And now to France

Thu. Mar. 31-Fri. Apr. 1: Our adventure actually began on Thursday, as we left East Lansing at 8:30. For the first time we decided to take the Michigan Flyer bus to Detroit Metro so we didn’t have to pay to park for 2½ weeks. Carol Roush kindly agreed to take us to the bus, which got us there without a hitch. Other than realizing that the IPod was left at home (which Thelma & Kris remedied for us) the whole trip was routine and without a problem. A strong tail wind got us, via JFK in New York, to Nice, France Friday at 7:45am, half an hour earlier than planned. As per Rick Steve we took the #99 bus to the train station downtown and the GPS told us how to find l’hotel de Madrid, about a 3 block walk away. That was a nice one night’s stay before we joined Heidi & Kris on Saturday. We were surprised to be able to check in right then at the hotel, so we put most of our things in the room and headed out to explore Nice. Our bus ticket was good for buses and the tram the whole day and would prove to be really useful. It is so easy to just wander around the city and we quickly became oriented and comfortable. When we found ourselves beside the Tram line we decided to take it all the way to the end point, Pont Michele, paying attention to stops along the way. We got off at the end, but seeing not much to do there, took the Tram the other way back to Vielle Ville (Old Village) and strolled the narrow winding lanes, charmed with their quaintness and the feeling of having absolutely no agenda. When we noticed a small park up beside a steep street we climbed up to see it. Then we went through a lovely wrought iron and stone gateway and climbed some steps further up the side of the hill. At the top there were signs directing us up a walking trail towards a Cascade and an ancient chateau. The further we climbed the more we realized we were climbing Castle Hill, which we had read about in our Steve’s book. It was an easy climb the way we had done it and we stopped frequently for the great views. From the top one has panoramic outlooks in several directions. After sharing a mozzarella and tomato Panini from the stand at the top, we took pictures of the ruins of the 11^th century chapel and marveled at the remaining walls from the protective citadel that stood guard over Old Nice at its beginning. From one overlook we saw the Port to the east, with some huge yachts pulled up beside one of the docks. High above the Promenade d’Anglais, which runs for 4 miles along the shore, we were surprised to hear the gentle waves lapping up on the rocks. So we made our way down the many steps to the Promenade and did as the natives did and joined the many people walking along the Mediterranean Sea. It was a stunning day with sun in the brilliant blue sky and the temperature was around 70. We spent part of the time on the very rocky shore itself, but the rocks are pretty difficult to walk on so it wasn’t long until we returned to the wide, paved Promenade. About halfway down we headed back up rue Jean Mediçin to take the Tram to close to our hotel. A short nap seemed to be a good idea to help get us acclimated to time. Afterwards we took the Tram to its other end point and got off. Again, there wasn’t a lot to see but we had noticed a sweet park near a University stop so we took the Tram back to it, walked through it and went a few blocks further on foot past the modern looking and very white Church of Jean d’Arc. Back on the Tram we returned to our “neighborhood” and found the Rick Steves’ suggested Voyageur Nissart for traditional Niçoise food. Marv had vegetable soup, a white fish in butter sauce, polenta, and strawberry tart. I had tomato and mozzarella salad, beef ravioli, pumpkin and rice mix, and tiramisu. It was all so yummy and we went to bed full and exhausted from our first day in Nice.