Nice / Jason and Michelle's Visit

 Jay had some collaborating to do in Nice with people at the observatory there, so we tagged along and spent the week in the French Riviera! The weather was sunny and around 60 each day - a real treat! Our place was close to the beach and Promenade Anglais, which made it a great location. 

While Nice was nice, we missed Toulouse and its charm. Nice almost didn't even feel like we were in France and it was full of tourists. I can't even imagine what it would be like in the summer during the actual tourist season! At one point, we considered spending our sabbatical time in Nice, but we were all so thankful that we have landed in Toulouse. 

To get to Nice, we took the train with one connection in Marseilles. The total trip time was about 7 hours. The first train to Marseilles, was an intercity train but the second train to Nice was a TGV. The TGV's are much nicer than the intercities and we will make sure to book those whenever we can. I think the TGV's are also high speed. 

The Train ride...

The first evening...

Tuesday workday, running on the promenade and hanging on the beach

View from our airbnb - The Mediterranean! 

School alfresco

Turn around point on my run - tres belle! 

They were moving rocks around on the beach and we think it was technically "closed" but plenty of people were still there. We just had to mind the trucks, occasionally! 

Toes in the Med! 

Jay's work view for the week! 

Dinner at Les Amoreaux - a Napolian Pizza Restaurant. We waited for an hour outside, but they fed us champagne, wine, soda, and pizza crust! 

Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat - Jay took the morning off so we could do some exploring. There were lots of good looking hikes around the area, so it was hard to choose! We landed on Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat - a ten minute train ride east of Nice. 

Another beautiful day in Nice

Walking to the train

Villefranche-sur-Mer

Quite the entrance to the walk

mansions and sparkling sea

Adorable path through homes

Tossing the ruby ball along the way

Looking back at Nice with snowy mountains in background 

Another estate...

....and another

...and another

We had to take an Uber home since we were running late and Jay had a work meeting. It was fancy! 

More rugby on the beach that afternoon

Lobster rolls for dinner

Thursday - the kids and I walked around Old Town Nice and explored The Colline du Chateau. 

Onion tarte situation at the local market 

Socca - a local eat made with chick peas

Socca stand - delivered every 10 min. or so by a man on a bike 

View from the top of the Hill

Red roofs of old town Nice

Fun park at the top

Old Town

Ice cream treat after walking around...

...followed by a dip in the Med :) 

Michelle and Jason arrived on Saturday late afternoon. We celebrated Jason's birthday (and Tasha's from afar) by going out to dinner at Le Pente Douce.

Sunday was spent wandering through the St. Aubin Market, riding the carousel, checking out Saint Sernin, The Garonne, playing games at home and drinking more wine! The weather was mostly sunny and perfect for exploring Toulouse on foot. We are so glad Jason and Michelle came to visit and spend time with us!!

St. Aubin

Showing off his Fortnight moves

Post dinner walk home - so pretty out! 

Michelle's shopping pays off for Maggie! 

Man with Wine 

The cute couple

Trying to play Smashup in French after 4 bottles of wine

Saint Sernin 

 

The signs for dog poop bags - always with the French Bulldog 

Carousel time

Bucket oh veggies from Sunday market 

Cherry blossoms! 

Lots of people wearing white with red bandanas out partying on Saturday night. We stopped and talked to them about it; they're celebrating a festival that was happening in a Basque town called Dax 

The one dinner pic I got - scallop with risotto

These two....

Leaving the pre-dinner bar - it was packed! 

In front of the Capitol 

The Garonne looking lovely on Sunday