Nice - Old Town

Good Evening to all!! What a great day to be alive. Today we definitely caught up on our much needed rest, and then headed out to find some food. We read this morning that usually the crepes in France are made with buckwheat flour, which is great because despite the name buckwheat is actually gluten free. This always seems to be an adventure in it self as we never feel like anything specific and finding a place that can accommodate me isn't always easy. We also usually start this venture when we are far past the point of 'I could eat'. That means we are at the 'I need food and I don't care what it is' stage. So it is always an interesting time. All that to say that we stumbled upon a place that served a crepe of some type. It was great! Everything on the menu was gluten free and honestly it was very different. It was a crepe as you think but not at the same time. It was crispier, and also a square. All the edges were folded in making the large circle into a square. The reason they folded it in is because depending on why type you ordered all the ingredients were baked into the crepe. And the sauces on top. It was delicious!!! Our coffee was served on this cute heart plate with a heart cup. It was cute until we tried to figure out the best way to drink out of it. We definitely would go back for the food, it is was so delicious and the whole menu was gluten free. You could get all kinds of things in and on this. It hasn't happened so far that the place we end up stumbling upon is gluten free. From here we headed to the beach and found a festival of we aren't quite sure but we found a meringue that we got and devoured. Also it was sprinkled with chocolate. MMMM!

 

We learned a few new things about the area. Nice is the fifth largest city in France. Which is crazy as it seems like a smaller city. It is also referred to as Côte d'zur which is the coast of blue, referring to the sea. Way back when having a tan meant that you were a labour worker and it wasn't a thing that people did. I forget who but a famous person that they respect actually came to the French Riviera and went home with a tan and changed everything in a way giving permission for people to be tanned. Also St. Tropez was the place that started nude beaches. I didn't quite catch if there was a certain group or what people, who would go to the beach in St. Tropez and take their clothes off. The police were asked to monitor to make sure nothing crazy happened and it ended up taking off. The city decided to make that beach a nude beach so it became acceptable. We also learned that now they are starting to become more reserved in this for different health reasons, mainly to do with women.

We made our way to castle mountain and did a walk, all stairs, up to the top. This is our varying views of Nice from a few different levels. A beautiful coastal line.

 

Along the way to the very top we found this waterfall that we could see from the very bottom. Was pretty neat, except that it smelt like sea water, which for whatever reason was a slight downfall. Maybe it had something to with the fact that walking past it you got a mist coming off of it and you didn't want to smell like seaweed even though you were hot, and enjoyed the cool mist. But was a cool sight to see.

 

This is a sight of the water fall on the right and the stairs and the first view point on the jont up to the top. They had a cute little park at the top as well which we enjoyed a snack and some water at before heading back down. 

 

This is the view from the other side of the mountain hill thing. We aren't sure exactly what this places name is but it sure has a lot of boats that would be great to look at.

 

We ended up staying a number of hours on the hill, between hiking up it and then enjoying the views from it that when we came down we decided we had worked off our food and need a snack. Thus we went to the busiest place on the busy street that we could see from the top of the hill, and ordered their happy hour special. We didn't know exactly what it was going to be, and when she set down the metal holding tray we thought it would have been pizza. Turns out it was a ham and cheese plate! Or as my family calls it charcuteries!!!! We learned it is plancha, we aren't certain exactly what this means as when we put the names into google translate it came up with something we don't think is right.  But Yahoo!!! It was perfect. The ham we also learned is pretty much all a type of prosciutto which seems to be their basic type of ham. It isn't my usual choice of ham but I am learning to enjoy it. On the plate was also salami, which I don't like due to spice, Brie which I love! But usually only enjoy it hot and melted, a smoked cheddar, mmmmm, then there was a tomatoe for Luke, a cucumber for myself, and a suspicious cheese that neither of us were sure of. Luke took it first like a champ, also as he will pretty much eat anything and told me that I should give it a shot. Now I am very trusting of him, of course in many ways, but let me tell you a little story. A few years ago when were going on the cruise with my family, Luke had a spoon full of yogurt, yes I am not a yogurt person, and we were in the middle of a discussion and he spoon fed me a large amount of yogurt, which I willing accepted blindly, and then burst into laughter. Well this was another moment of a situation of this but slightly different. As I am sure you have guessed through the reading of this, I am a picky eater.Well this suspicious cheese he thinks was goat cheese!!! YUCK! I am not a fan of goat cheese at all, nope not at all. Not a chance. Bleh! Anyways below is a picture of the food. Sorry the sun was shining, and got in the way of the picture. We also had a spritzer of some kind, we aren't sure as it was more orange then pink so we don't think it was made with a rose, but was fairly strong tasting. Needles to say it was a delicious stop. 

 

We sat there for an hour or so and then decided that we needed something more. Our original plan was to get some food and head to the beach. Much like other meals the few places we tried were not gluten free and by the time we found a place we really weren't all that hungry, we found a sushi place that had vegetarian California rolls! MMM! Pickles, cucumber, avocado roll. Was SO good. I am not a sushi person except for what Luke likes to call white girl sushi. 

We have seen a number of times throughout both Spain and so far in France a service called Deliveroo. They deliver food to you, but do it from a number of different restaurants it is pretty cool. They usually bike to you as we have seen them all over. With our meal, we ordered one thing to share as we decided to stop at a grocery store before hitting the beach, but in the bag we got a 10 euro discount for Deliveroo. Funny thing, as we were walking back in the direction of home everywhere closes at 8, or at least the places closer to us. The places that we were in in old town mostly opened up at 7. I guess we didn't end up in a local spot like we have lucked out in other places so far. We ended up deciding to just go back the hotel as neither of us were overly hungry and we were getting frustrated that we were literally missing places by minutes. As soon as we opened up the bag and got some sushi in us, we decided that we should get some more... Well we had a discount card and totally took advantage of and ordered more sushi! Haha it was great, we even had on the app telling us when they were making it, when the delivery guy picked it up, and where he was the whole time he was biking to us, even down to when he he arrived saying he would be with us shortly. It was great! 

Another thing that both Luke and I are determined to master is eating with the fork in the left hand and the knife in the right. We are both equally as stubborn and want to have this down pat. It is slowly getting easier as we aren't automatically switching to our right hand which is half the battle I feel. We still have time to master this and we will.

A random fact about Paris that Luke mentioned is that good drivers only get scratches on their cars, bad drivers get dents. Haha how funny is that. Makes sense when you we how people drive and how close they are to absolutely everything and everyone that they pass.

Even in Nice we were waiting at an intersection to cross and the local lady that was beside us eventually got sick of waiting for someone to stop, there wasn't a pedestrian light, and she walked out and almost got hit by the van driving at her! We promptly ran after her so that we didn't have to face the same situation as neither of us are prepared to be that bold. 

This morning on our way to find food we turned a corner and very nonchalantly stumbled across gentleman peeing in a parking garage lane way. This was quite comical to us as it was very unexpected and he clearly didn't seem to care in the slightest. I guess that's a route to go when you can't afford to pay to pee in their stupid facilities. 

Although funny story with that, at the top of that mountain that we walked to I went to see if you had to pay for the washroom as I really needed to blow my nose. The ear pressure, plugged ears and the constant nose blowing are the only leftovers of being sick otherwise all is well. But the attendant man was there and greeted me kindly, and I tried to relay that I just needed a 'serviette' just to blow my nose, not knowing if he even spoke English I pointed at my nose as I said it. Well the poor guy promptly sat down and started looking all around him. Instead of grabbing me paper off the 2 large rolls of toilet paper sitting beside him he opens his bag and pulls out 3 pieces of Kleenex from his bag! Hands them to me and sends me on my way. Man did I feel bad but what a kind man! I honestly would have been fine with toilet paper I just didn't want to pay when that was all I needed this time. 

Back walking near the ocean we came across a silly many who decided that for some odd reason it would be a great idea to feed the birds. He literally had birds on his hands and arms eating the food he was supplying. YUCK! What on earth was he even thinking. I haven't a clue. Honestly. But they continue to swoop at my head and be everywhere. They walk! Stupid things when Luke runs at them they literally run from him. YOU HAVE WINGS! FLY! FLY FAR AWAY! They are dumb. 

The other thing we saw that I was never worried about until now is cats on the little lip outside of the appartment above the streets. All the streets as I think I mentioned before have appartments above them a few floors and today we saw a creepy cat just purched outside staring!! He had my number, man he locked eyes and sent me running! Into Luke's arms of course. He gives me what I like to call a disgusting pat. It started out as something he did when he thought I was being dramatic but felt he needed to say or do something but didn't want to, so this was his choice, I just put a name to it many many years ago. It is solid full hand pat, coming off for a few seconds and then patting again, and repeating for however long in necessary usually twice or three times and I know by the consistency that he is "disgusting patting" me. Thus I feel the need to explain it as this was one of those moments. 

I suppose that is one thing that we have established over the years is silly things like that have now become a joke of sorts but still have meaning getting the point across to both me and to him that I know exactly what he is doing. 

I am sure that some of you reading my blogs are really learning a lot about me through them. Hopefully you all still love me when I get home!! Haha or maybe you will love me more, that would be great. Or shall I dare say it, have a greater appreciation for my special kind of special. (As I mentioned this is how Luke so eloquently puts my uniqueness). A look into the goings on in my mind.

Also to answer anyone's questions about when I write this. I write it every evening, I am a fairly forgetful person so I prefer to do this so that I remember the day as it truly was. When all is said and done it ends up being sometimes late into the night when it is completed. But I enjoy it, and Luke always find something to occupy his time so I continue to follow through with it.

My last piece of information is a rather important one. It has to do with my precious puppy whom I love so much. When we were in Barcelona we came across dog groomers and in the window I kid you not they had a stuffed dog with ROLLERS IN ITS HAIR!!! Hahah this is Roscoe's dreadful fate when we return as I am going to grow his hair long enough to put rollers in it and then make him sit still, probably bribing him with treats, until they are dry. I AM SO EXCITED!! Poor guy will never know what hit em. But I must say, between France and Spain we have seen a number of dogs with pony tails in, or bows for the female dogs, it seems to be a rather popular thing. And we can't quite hold ourselves together when we see this. The other thing we have seen far to frequently is a bread of dog that is something unknown mixed with a chihuahua, and then sometimes other breeds. Needless to say they have tiny dogs here!! Tinier then Roscoe. It is hilarious! For the first while in Spain we couldn't help but laugh when we saw them because they are so cute and tiny and funny looking. But then they became so common that it wasn't funny anymore. I am sure Luke would say it is scary because he doesn't think they are real dogs as they aren't a proper size of dog. The picture on the right is an example of the dogs size. The picture on the left is our next dog we are going to get!! He is a true combination to my childhood puppy Tucker, who ended up becoming a missionary puppy (feel free to ask me about this in person sometime), and my current precious Roscoe. Tucker was a Pomeranian poodle, and Roscoe is a shitzu Maltese. This guy on the left, I wish I got a better picture of but I had to be sneaky!! He is white like the Maltese in Ros, has the body mixed of Roscoe and Tucker, as well as a face mixed between the 2. He is bigger then the little guys on the right picture but still not huge. He also has the Pomeranian tail.

 

I was trying to find the picture of me ducking behind Luke on our wedding day, because there were birds flying above us into the covered space but Facebook is being silly. More then anything just to say it isn't a new thing, It has been since my childhood, and to give everyone a little idea of what this looks like, I wanted the picture. My usual stance when I get legitimately scared is to drop into the fetal position and this is somewhere in between. Feel free to ask for the picture cause I honestly think this is a great moment captured! 

Anyways here is a picture of my cutie Roscoe sleeping on his pillow at my parents house missing us. I must post it because I feel a little guilty about the posting of the pup to come after him as well as the fate he has to look forward to when we return. As we are galavanting around Europe little Roscoe is living the life, he just doesn't know it. Getting walked and being able to play in his backyard that he loves. To answer your questions and smirks, yes Roscoe has his own pillow. There are a few reasons for this. Firstly, he doesn't like to be kicked in the night and Luke hates him being on the bed, sometimes he doesn't want to sleep in his bed and he wants to be close to me so he has a pillow next the bed that he sleeps on when he decides not to hog my pillow that my head is on. And no I would not move his bed there as his bed is in a cooler location and he likes it there. While we are talking about him he also loves being in the closet behind my clothes, he likes the dark. He acquired this pillow when Luke and I got married. As we got new pillows, Roscoe being a puppy after my own heart loves this pillow as much as me and I decided that it shall be dubbed his. Also the pillow I take if we go camping, or sometimes just travelling. And man I wish I brought it on this trip.

 

ISNT HE THE CUTEST!! Did I mention that the pillows in this hotel are square? Yea square. It is stupid. And very awkward to sleep with. The beds are so short that if you lay it flat and sleep on it how you normally would half you leg is off the bed if you are laying flat! It is silly. But I am a bit of a pillow snob, unfortunately, and luckily for you you get to hear about it!

Well wow. What a rant for today, I don't know if I should apologize or thank you for listening, and reading my thoughts. Well I shall do both. Sorry for the length and continued randomness and thanks for tuning in.

And so the adventure continues...