Nice is nicer. Dona and I have decided to stay in Nice and see the French Riviera in stead of going to Carcassonne. We were able to book two more nights at the Hotel trocadero which turns out to have bigger and better rooms than the Ideal Bristol which is next door. Internet connection however is not good in the room.
We both were exhausted and I have to admit despite the tiny room at the ideal Bristol the beds were wonderful. My idea was to sleep late but I first woke up at 6, went back to sleep, awoke at 7 went back to sleep and then woke up at 8 and stayed up. Dona and I took deliciously hot showers and got dressed and went out to look for a place to eat breakfast.
We found a place across from the train station that served American Petite dejeuner. Which is French for American breakfast.. It consisted of ham, three sunny side up eggs, toast, orange juice and coffee. Very good.
We went over to the train station to find out if the train would go directly to Paris and what time it left on aturday. As of that time we did not know if the Hotel Trocadero would be able to put us up for thurs and Friday night so we said we would come back to book the tickets.
At about 1130 we checked out of the Ideal Bristol and went next store to the Hotel Trocadero and told them that we would like to book two extra nights. This was fine with then and they gave us this key to 452. As I mentioned it is a nicer room than what we had at the Hotel Ideal Bristol and 20 euros cheaper
The room has some features that the Bristol did not that makes us feel more secure, like a safe. We unpacked our suitcases a little and I put the computer in the safe.
We then went to the Train station to book our trip to Paris on Friday. We are in a first class seat and it will be interesting to compare those seats with the 2nd class seats. It only cost about 20 dollars more than the 2nd class seats.
Then we had the task of figuring out how to get to the two art museums we wanted to see. The guide book says that next to Paris, Nice has more important art museums than anywhere else in france. The two museums we wanted to see were the Musee Matisse and the Musee Chagal. The problem being we did not know the bus system and how to read the map. Luck again for us we were near transportation bus information and we asked the lady at the tourist information in the train station and the lady in the bus transportation office. Between the two we at least had some idea of how to get to one of the musee. First we went to the Musee Matisse. It was in a lovely park where men were playing that game with balls they throw to hit another ball. There were several men out in the park playing. They must have all been retired or on Holiday as it was 1pm. The musee was in a big red brick building. It has a sizeable collection of Matisise’s work. I learned a lot about the artist. His life and his works. Then the next problem we had to face was how we could get to the musee chalgal as now it was only 3 pm and we had plenty of time because these muse’s do not close until 6. We figured out the bus line and a lady who spoke only French came over to us and told us in French that we were confused and pointed to the bus we needed. She must have understook English and heard us talking but could only talk to us in French. Anyway I somehow understood what she was trying to say and we did find the right bus stop. The bus only cost 1 Euro. We arrived at the Musee Chalgal. It is the national museum of Chalgal’s work and it has a magnificent collection with audio guides explaining the symbolism behind his paintings. It was an excellent museum in design and contents. Apparently Chagal was alive when they planned the building and he had some say in the design and what pictures would be displayed. We stayed until it closed and figured out the bus route back. We got back to the area of our Hotel about 615 and we were thirsty. Dona wanted a Beer and I just wanted something cold and refreshing. We did not find a bar but found a coffee spot where we both had some sort of refreshing orange drink. As we walked down this busy street we saw a Mcdonalds and a KFC. John would have liked this. We wanted to eat dinner but the restaurants do not open till 7. So I suggested we look for just a bar. We finally saw a real bar that served alcohol and I had a glass of wine and Dona had a budwiser(which was the cheapest beer on the menu) We sat at a little table and watched the Nicien’s walk by. We agreed that the people in france dress diffiferently than in America. We have not seen one boy with pants falling down. And most of the women are now wearing tall fashionable boots.. We enjoyed our drink and I noticed it was now 730 and we could go eat.
We picked out a French restaurant called Café Tuscun. It had a French menu and I wanted Dona to get her taste of French food. While we were eating dinner a series of police cars and men went running by. A strange sound came from the streets and we never figured out what it was. It was however a little unerving as the streets now were emptying out. Even the owner of the restaurant could not figure out the problem.
We both agree, that the day had been lovely. The weather was sunny and a perfect temperature and no trains to catch or luggage to haul
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