Biking along the French Riviera

Simon took a time lapse video of our bike ride from Nice out past the airport. We brought our suits so we could take a dip on a free beach, since our hotel was in an expensive area.

Those hills in the distance surround the main part of the city.

Schoepfer!

The cheese and wine in France was delicious and cheap. We enjoyed baguettes and cheese plates each day on our patio.













I'm not sure how my good friend Katie Schoepf is involved, but this photo proves she had something to do with it. Thanks Katie!

Dinner at La Merenda

The front door of La Merenda is a bit intimidating when you come to it in the morning to make a reservation - a beaded doorway with cool darkness behind it. Bravely, I stepped inside and asked for a place for the evening, and chose to have dinner at neuve heures (9 pm).

After the waiter managed to stop me from walking all over his freshly cleaned floor, he put us down for dinner, and I walked home feeling victorious.










That night we returned and were seated at a tiny table. The room could accommodate 25 people, and it was packed.

At the back of the room is an open, tiny kitchen where you can see the chef at work. He left a top notch restaurant at Nice's famous Hotel Negresco to cook Nicoise fare for the knowing few.

















A blackboard menu with the night's specials is brought to your table. The waiter gives you a few minutes, and then returns to take your order. He then takes the blackboard and places it on the next table.


When we sat down in the restaurant, the smell of delicious beef reminded Simon and me of arriving at my grandma's ranch in Montana and being served the most local of roast beef dinners. The homey smells were welcoming and delicious, and it made me proud to think of all the delicious meals my grandma had prepared for her guests. Had our chef made his way to her table, he would have been blessed as we were by his wonderful cooking.


As starters, we ordered an onion tart and the sardines. The sardines were stuffed with garlic and bread crumbs and were the best either of us had ever had. The tart was a local specialty, done beautifully.

For our entree, we both wanted an entire order of Daube de Boeuf a la provencale (Beef Stew with Provencal flavors), but decided to get the Andoillette (sausage with lentils) so we could try 2 things. Both were amazing, but there was not enough daube de boeuf to please us both. It melted in our mouths, the tomato and olive flavors a revelation.

Simon went with the fromage for dessert and received a lovely piece of cheese covered in spicy honey. I could not pass up the beautiful gateau aux cerises (cherry cake) I'd seen at other tables, and it was spectacular!


If you are ever in Nice, do not pass up the chance to dine at La Merenda. Our meal with coffee and wine was $40 pp. The actual address is 4 rue Raoul Bosio.

Walk with us through Eze

Margeaux recommended the tiny mountaintop village of Eze near Nice, so we set out one afternoon to check it out. We took the train to Eze, a free 20-minute ride with our railpass. I expected the train to do the hard work of climbing the mountain for us.

Instead, we were let off at the base of a mountain, pretty much deserted except for a sign that said 1 hour to Eze, chemin pedestre. Not sure what chemin meant, I knew pedestre meant walk, and 1 hour was doable. Later I translated chemin to mean "hike." Fortunately I'd learned my lesson from the walk up to the false La Merenda, and wore hiking clothes.


We got a great workout climbing the path to Eze, installed in 1965 according to the inscriptions on the stairway. It was hot, but the views of the sea, the forest, and the private homes in the hills were a good diversion. After about 45 minutes of dedicated climbing, we made it to Eze.

It was charming and a worthy reward for our efforts. We managed to find a bus to take us back to Nice for 1 euro from a town on the other side of the mountain.


Thanks for the recommendation Margeaux! Maybe this video Simon took will jog your memories of Eze.

Finding La Merenda

The New York Times and various other travel websites raved about a chef-driven local cuisine hole in the wall called La Merenda in Nice. The restaurant doesn't have a phone, so the only way to go is to stop by in the morning and get your name on the list. Luckily for Simon, I don't value sleep over morning errands, but I thought I'd scope out the place before heading out the next morning to get us on the list.

Simon settled in for another full day of soccer, and I put on pretty sandals and a dress and headed to where google said La Merenda was located. I'd read that it was in an obscure place, and the address did seem far flung, but it was doable by tram, I thought. It looked to be about 10 blocks from the tram stop.


Turned out, it was 10 blocks UP from the train stop. My map did not lead me astray, but I had to climb ramps and steps and hills, on and on and on.


Every time I turned around, the vistas were breathtaking, so I carried on. I could hear forks on plates and saw families gathered around tables in their yards.













I got to the point I'd marked on the map, and there was no restaurant, only forest high above the city and a gorgeous sunset.






My feet were killing me by the time I made it back to the tram station 3 hours later, but the sunset vistas were worth it.





















































The next day, after a more thorough google search, I walked to straight to the actual address of La Merenda, about 8 minutes from our hotel, and got on the list.

Moon Rising in Nice

Panorama from our Balcony in Nice

Our balcony in Nice faced east, so we got half of the city view and half of the sea view. Also, when they set off fireworks to celebrate the end of the Ironman Triathlon, our view included fireworks!

Amazing deli section at Peck

We ate at two of their satellite restaurants, with great luck,
and had gelato from their counter daily.

Gelato flowers

knockout

The knockout round began 45 minutes ago. The US have one of the easiest paths forward, but not England. By finishing second the English face Germany in the first round and likely Argentina in the second. To reach the final, they'd need to beat Spain, who have a fairly simple path to the semi-finals if they can beat Portugal tomorrow night. The winner of that match should get past the winner of Paraguay-Japan for a spot in the semi-finals.

The US side is much easier. The Americans begin tonight against Ghana, and would face the winner of Uruguay - South Korea. For me, Uruguay comes of of this side to the semi-final.

The other half of the bracket suggests a Brazil-Netherlands matchup likely in the quarterfinals, with the winner to face Uruguay. Brazil-Uruguay probably means Brazil into the finals, though Uruguay have impressed thus far.

Sure to be disproven quickly, your semi-finals prediction:

Uruguay, Argentina, Spain, Brazil.

Paragliding near our balcony in Nice

Paragliding was a popular recreation in the Cote d'azur. We did not indulge, but we observed with binoculars and took this short video.

Aida at Arena di Verona

Simon received a glowing recommendation for the operas staged at Arena di Verona, a Roman amphitheater built in 30 AD. Its acoustics are excellent, and it has been hosting opera performances since the Renaissance. Franco Zefferelli designed some Verdi productions to take advantage of the setting.

Milan was on strike the day we were traveling to Verona, so we were a bit held up at the train station. The train we were planning to take was canceled, and we were nervous about getting on the one train that would get us there in time.

We got on the train 30 minutes early and sat in 1st class. A friendly lady started talking to us in Italian, but we didn't understand her and she stopped talking. About 5 minutes before the train left, we were confronted by 2 people with reservations for our seats (reservations unavailable to us a few hours earlier). Nervously we walked through a very full train until we found a couple of seats, and the train left the station.

Many passengers stood and crammed into the lounge cars. The person checking the tickets was evidently on strike as well, and we rode for an hour and arrived in Verona.





After a tour of the town, including a lovely cathedral and some ancient city walls, we ate a wonderful multi-course fixed price Italian meal on a patio near the amphitheater. The fruit and vegetable course was abundant with antipasti and melon and cheeses, followed by risotto and tortellini, and a plate full of roasted meats and sausages. We had to leave before the dessert course, but were sated for the 3 hour opera ahead.



We got to see Aida! I was glad I'd seen it twice already so I could follow the plot. Italians don't need subtitles for Verdi.

Slovakia!

Shot immediately following the second Slovakia goal, in the Piazza Duomo.

Balcony in Milan

Simon loves balconies above all other hotel amenities.
Our balcony in Milan was a welcome retreat from the busy city.

Our view was of the private courtyard, where the bar staff was
serving aperitivo and cocktails to a chic crowd late into the night.

Taking a break from Italy's sunshine

Andrew warned me, but I didn't listen. Ken Follett's sequel to Pillars of the Earth, World Without End, was difficult to put down. By the time we got to Italy, I was deeply engrossed in the challenges facing nuns in the 14th-century as the plague killed more than half of the population.

One young builder had left England for a tour of Italy's architecture, and his reflections on the change matched my observations about the Mediterranean heat:

Italy had Gothic cathedrals, Milan being one of the greatest, but modern-minded Italians did not like the architecture of France and England: they regarded huge windows and flying buttresses as a foreign fetish. The obsession with light, which made sense in the gloomy northwest of Europe, seemed perverse in sunny Italy, where people sought shade and coolness.

Italians identified with the classical architecture of ancient Rome, the ruins of which were all around them. They liked gable ends and round arches, and they rejected ornate exterior sculpture in favor of decorative patters of different colored stone and marble.

We visited Milan's Duomo and the Basilica of Verona. The Duomo is Gothic in its construction, and the facade is made of beautiful light pink Candoglia marble.

They were tuning the organ while I was there - an unfortunate exercise that sounded more like the vuvuzela than music.

We think these sepulcres were the oldest thing we saw on the trip - 1058!

The Basilica of Verona was a welcome respite from the heat. Merthin was right - large windows would have seemed perverse when the afternoon heat hovered around 110°.

Even Jesus found a way to escape the heat!