I won't have too much knitting content today, but I will have a few more vacation pictures. We spent the second half of our vacation in Nice, at Le Meridien (the hotel was nice, but didn't have a lot of French character... reminded me of a Hilton). The picture above is a shot of the Baie des Anges and the Promenade des Anglais. The Mediterranean is a beautiful blue color that lives up to the description "azure". One thing that was very different for me as far as beaches are concerned is that this beach is totally comprised of rock. Nice for sunbathing (no gritty sand to get mixed in your sunscreen) but not so nice for going in the water, as it's hard to stand and walk on the rocks.

Nice has incredible history. It's been the location of Roman and Greek settlements, and the food has many Italian elements. One of the focal points of the city is the remains of an old fortress originally settled by the Greeks, and destroyed by Louis XIV, referred to as "Le Chateau". Our second day in Nice, John and I decided to wander up to the top to see what we could see. Le Chateau is roughly in the center of Nice and separates the old side from the side with the harbor.

The picture to the left is a view down into Vieux Nice (Old Nice), the part of the city build on the lower western side of Le Chateau. Vieux Nice has a number of wonderful restaurants, and several good places to get ice cream. Apparently, Vieux Nice used to be something of a slum, but now it is becoming kind of trendy again. It's a neat area, filled with funky little art shops and restaurants with tables filling streets that feel like alleyways. Probably the best thing about our hotel is that it gave us easy access to the beach and Vieux Nice, so John could get his gelato fix every night.

I loved the food -- how can you beat pasta and rich sauces? Probably our two favorite restaurants in Nice were La Meranda, a small place started by a chef who used to work at Chantacler in the Negresco (an extremely tony Belle Epoque hotel) and Chez Juliette, which reminded us of some fun and funky places in Chicago. Of course, we weren't there long enough to dine in anything more than a small selection of places. Local specialties include "Beignets des Fleurs de Courgette" (batter dipped zucchini flowers -- which taste better than they sound like they would) and Rattatoullie (sort of a roasted vegetable salad). In addition to great food, there's also great, affordable wine. I couldn't imagine a restaurant in Chicago where I could get a wonderful bottle of Cote du Rhone for $14!

This is a picture of Vieux Nice looking down from Le Chateau. The dome in the middle is the Church of St. Reparate (sp?), the patron saint of Nice. We visited several old churches in Haut de Cagne, Nice and Monaco (way more churches than we would normally visit in any 10 day perioid in the US) and even though we are luke warm in our religion at best, it's hard not to feel inspired by these places, if only because they have stood for so long and are homes to incredible art work. It didn't seem very respectful to take pictures inside these places, so I don't have any to show.

On the other side of Le Chateau is a harbor where the ferries come in.

John and I spent quite a while in the park that is now on top of the hill that used to be home to a fortress. There were so many extraordinary views of Nice and the Mediterranean that we found it hard to come down. It was great fun to watch one of the big car ferries come in and unload. It was such a nice place to spend time, that I wished that I had brought a book with me so that I could sit and enjoy the breezes and the scenery (I stopped doing much knitting when we got to Nice because I got obsessed with reading the Harry Potter series... I bought the first book at O'hare when I got worried I wouldn't have enough to read, finished it in Haut de Cagne, and then bought the next 3 once we got to Nice... I'm now waiting for the fifth book to arrive from Amazon!)

I'll close with this final picture:

John and I at the top of Le Chateau, overlooking the Baie des Anges and Vieux Nice.