea, in rue Parolière where they had extra large washers and driers. The launderette was clean and fresh and the machines looked new. The large machines are 8 euros a wash and the regular sized ones are 3.50 euros. It was empty so we had time to suss it all out in peace. All the machines and dryers and even the detergent (0.8 euros) and conditioner (0.8 euros) were paid for in the same pay machine, the centrale de paiement that took coins and notes. You just key in the number for the machine you wanted to use and paid the total, change is given. The washing machine or whatever comes to life and you programme it as normal. Instructions are mostly French with a bit in English, it's all fairly starighforward though.

During the wash, we set off for a walk to the sea. The private beach Castel Plage at the foot of the Chateau Hill was already set up for the summer. The typical Niçoise style buildings you can see in the background are La Perouse Hotel and to the left is La Suisse hotel. As you can see, it's about the best location for a hotel in Nice, La Perouse is pricey with a pool but La Suisse next door is much better value and seems to get consistently great reviews on tripadvisor.com. The blustery strong wind kept most people off the beach, we walked along the Prom for a little while but quickly sought the shelter of the Old Town where we froze in the sunless shadow. Forgot it was Monday and went to wander through the fruit and flower market of the Cour Saleya, Mondays are Antiques and bric a brac in the Cours, not really my thing, I always forget it's on a Monday. It was also a Bank Holiday in the UK and although not an official French holiday, many businesses and restaurants were closed.

After the wash, we used the dryer, you get about 8 minutes per 0.80 cents pay, we needed about three goes. We hung it out to finish off on our balcony. It was really quite painless using the laundrette and we would be even quicker and slicker next time. I am tempted to use it for the weekly bedsheets and towels wash which are a pain to dry in the studio and small balcony. It could easily be combined with a cheap lunch at any of the places along rue Paroliere, Rene Socca, Chez Christian, Bar de la Bourse, La Mama, you could nip in to feed the dryer very easily. At the least, you can buy an English paper from the Tabac opposite rene Socca or maybe crack on with your postcards. My only warning is that there was no-one about should things go wrong although sign suggested that someone is usually hanging around to help. If you are in Nice for a couple of weeks, this is ideal to have a quick launder of beach towels etc.

Tuesday 29th May 2007

Awning installers arrived promptly and we had a sad moment as we threw out our yellow parasol that served us faithfully for the last 4 summers, seems such a long time since we brought it back from Ikea in Toulon. The awning is better though and makes the balcony feel bigger plus we must have been a source of irritation to our opposite neighbours; at least we now match everyone else.

To celebrate a good job done after five years, we went to La Cambuse restaurant in the Cours Saleya. The Cours Saleya is the heart of the Old Town and probably the most visited part of Nice. As a consequence of this the market is lined with restaurants either which spread out across the Cours once the market is over. This is a typical tourist hotspot and it's difficult to choose a restaurant that is good value, good service and good food. La Cambuse looks a little self conscious amongst the tourist trap restaurants who have to compete cheek by jowl for custom. We have hardly noticed it as we don't really ever eat on the Cours, it never seems like it would make good sense. However, the recommendation in Rick Steves' book describes La Cambuse as a "small island of refinement, with cuisine for those who want to eat on cours Saleya without sacrificing quality" is spot on and we had a great lunch. Husband chose 'brochette de magret de canard et gambas sauce aigre-douce' and I had the day's special; 'rougets à la provençale' which is red mullet. Specials and main courses are around 18 euros, a half litre pichet of red wine is 9 euros. Bottles of wine start around 19,50 euros and a Bandol was 26 euros. Puddings are around 8 euros. Our bill for 2 mains, a half pichet of wine, one pudding and a coffee came to about 56 euros, about twice what we usually pay so a bit of a treat. We would definitely come back and it's nice to have a decent restaurant on the Cours to recommend. We noticed Theresa, another institution of the cours, Chez Theresa's fast food store in the market has sold Socca for years, recommend La Cambuse to a group of people and she brought them to the manager to arrange an evening meal. La Cambuse is found at 5, Cours Saleya, tel number 04 93 80 82 40.

Later on in Hermès, the assistant said that La Cambuse was very popular among the locals. So, if you want the atmosphere of the cours combined with excellent food and good service, you know where to come. It was too windy to eat outside although we did try for a few minutes. Inside with banquette seating along one side, we could both people-watch to our hearts' content.

The week before Christmas in Nice, December 2006

Our week in Nice 17th - 22nd December 2006

Sunday 17th December 2006

Arrived in Nice airport about 1pm and immediately got trapped inside the airport due to a bomb scare. Let out at the far end so we jumped on the shuttle to Terminal 1 to catch a bus as the roads were cordoned off outside terminal 2. As we had large suitcases and a large tool kit – husband has plans for the studio this holiday, we gave up and took a taxi, 32 euros, Sunday price hike up, plus supplement for the airport, plus a bit for the cases no doubt. The temperature was mild about 12-13 degrees C and a bit cloudy.

We dumped our stuff, the studio was filthy so we turned tail quickly and went out for lunch. Warm enough to eat out and as the queue was small at Lou Phila Leva, had lunch there, Pan Bagnat for me, the day's special - ravioli daube for my husband and spaghetti bolognaise for my daughter. The staff automatically hand out a carafe of water and plastic tumblers and a waiter from the bar on the other side nips over for wine/beer/coffee orders, tip - the wine is much cheaper than the beer.

Joined at our communal table by nice French couple but we didn’t speak. On the taxi ride from the airport, we noticed pens of farm animals along the Prom by the Albert 1er gardens so we went along to investigate. En route we bought some riding gloves for my daughter and I bought some handmade traditional Camargue riding boots but for fashion, far too nice and expensive for riding. They are not the most comfortable things at first wearing but I have been assured that they will soften and mould to my feet and will last a lifeme. This shop, if you are at all horsey, is wonderful.We bought jods, boots and gaiters here in the summer. It’s called Tango and is next door to the L’Ecurie restaurant along rue du Marche. He is the only stockist in the region for this type of boot.

Went to gLove me on rue de Collet, bought some lovely tan gloves on about the third attempt with a different credit card. Turns out that our carte bleues (the French switch) expired in September.








On to the animals where the donkeys were popular with everyone. Plenty of other farm animals to gawp at - pigs, sheep, a mule, horses. There was a sheep dog demonstration, hand-forging and wheat threshing displays using a steam engine which unfathomably held all the men’s attention for many minutes.

Came home to find the phone line dead and internet not working. Husband and daughter still not hungry after lunch, the lightweights, so they had a snack instead of an evening meal in Alexanders bar on the Cours.

They had crepe each but I had Spaghetti au Pistou, a big lunch never puts me off my next meal. Very nice pasta but pricy at 12.50 euros. We ate outside but under a covered terrace with outdoor patio heaters. Most of the restaurants along the Cours have this arrangement for the winter.

Monday 18th December

To the Societe Generale bank where we discovered our new carte bleues had been destroyed as we had not collected them within 8 weeks of the old ones expiring. We think we have now arranged for the new ones to be sent to our Liverpool address. Various bits of shopping done, food from Ed in rue Cassini, the cheapest supermarket in France but it's the social equivalent of shopping in Netto back home.

On to Carrefour to buy the cheapest phone so we can see if the line is truly dead. We want to buy a shelving unit to insert in the partition wall on the kitchen side to increase storage area. Nothing suitable in Carrefour where we bought more inline skates for the daughter, the first pair bought in the summer having gone back to Liverpool. Lunch on the hoof, sandwiches from Brioche shop in Nice TNL commercial centre.

From Carrefour, a short walk to Fly by Riquier train station. Lots of good things in Fly like the tins shown in the photo and cute Christmas decorations including some tea light lanterns with reindeers, couldn’t persuade husband although he succumbed a hanging Santa for the balcony going half price in Carrefour. Back to the studio. New phone in which appeared to work so tried again with the internet and after some switching on and off and waggling of wires etc it all sprang back to life.

Quick evening meal on balcony (too cold really) then off to meet friends to help them move apartments later so we are saving the Christmas village and big wheel for another day. Husband disappeared to help hump furniture and daughter and I went home bumping into other friends on the way home, small world. It’s very quiet in Nice in the Old Town, I felt much safer in the summer crowds. Place Garibaldi and Felix Faures still a mess but there are proper walk ways across the road from the Old Town to the Gare Routiere. There appears to be no discernable progress with the tram route up rue de la Republique. Daughter jabbered until midnight, can’t wait for the partition wall to go up tomorrow.

Tuesday 19th December

Plan was to meet friends for reciprocal help getting stuff for partition at DIY shop. Phoned at appointed hour to put off until later. Wandered out after late breakfast around the front of the Chateau Hill and into the Cours Saleya via Agnes B where I saw a lovely dress but hanging on to money at moment as we are going to Paris sales in January. Through the Cours, not many stalls in the winter and then on to Bar de la Bourse for lunch . Our usual chap wasn’t there and although we were smiled at a lot by the woman, she left us standing for about 10 mins with no sign that we would ever be seated so we gave up, you need to get there for 12 noon not 12:30 to be sure of a table, even in the winter. Went for a cheap option which we’ve done before. Chez Christiane, very simple a bowl of fresh pasta, with a sauce, generous glass of wine and a pudding all for 8,00 euros. (April 2007, price hike to 8,60 euros, review here) Husband disgruntled at first as he thought he was getting soupe au pistou but really enjoyed the garlicky sauce in the end and mopped the lot up with bread. Pudding was a small boule of ice cream, chocolate or vanilla; last summer it was thin slices of pineapple. The pasta is always spaghetti, home made and the sauces are bolognaise, pistou or just butter with cheese. Husband disappeared off to DIY by train station with friend in a van. Daughter and I shot off to Sephora where she bought herself some makeup and a present for dad. Waited 20 mins in the queue for wrapping.

Called in at La Drogeurie on rue Hotel des Postes, very tempted by the felt and purse fasteners but decided to hang on.







Came home to find husband back in flat and on with job, uprights up and in place plus first layer of plaster board, but didn’t block daughter's chattering that night.







Wednesday 20th December

Up and on with the job. In spite of a comprehensive list and only one opportunity of a van run, husband forgot skirting board. Cracked on with nailing on the plaster board and putting in some shelves.

Made sure we got to Bar de la Bourse at 12 on dot, empty today and only half full by 12:30. We are out with friends tonight so had one course each, rabbit and ratatouille for about 6-7 euros, salad for me and steak au poivre for daughter, the dearest at 12.50, great value.









Back to studio to carry on with wall. I decided to rearrange the furniture a bit and swapped the book case for the sofa. It looks better I think. Took daughter ice-skating this afternoon – the 3pm session. Happily, we picked the best day for it, sunshine and blue skies, the sun was very low in the sky though.



The Christmas Village is back in Place Massena, last year it had moved to Albert 1er gardens. The chalets are all very pretty but we are never tempted to buy anything. There are very similar ones now in Liverool and Manchester. There were a few seats by the ice-skating rink with hot wine, beer and coffee for sale. Daughter skated for about 45 minutes then recovered with a gauffre au Nutella – a chocolate waffle.





We went for our annual turn on the 50m big wheel which terrifies me a little bit more each time. There was an exhibition at the top of Jean Medicin with one of the new trams to examine. Jean Medicin still looks very bleak without trees. I hope some will be planted to replace the felled plane trees. The wheel was fine but a bit hairy with husband leaping all over the place to take photos and making the seat swing. Walked past Hermes afterwards, I already have had my present this year so it was window-shopping only or as the French say, leche de la vitrine - window-licking, which was about right for Hermes. On to Galleries Lafayette for the loos to discover they are only on the third floor now, but luckily there was no queue.

Walked home passing Father Christmas in the Old Town who was handing out sweets to good girls and boys. Had a quick tidy up before meeting our friends at Au Vieux Four at 1 rue emmanuel Philbert for pizza. It was excellent, I had the Provencale – aubergine, peppers etc but I understand it is the Paysanne pizza which has won awards here. Nice buzzy place – great atmosphere. Threw caution and diet to the wind and had several bottles of house red, very good wine, an unbelievable 6.50 euros a bottle and totally lost my head and had a Tiramsu for pudding, another of their specialities. Try and get here if you are staying near the Port but I would reserve first, it was full tonight, glad I phoned in the morning. All piled over to our studio where we had more wine and the partition meant daughter could ‘disappear' off to bed and it was secluded enough for her to crash out while we stayed up past midnight, we are normally asleep by 10pm.


Thursday 21st December

Felt surprising fine but have had a low-level viral thing all week so it masked whatever hangover I should have been feeling. Went to Fly for some baskets to hide loo rolls on open shelf in the bathroom and it does look much smarter. Had lunch at Renee Socca - a slice of ratatouille pizza which should have been enough but had guilty portion of socca too. Daughter had sausage and chips, husband, cabillard (cod) and chips, came to about 10 euros the lot. No queue and we ate inside the bar opposite, you have to buy a drink, so I had a coffe for 1,50 euros. Daughter had a lemonade, there’s a variety charmingly named Pschitt (the p is silent) which causes mirth every time. Husband had a beer which explained his determined effort to enter Schlecker – a general food/hardware shop opposite Renee Socca through the exit rather than the entry door. Bought bucket for mixing plaster but resorted to my mixing spoon for mixing the plaster. We needed a water spray but have improvised with Magicool, hope it works.

Friday, 22nd December, last day

Strolled down to Cours Saleya to say goodbye. Shopped for some Medjool dates, I’m addicted. Had the sense to check a few prices, these varied over several stalls between 16 and 29 euros per kg. Went back to the 16 euros/kg stall and bought half a kilo, they were enormous, plump, soft and sweet, great chocolate substitute. We had a party to go to that night in Liverpool so bought a bag of chocolate-covered almonds from the long-establishes Auer, 8 euros for a tiny bag, they are good though. Spent the morning reluctantly tidying up and packing for home. Decided to order a taxi to the aiport but ended up as usual with a last minute phone call from my mobile in the road, to check they are coming. The taxi was so quick, it had arrived and left but was in the wrong place, up past place du Pin.

At the airport Hermes, there was the most beautiful scarf and a cute keyring but no money so stroked it all and left with nothing. The scarf was a plisse in the design 'Tapis Volant', colours perfect for me – blacks and golds/tans, would go with everything. The airport was packed with many flights delayed, every time husband got up to read the flight information board, someone tried to grab his seat. Magically, the Liverpool flight was perfect so home ahead of eta. Overall one of our best weeks, as always entirely due to the weather, it makes such a difference and out of season, we know to our cost it could have been dull, wet and windy. Everyday was sunny with blue skies, up to 19 degrees C one day although it was always crisp enough to need a coat.

9th - 10th January 2007

An extra day and night in Nice...

Emergency trip back back to Nice by myself to collect all the stuff we left here by accident in December, nothing desperately urgent but camera, glasses etc. I used the opportunity to try out the daughter's new 'bedroom' very cosy it is too, much better than the open-plan arrangement before and easier for me to use her bed rather than fold out the sofabed.

The highlights of this short trip were three-fold. First of all I was asked out to dinner on the flight by a lovely chap - 'Monaco Man' to preserve his identity. Sorry I declined MM, but I'm married. Still it was nice to be asked. Secondly, I spent a blissful two hours in the Nice Hermes store and learned about the different leathers, colours and agendas. They are a shocking price though, I'm hoping to bag a bargain in the Jan sales in Paris next week. They don't have the beautiful Tapis Volant scarf in this branch, I'm hoping it might still be at the airport, although it is nearly 3 weeks later...

Fate and luck were on my side, the plisse was still there so I treated myself. Looking foward to returning to the studio in February to top and tail a weeks skiing in Meribel.

The partition wall was just about finished, still needs skirting board and the whole place is in dire need of decorating. No time to do this before or after our ski trip so we are back in April to finish the job, this time minus the daughter who will be away on a school ski trip, yes she gets two ski trips this year. My April report is written up here.