williamwataru

08:26

We arrived around 10:15pm last night in Nice.

Upon exiting the train, we were greeted with a wave of humidity that we hadn’t felt in Paris. Immediately, we were both reminded of Southeast Asia, although this humidity was nowhere near the same level. We followed the crowd of people exiting the train into the station, then from the station toward the city center.

The sky was filled with lightning on the way to the hostel that we had hastily booked earlier in the day. We joked about getting caught in the rain, and suddenly, it started pouring. People started running in every direction to avoid getting wet, with a group taking shelter in a nearby McDonald’s. By the time we arrived at the hostel, we were soaked with a combination of sweat and rain, and thankful to finally be in Nice.

20:12

What a day. Eleven hours and 27k steps.

We woke up at 7:30am this morning, the earliest we had started our day since being in France. A lot happened, and I am probably the most tired I’ve been thus far, so bear with me on this one.

Some housekeeping before we begin. We stayed in our “emergency” hostel in downtown Nice last night. Our actual accommodation is a bit farther from downtown in a more local area, and we needed to check in today but wouldn’t be able to until later in the afternoon. We could go early to drop our bags, but then we’d have to make two trips out of our way. We could carry our backpacks around all day, but they are quite bulky and heavy. So what would you do?

We decided to leave our bags at the hostel and plan our day around exploring the central area of Nice, making sure not to go too far since we’d eventually need to come back for them.

First, we went to Old Nice, an area that I’ve been learning a lot about recently. Nice spent centuries tied to the House of Savoy, and later the Kingdom of Sardinia, before becoming part of France in 1860. That history helps explain why Old Nice can sometimes feel like an Italian corner of France. It has a distinctly Mediterranean feel that I would describe as a dense maze of narrow streets, colorful buildings, churches, and markets best explored by wandering with no plan.

We stopped at a bakery, of course, then got our daily fix of espresso at a boutique coffee shop. There was a slight drizzle, so we sat outside under the awning while sipping our espresso and eating our delicious croissants. Since we’ve been operating on a budget, I’ve been ordering much less than usual, and it’s made me realize a few things about myself.

I eat fast. I think I’ve been this way as long as I can remember. When I start eating, I typically don’t stop between bites, especially if something is really delicious. I’m also used to eating quickly and moving on to the next activity, whether it’s going back to work or somewhere else. 

Here in Nice, I’m realizing that the pace is much different. People really sip on their espresso, savoring it, smoking cigarettes or eating pastries between sips, and when they are done, they seem to hang around for a bit before moving on. I guess I never noticed how much of a rush I seem to be in until I’m sitting next to people who seem to be in no rush at all.

So this time, I tried to just be in the moment. I have nowhere to be, so why move quickly?

After finishing up at the cafe, we continued wandering the alleys of Old Nice. The city really reminded me of a maze, and each corner revealed new shops to explore. I felt like I could spend hours just browsing around. We walked until we found an open-air market near the beach. The market was beautiful, the kind that makes me want to buy everything, but we kept moving through slowly until we reached the ocean.

The sky was still a bit cloudy from the thunderstorms, but you could tell how beautiful the color of the water was underneath the murky tint. It was still quite early, so not many people were out, which was perfect for us. We kept walking along the water until we reached the “I Love Nice” sign at Rauba Capeu, a lookout point over Nice. From there, the coastline wraps around Castle Hill, and suddenly the long beach and open bay give way to Port Lympia on the other side.

The Port district felt much different from Old Nice. Instead of a narrow maze, the streets were wider and straighter, and the area felt a little more residential. There was one restaurant here that I had saved in case I happened to be in the area: Chez Pipo.

Nice is known for a few different foods, and this restaurant had two of them.

The specialty, socca, is a chickpea pancake traditionally cooked in a wood-fired oven and served hot. It reminded me of jeon, the Korean version of a pancake that is typically fried with various vegetables or seafood, but with a flavor somewhat similar to hummus because of the chickpeas. It was delicious.

Pissaladière is another local dish made with caramelized onions on top of bread that reminded me of flatbread. I am a grilled onion kind of guy, so this dish was perfect for me. Paired with an ice-cold beer on a warm, humid day? Bon appétit!

We began the walk back toward the Nice city center and ran into something unexpected.

An American military exhibit in the middle of Nice’s famous Place Masséna square?

There were American WWII-era military vehicles everywhere, along with people dressed like American soldiers taking photos with tourists. As an American, it was actually quite funny because some of the costumes seemed a little exaggerated.

I could not figure out what was going on, but later discovered that we happened to be there on the 82nd anniversary of the Liberation of Nice. On August 28, 1944, members of the local Resistance launched an armed uprising against the German occupation, and the city was liberated. The American WWII vehicles we saw were part of the official commemoration taking place throughout Nice that day.

Perfect timing!

We wanted to get Italian food for dinner given Nice’s historical ties to the Italy. I’ve never had Italian food outside of America, so I figured this would be a good opportunity. Again, the challenge was that most restaurants close around 2pm and don’t reopen until 7pm for dinner, and we hadn’t adjusted to this new eating schedule yet. Eventually, we found one restaurant that opened at 5pm, so we planned on going there.

But what do we do until then?

We had been seeing bars with beautiful terraces nonstop since arriving in Nice. The warm and humid weather had been making us crave beer, but we wanted to save money because after nonstop searching, we couldn’t find one for less than 9 EUR ($10.40 USD). Instead, we decided to go to the supermarket, grab beers for 2 EUR ($2.30 USD) each, and drink them in a park.

I thought this was funny.

We grabbed the beers, walked to the park, and then couldn’t find any chairs to sit in. I mean, there was literally not a single chair in the park. After all that gushing in my earlier blog about public spaces and the architecture of sharing space and blah blah blah.

A park with no chairs??

Plan B. We went back toward the beachfront because we had seen chairs there earlier, and it turned out to be the better choice. I’m still not used to drinking in public places since that kind of thing is much more restricted back home, so this was a really nice moment for me, sipping my now lukewarm beer (a park with no chairs!?) and staring at the ocean.

I will be honest with you, I am so exhausted and having trouble writing this post, but I know if I don’t do it now, it will be difficult tomorrow, so I need to get this thing to the finish line. My writing style is about to change from here on out as I switch gears.

A lot happened!

But the highlight of today was food, of course, and I am not lying or exaggerating when I say I had the best Italian food of my life thus far.

The place we wanted to go to was closed for the holidays, which I’ve been told is normal in France during August. So, another Plan B.

Walk around until we find an Italian restaurant that is open.

Sound easy? It wasn’t, but eventually we found one.

Ready to see the best lasagne I’ve ever had?

There it is.

Seriously, the béchamel sauce, the meat, the pasta, the truffle, the crisp cheese on top. Amazing.

Sara’s tagliatelle was also amazing, with the best marinara sauce I’ve had. Simple and delicious. The pasta was al dente. My style!

Okay, so now there was only one thing left to do. Get our bags and get to the new hotel.

Easy enough?

It wasn’t!

When we got back to retrieve our bags, I realized that the water I had been carrying with me had exploded inside my backpack and soaked everything. Some good news was that I found out my bag is pretty high quality because none of the water escaped.

The bad news is there had apparently been standing water inside my bag for who knows how long, and I had no idea. My video camera, charger, and power converter were soaked.

Nice!

Anyway, from there we had to take the train for 15 minutes and then walk another 15 minutes to get to our accommodation. It turns out the hotel is on a hill, so we had to climb up what felt like an endless number of stairs to get to the top. It actually reminded me of the stairs leading to the Batu Caves in Kuala Lumpur. Not as colorful, but just as tiring.

The combination of the heat, humidity, heavy backpacks, and having no water since the water bottle incident (still upset about that) made me lightheaded by the time we reached the top.

But let me tell you.

The views were stunning.

All things considered, this was not a tough day of travel. There were a lot of small hiccups, but nothing that seemed to matter much once we finally made it to the top and looked out over Nice. I’m exhausted, my electronics may or may not have survived a small bag flood, and my legs are definitely ready for bed, but I am happy to be here.

And tomorrow, another adventure awaits.