It was a beautiful day in Nice, France. We didn’t have a plan, other than to get out, walk around, and see where our feet would take us. We didn’t know that before the day was over, we’d be having Fun, Fun, Fun in Nice.
After some early-morning entertainment, we left the hotel and walked to Place Masséna, where we encountered the Greek God Apollo. We’ve seen him before. He hasn’t changed a bit.
Nice’s Main Street – Avenue Jean Médecin
From Place Masséna, we decided to walk down Avenue Jean Médecin – Nice’s main shopping district. It’s easy to recognize – there’s a tram line running down the middle of the wide avenue.
Avenue Jean Médecin, (named for a former mayor of Nice), is lined on both sides with shops and stores. Its wide sidewalks were bustling with Niçoise – the people, not the salad. That’s what they call themselves.
We did some window shopping, went into a few stores. I like going into French department stores called FNAC’s. (Sometimes pronounced “eff-nack”). FNAC’s have a little of everything. One can learn a lot about a culture by looking around in a foreign department store. It’s like a museum of what’s happening there right now.
When we returned to Place Masséna, it was time for lunch. We found a place we’d been to before. It’s a casual Italian restaurant called Attimi. Great pizza and salad. Wash it down with ice-cold Provençal rosé, and you have yourself a nice lunch. That’s exactly what we did.
After lunch, we headed back toward the hotel. Place Masséna is only a couple of blocks from the Promenade des Anglais, so we made the short detour, then had a stroll along the promenade to get back to the hotel.
Cours Salaya
By the time Le Happy Hour rolled around, we were ready to head back out, this time to a favorite part of Nice – Cours Salaya. To get there, we walked back down the Promenade des Anglais.
Cours Salaya serves as a flower market during the day. It’s called a flower market, but there’s a lot more than flowers for sale. It’s a scene.
By nightfall, the vendors and their stalls have disappeared. Restaurants lining both sides of Cours Salaya move tables out into the wide street, and the place comes alive. Wine flows. Servers hustle back and forth between tables and kitchens. Moules frites are everywhere. They’re the specialty of the area.
On the way to Cours Salaya, we walked down Rue Saint-François de Paule. We stopped at a bistro, grabbed a table outside, and ordered refreshments. We sat there enjoying the sights and sounds, which included a street musician.
Fun, Fun, Fun!
He stopped near our table and performed some classic tunes that everyone knows. His guitar playing style was unlike anything I’d ever heard, and he could sing. He was Irish, and he had the accent to prove it. All-in-all, a talented and enchanting musician.
We exchanged a few words, then he asked us where we were from. We told him Southern California. With that, he launched into, “In My Room,” by the Beach Boys, followed immediately by “Help Me Rhonda.” Then he went right into “Fun Fun Fun.” That’s what we were having!
He told us he was born in Ireland, and that other than a few words he’d picked up from tourists, he doesn’t really speak english. He learned how to sing and play guitar by watching his older street-musician brother – for years.
What a story.
To be continued…
