Nice Vacation Wraps Up

Friday, April 29 2011.

The last week of school was good, like the others, but it's all wrapped up now.  Heidi has been sightseeing all week while I've been busy.  Here are a few of her photos from her exploration.

The port in Nice.

A shot of the Nice coastline from Mount Boron.

Homes on the hillside in Villefranche, with a cruise ship in the bay.

The Citadel in Villefranche, an ancient fortress to protect the city from invaders.

Villefranche Vieille Ville

Tuesday, April 26 2011.

Heidi took the bus to Villefranche to meet me after school ended today.  We walked amongst the buildings of the old city, had a little appetizer and wine and watched the people in the port do their thing.  When leaving, we noticed the Citadel there, a huge imposing stone structure built some 5 centuries ago - now Heidi added that to her list to come back and see before the week is up. 

Only 3 more days to graduation from the school, but the learning will never end.  Did you hear that, Alliance Francaise of Minneapolis-St Paul?

Oh, by the way - that bad weather I talked about?  It never came.  Except for a few hours of rain on Saturday, it's been sunny and warm again, every day.

OK, it's 8:30pm.  Time to go out for dinner now, to the Indian place around the corner.

Cooking In

Monday, April 25 2011.

We decided to cook in tonight.  Took the train to the Carrefour store (think: SuperTarget) and brought home some pasta and other stuff.  HT cooked and I did homework from the school.  We were very tired because we were awake half the night Sunday night due to our neighborhood!  The partiers stay out until 3:00am, and 5 minutes after the partiers go home, the city cleaning crew comes out.  Noise all night long.  We were both awake half the night listening to life on the streets.

Rapid Touring

Sunday, April 24 2011.

Today was a whirlwind tour of the city of Nice, Villefranche-sur-Mer (the city where the French school is), and Monaco.

Heidi was enamored with the farmer's market in Cours Saleya.  She thought it was the first place we've seen where the vegetables and fruit are so gigantic and amazing looking.  I was still having fun thinking about not going home.

Introduction

Saturday, April 23 2011.

Heidi arrived here today, about noon!  After 3 delayed flights and nearly missing every connection, she arrived only a few minutes late.  I picked her up at the airport and then we went on a crash course of indoctrination to the city - since she has to get around on her own while I'm at school all week.

Less than 2 hours after arriving, she said, "When can we move here for good?" 

Mission accomplished.

Vacation Starts!

Just got an email from Heidi, she is in Madrid, on the way to the plane headed for Nice.  Her long flight from Chicago to Madrid was quite late, but so were all the rest of the flights - so she didn't miss any connections.  We've got the weekend free until I go back to class on Monday, when she gets set loose in Nice to go exploring on her own.

3rd Week Happy Hour

Friday, April 22 2011.

Finished 3 weeks of classes!!  A few of the students were leaving today so we had a little Happy Hour at the local hangout, Chez Betty. 

Too bad, the weather is turning a little.  It had been 3 weeks of solid sun, but today it was gray and windy.  Some rain in the forecast just in time for Heidi to arrive tomorrow.

Wine Tasting

Thursday, April 21 2011.

Tonight the school organized a wine tasting event for the students from all of the classes.  This event was the first one in Nice, only a few blocks from where I'm living - so it was great to walk there and back for 5 minutes instead of walking 45 minutes from Villefranche, the neighboring village where the school is.

Almost everyone came, but it was optional so there were a few who didn't.  This wine shop was "bio" (organic).  It was great wine, but what do I know, really?  I buy wine from Trader Joe's sometimes.

Speeches and Presentations

Tuesday, April 19 2011.

Each day in class, one student gives a speech or presentation on a topic of his choosing for 20 to 30 minutes, and then takes Q&A afterwards from the other students and the teacher.

When I did mine last week, I spoke of the beauty and vitality of the Twin Cities and tried to convince everyone to move there.  There was some interest at first, until everyone found out there are no mountains in Minnesota.  Winter didn't deter them, but it seems that flat landscape is not that much of a draw.  Oh well, I tried.

Today's presentation was much more academic.  The speaker is a professor of Political Science at York University in Toronto.  She spoke on economic policies of the Canadian government when she was at the United Nations a few years ago.  It was very good, but it felt like watching Meet the Press. 

St Paul de Vence

Monday, April 18 2011.

Today, we had a "field trip."  Yes, just like in 1st grade.  Except in my 1st grade class we never had a chartered tour bus to a mountain village in France.  This was all included in the tuition. 

Here's the first stop, St Paul de Vence.

 
Next stop was another village, Tourrettes-sur-Loup.

Small World

Monday, April 18 2011.

There's a student in my class at school who comes from Vancouver Canada.  Just yesterday he happened to mention going to high school in North Bay, Ontario - I stopped him right there, what?!?  Yes, he's from the same town where I was born.  What are the chances of that coincidence?

Churches and Cemeteries

Saturday, April 16 2011.

Went to check out a couple local places today.  This is a Russian church built 150 years ago in Nice.

The Cimiez neighborhood is very nice.  It has a nice park where hundreds of families were playing, the Matisse Museum, and the Cimiez Cemetery - where only the famous and well to do appear welcome.

Directions and Assistance?

Saturday, April 16 2011.

It wouldn't be a vacation trip for me if multiple people didn't ask for directions or assistance.  I don't know what it is - it's like I walk around with a sign "Ask Me for Help!"  So far, when standing at a bus stop, two different times people have asked me for help with which bus to take or when a bus arrives.  Another time, an older couple wanted help buying a train ticket; they didn't know how to use the machine.  This happens wherever I go.  Funny.  Especially when I barely know the answers myself.  But I always help them.

Acoustic Music

Friday, April 12 2011.

There was a rumor going around that it would be possible to find someone playing English music at a bar in Nice, so we went to find out after school was done.  It was true.  A bar named Akathor had free music - as long as you bought a drink.  No problem. 

Today was the coolest weather we had had since arrival - about 60 degrees.  The wind came in and whipped up the Mediterranean a bit.  The forecast shows sun for the next 10 days though.  I accept. 

Group Dinner

Tuesday, April 12 2011.

The Institut arranged a group dinner tonight at a local restaurant near the port in Villefranche-sur-Mer.  Most of the students were able to attend.  Here are some of the home countries represented by the students.

USA, Canada, Sweden, Japan.

Switzerland, Canada, Oman.

Brazil, Romania, Norway.  Julian is on the right; he is one of the instructors.

South Africa, USA.

After dinner, two of the instructors decided to entertain us with their guitars and voices.  There were pretty good with their songs in both French and English.  Stephane on the left, Julian on the right.   

When the dinner was over, I discovered that the last bus from Villefranche to Nice had already gone by - several hours before that, actually.  So here we go on yet another hike over the mountain, back to the apartment.  Took about an hour to walk home.  Nice evening.  No rain, no traffic, no muggers, while strolling along the Moyenne Corniche at midnight.

Promenade des Anglais

Sunday, April 10 2011.

Cloudy morning turned to a sunny afternoon, so I went for a walk along the beach to see what was going on.  The Promenade des Anglais is so named for the many wealthy English visitors who came to Nice in the early part of the last century.

St-Jean-Cap-Ferrat

Saturday, April 9 2011.

After the tour, took a walk to St-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, a small village on a small peninsula in the Meditteranean, a short ways from Nice in between Nice and Monaco.

Looking back on Villefranche-sur-Mer from the road to Cap-Ferrat.

The Villa de Rothschild on Cap Ferrat.

Tour of Villefranche-sur-Mer

Saturday, April 9 2011.

The school organized for its students a guided tour of the little village where it is located.  I should say this was really more like a class disguised as a tour, as it was all in French, naturally.  We met from 10am to noon and were led around to some great sites.  It was the smartest I had felt all week - because some other tourists happened by our group as we were listening intently to our guide - and then took off when they couldn't understand him.  We, the students, couldn't understand everything he said, either, but the tourists didn't know that!

Some of the residences in the old city.

We don't see English very much here, and then when I find some, it's wrong!  Four misplaced apostrophes, my favorite gripe.  Apparently this isn't a problem only in Minnesota.

Happy Hour

Friday, April 8 2011.

On the first Friday of the month, the school hosts a Happy Hour sort of event after class.  Everybody went home, presumably, to rest for a couple of hours and then come back for the 7:30pm event.  Well, what they actually went home for was to dress up tres chic!  Who knew?  Most of the people looked like they were dressed for a wedding.  Good thing there were still several in casual clothes like me.

Of course there was a huge spread of food, again.  I was trying to sneak over to the table and take a few pictures but I felt kind of gauche doing that - like I had never been around good food before!  So, you will just have to imagine the 25 different types of cheese and the 10 different main course foods they provided. 

Crepes?

Friday, April 8 2011.

After lunch we came back to class to find out it was a cooking class for the afternoon.  Never know what to expect here.  So the chef showed us how crepes are made and then we all made some. 

Now I have something new to cook at home for HT and me.  Wonder if Liam likes these? 

The Locals

Thursday, April 7 2011.

After school today, went to visit a local family.  One of my colleagues at Travelers Insurance has a sister who lives here in Nice with her family.  Their son needed help with an English high school paper, so I went to visit and help him with English.  Interesting opportunity for the high schooler - he's going to Australia this summer to work on his English as he prepares for college.  As we talked, he struggled at times to find the right words in English, a problem I can really relate to but the other way.

What kind of students attend this school?

Well, I'm feeling like a bit of an underachiever. 

Just in my class alone, we have a Russian Translator, a general in the Swedish Army, the wife of an ambassador in the middle of a move to Paris, a director of the Swiss Red Cross office, and a woman from Sao Paolo Brasil.  She doesn't work outside the home because her husband runs a construction conglomerate in Sao Paolo.

I asked the Brasilien woman if she's ever visited the USA.  She says when she goes to Paris to visit her daughter, and then to London to visit her other daughter, she sometimes stops in Miami to stay at her condo for a while on the way back to Brasil.

Walk from Villefrance-sur-Mer to Nice

Wednesday, April 6 2011.

Yesterday we saw the school.  Today we see the walk home from the school.  First, I found a great house for sale...

 With this view out the back.

Then a short jaunt through the park.

After which you arrive near downtown...

And then the old city, where I'm staying.

School Tour

Tuesday, April 5 2011.

A tour of the school.  After arriving on the bus stop below, walk about a quarter mile up on very steep streets...

First you pass the secret back door entrance...

And arrive at the school...

A few shots of the interior.  This is the Grande Salle where some classes are held.

And they give us our fancy French breakfast and lunch here everyday.

When we are tired from class, we can go outside and view the harbor of Villefranche-sur-Mer...

 Or look at the garden behind the school...

Then when the break is over, head back inside.

Class is very difficult, but being here is not hard to take... except that Heidi is not here yet -- come quickly HT!

School Starts

Monday, April 4 2011.

Today was the first day of school at Institut de Francais.  It was an introduction day for learning how the course will be run.  Starting tomorrow and running until April 29, there there will no English spoken at the school - not a word - unless the offender wants to part with 1 Euro for each violation. 

People came from everywhere - USA of course, Canada, Australia, Sweden, Germany, Japan, UK, Ireland, Switzerland... and probably a few more.  Some needed to learn French for their careers.  Others consider learning a language a hobby, like I do.  Some are strictly beginners, some all the way up to advanced.

Everyone took a placement test and had interviews with the profs to see which class they will be in.  Tomorrow, we find out.

Nice - The City

Sunday, April 3 2011.

The area of Nice near Place Messina.

Monaco

Sunday, April 3 2011.

Monaco is about 12 miles east of Nice.  Had free time on Sunday to take a bus there and admire some sights.