Oh la la, aren't we so chic bathing at dawn? Don't forget to like, subscribe, follow, DM, etc. I definitely don't trust myself to hold the phone well out of the water, especially given how gingerly I have to walk on the stones to get in/out of the water 🤣
I suppose I have no right to make fun of those ladies, I'm also here posing for a sunrise swim pic 😅
It was interesting being out so early while the city's beautification
crew were still working: a bulldozer had seemingly smoothed the beach,
guys in yellow vests were patrolling for litter, and a boat with a water
gun was spraying down the beach. The guys on the boat were nice enough
to divert the stream into the water when passing populated section of
beach, so me and the Instagram ladies next to me didn't get blasted with
a fire hose of sea water.
I spotted the boat spraying down the beach while swimming and made a beeline back to shore to grab my stuff. Fortunately, they gave me a wide berth but quickly went back to power washing the shore after passing me by.
I didn't hang around on the beach after my swim, I toweled off and walked back as the sun finally peeked over the hill of the medieval walled city. I had myself a Nutella filled pastry for breakfast, a quick walk around the block, and finished prepping for checkout.
Et
enfin, le soleil. With the sun finally cresting the old citadel, it was
time to conclude my time on la promenade des anglais.
It isn't just the beach that has a cleaning routine with pressure washing, the entire old town was hosing down everything. I guess that's the quickest way to clean up the mess from the previous night's bon vivants
I'm gonna miss 1.5 euro espresso and reasonably priced pastries. ...and bread ...and touring patrimoine ...and I guess France in general
One last time, I'll make a crack about Nice looking pretty nice
The Uber ride to the airport went super smoothly and the French business
radio channel the driver was tuned to was perfect for lulling me to
sleep despite me trying to stay alert to catch the last of the city.
No sooner did I arrive at the airport than I received notification that my flight was delayed two hours. Rather than be frustrated, I immediately pounced on this sudden (if small) extension of my European adventure. I checked the bags, received a €15 voucher for use in the airport as compensation, and set off to walk across the river Vars. The walk was a bit more confusing than I'd anticipated but I did eventually find sidewalks that could get me to the bridge crossing the river. The river was very turbid but the islands featured tons of nesting birds zipping around and chiming.
Bonus Lightning Round: Cross the River Vars! Turns out there's no easy, convenient path for pedestrians to get to the bridge from the airport, it must've taken me half an hour just to figure how to walk the half mile without dodging traffic. The Var is 114 km and snakes its way through Provence and the Maritime Alps to the sea.
These little birds were making a lot of noise and zipped around when they weren't perusing the river banks. These are the Pierregarin Stern (my gut says there's a name related to stones for them in english), a monogamous migratory bird that makes nests on the ground of river isles in summer.
On the other side of the river was the town of St Laurent sur Var. It seemed like a much more subdued town, like a cheaper alternative to Nice that has come to peace with that. At the least it featured some sandy beaches but the water here was cloudy due to it's proximity to the mouth of the river. I popped in to the office of tourism on the beach and was given a recommendation of continuing on to the next town (truly thankful the hostess was willing to admit my time would be better spent elsewhere) but I ultimately just dipped my feet in the water and sunned on the sand for 15 minutes before needing to return to the airport.
Where Nice felt a bit like a theme park, St Laurent sur Var felt a bit more grounded: less crystal clear waters and silver beaches, more wading areas and water sports rentals. Kinda like La Ciotat earlier in the week.
Can I get that Mediterranean sunshine to go (pour emporter)?
The beach was sandy here, and that sand got quite hot in the sun. The water wasn't clear but I suppose that's the tradeoff one makes for tiny rocks instead of big, smooth ones. Amazing what a bit of river silt and eroded rocks from the mountains can do to a shore, non?
My sun bathing complete, I made the trek back to the airport. I wasn't pressed for time but broke a slight sweat from walking in the heat, nothing that lounging around the airport for a little over an hour couldn't fix. My 12pm flight did eventually start boarding at 3:30, after which there were no other air travel issues. I watched Dune pt 2 on the seat back but was offput by the poor syncing of picture and audio.
Spotted in the duty free section: Maison Fragonard, I know it well. Er, or I've at least seen it in Grasses 😅
I finally had a niçoise salade, fresh off la plancha instead of fresh out of the can makes a big difference for the than. Paired with a glass of wine, it makes for a good use of that 15 Euro voucher.
Annnnnd just like that, we're back in the good ol' US of A. 🦅 🔫🤠Not that I've left sunshine completely behind, I'm sure there's plenty of hot summer weather in store for me in Jersey City!
No problem with the flights back to the US, but I found my car battery had died after corroding at the terminals. Nothing a little jump start kit can't handle.
Was it all just a dream? Mais bien sûr, non!
Back just in time for the 4th of July, it's been quite a ride as I gallivanted across a decent chunk of France. I feel I've lived so much in these past 3 months, it's going to take me a bit of time to recover; however, just as when I returned in March, I'll attempt to keep myself active and exploring. One of the things I'll try is regularly joining a francophone group; I'm bound to be able to find one in the NYC area. With all that I've learned of the language in my 181 days in France, I'd hate to lose it; weekly conversations may not be enough to continue improving but hopefully it's enough to maintain this competency.
It might not seem like it, but there's still a decent amount of France I haven't seen. My travels were primarily limited to the northern edge of Spain, the southern edge of mainland France, and the southern half of Corsica: that leaves the northern and eastern edges of France (Bretagne, Normandie, Alsace, etc), a lot of the middle of France, French Guiana, the Caribbean isles of Guadeloupe and Martinique, and the Indian Ocean isles of La Reunion and Mayotte. Maybe I won't get to it all (there's plenty more to be seen in this world) but I eagerly await the call if the opportunity presents itself! On sait jamais!
Recording my thoughts has been a good exercise during my trips and has
forced me to actually examine the photos I take. I found it
tricky to balance future, present, and past these past few months:
planning what to do next, enjoying the moment while it lasts, and
recording the experience. Perhaps its a sign of the confidence I gained
from the first 3 months (or simply improvement of the weather) that I
found myself doing more with my evenings this time and having less time to keep the blog current.
I won't be able to return to the EU with a tourist visa until November 13, 2024 (marking 1 year since this whole ordeal began) so that's probably all for a while. Thanks for tuning in and hopefully there will be more to record in the future!
À la prochaine!
-John
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