Month: December 2025

The first thing we see every morning when we look out the window is the ocean. The second thing is the ice rink. Oddly enough, it’s on the 5th story of a very large building and we can see it from our balcony. The lights come on every morning at 6, and the figure skaters have their freestyle session. Weird how things are the same no matter where you are! If you can’t tell, the big brightly-lit building is the ice rink. There’s also a swimming pool there, but I’m not sure what floor it’s on.

We needed to stock up on groceries for the week, so we headed to LeClerc. It’s the biggest and cheapest place we’ve found to buy pretty much everything you could possibly need. Here’s what we brought home with us today. Take a good look and try to guess how much it cost, and I’ll tell you at the end.

Some of the things aren’t available in the US, so let me explain what they are.

First, Perle de Lait. It’s a really rich and creamy yogurt that comes in a variety of flavors.

We got a couple of prepared salads. These are really popular in France, they have lots of varieties and they’re pretty cheap. While they do have some mayonnaise-based salads, they have a lot more that aren’t. We got carrots and then a mixture of veggies.

On to the baked goods! We picked up a baguette tradition and a pain au chocolat and an apple thing.

For sweets, we picked up some pastries (marked down as they were a day old) and some berry candy. I love these little berry-flavored candy, but they’re usually not very fresh when I buy them at home. These were very soft and fresh.

I haven’t had pizza since arriving, and they had a frozen meat and mushroom pizza. I usually get pepperoni and mushroom, but that’s not something you can get in the frozen section at home!

When we checked out, I got these little Disney game pieces. I don’t know what I could win, but I hope it’s something good (not a trip to Disneyland!). And you can see the total we paid for the whole table full of groceries – just over 40 Euros.

The French government is currently working on the 2026 budget, and it’s pretty messy. Macron and others are calling for more austerity, while the workers aren’t thrilled at the cost of living going up but social benefits going down. They are facing many of the same problems that other countries are facing – not enough young people to pay the taxes to support retirees, and a high cost of living/housing crisis that makes young people unwilling/unable to give up some of the benefits they rely on. Today was a day of protest by many of the unions. It wasn’t a huge protest here in Nice, but there was a decent sized crowd.

The last time we came to France (2023), I took Z to the fireman’s ball. I told him that it was pretty much guaranteed to be only French people, no tourists – and it was. He honestly thought I was kidding about it, but he went along with it and ended up having a good time getting to do something that was absolutely non-touristy. So of course I insisted that we go to the protest.

Zbyszek wore his “be nice” shirt and he did get a comment from one of the protestors. They said they’d like one that says “don’t be mean” to match it.

The protest started near the train station, and there are a few cool buildings there.

This morning we decided to hop on a train and go to Italy. The city of Vintimiglia is right across the border and less than an hour by train. It’s small enough that everything is within walking distance of the train station, and it has some cool things to see. It’s a rainy and gray day in Nice, but not so much that it wasn’t a good day to travel.

First, we had to take the bus to the train station. Here’s what our apartment building looks like from the outside.

We arrived in Italy and walked around a bit on our way to the archeological museum. Italy looks similar to France, and if you didn’t read the signs you could probably be tricked into believing that you were still in France.

We made our way to the archeological museum. There are some Roman ruins here that were uncovered when construction started on the train tracks. It’s so weird to think that there are so many things hiding under our feet that may or may not ever be found. And it’s crazy to have all these people living right next door, so every time they look out their window they see a 2000 year old Roman whatever!

The first set of ruins in the baths.

There are quite a few artifacts in the museum that were found during the excavations. There are also a few things from the cemetery that was located nearby – but not technically within the city limits, since that was against Roman practice. We were the ONLY people in the museum today, so we had no problems getting a good view of everything.

After the baths, you go through an underpass and arrive at the theater. It’s still being used for concerts and other shows. We tested the acoustics by having Zbyszek go to the stage area and talking in his teacher voice. I was able to hear him from the top of the seating area!

After the ruins, we took a walk along the Mediterranean.

We stopped for lunch at a local place that specializes in kebab, tacos and more. I know, pasta/pizza are what you get in Italy – but they had a kebab panini, which sounded interesting. I love when people get creative and mix cultures, so that’s what I got. It was delicious. And I got a special Olympic Coke can.

Then we headed back to the train station, with a stop along the way for the market. They had some plums that Z loves, but are very hard to find in the States.

After our big excursion to Italy yesterday, today was more of a chill day. We went to the gym and grocery store and stopped at the bakery right next to the gym. It was probably one of the freshest baguettes we’ve had so far, and cheaper than the other places – so we’ll definitely be back.

This morning was the first time since we’ve been here that I’ve had a tartine and pain au chocolat for breakfast! I even found my favorite jam, reines-claudes.

The leaves are falling off of the trees as winter approaches – it’s not that cold yet, but the wind has been blowing things off of the trees and onto the ground.

Nice is hilly and full of apartment buildings – but there are little patches of single-family homes here and there. We have a neighbor house that is completely surrounded by taller buildings – I wonder what it was like when they built their home? Did they build knowing that the view was going to disappear, or did they build after the apartment buildings were finished?

We wanted to go to the Marché de la Libération today, as well as stopping by the cathedral. We have passed by the cathedral several times, but didn’t have the chance to go in as it was closed for mass. We planned to be there at the right time today so we could finally see what it looks like inside!

On the way down, we tried a new route that we haven’t taken before. Nice is in a grid pattern in the downtown area, so there are lots of ways to get around. On this particular route, we passed a couple of buildings with some trompe de l’oeil art celebrating people who have ties to Nice.

We arrived at the cathedral and went inside. It’s not a particularly large cathedral, nor is it as old as some of the more famous ones. Construction began in 1650 and ended in 1949. Sadly, the cathedral is probably best known for being the location of a 2020 terrorist attack, when a Muslim from Tunisia stabbed three people to death – two women who were praying in the church and a deacon. The murderer was shot and taken into custody and was sentenced to life in prison this year. There is a plaque inside the church in honor of the victims.

After the cathedral, we headed to the market to see what kinds of fresh foods they had. We bought some apples and bananas and looked longingly at the fresh fish, but I’m a bit nervous about cooking that in our apartment – the smell may be a bit much. They were selling fresh Christmas trees, they smelled amazing! In the lobby of our apartment building there are a couple of trees being set up, so I’ll be able to smell the pine every time I go down there.

The woman at the stand where we bought our fruit was not a happy person – the people in front of us in line were rude to her and she gave them a full-on lecture before they left in shame. It was reminiscent of the Soup Nazi turning away hopeful soup customers!

On our way home we stopped at a new boulangerie to get our baguette. They had a sign announcing that they had won the contest for the best croissant in Nice, so of course we had to buy a couple of those. I felt a bit guilty going somewhere other than our “normal” bakery (in the photo below), but hey…we wanted to give them a chance. The bread was amazing, and I’m sure the croissants will be as well.

Good morning from Nice! The sunrises are coming later (7:49) and the sunsets are coming earlier (4:53). The weather is still nice, though – while there is a chance for rain today, I can’t really see it happening. It’s sunny and the clouds don’t appear to be the rainy kind. This is the view from our balcony near sunrise.

We went to the gym and market today, no big plans to do much other than relax and do some reading. The grocery stores are full of Christmas trees – and the French have a great, environmentally friendly way of using pieces of wood for the stand. This probably wouldn’t work in areas that are drier and warmer, as I don’t think you can put any water in the base. This is the tree down in our lobby:

There are signs of the holidays everywhere – Advent calendars (now 34% off as we’re 6 days into the month!), special foods, lots of sweets. I saw a king’s cake – it’s a bit early for it, but this one is very much like the rosca de reyes in Mexico. Closer to January we will start seeing the other type of king’s cake, the one with frangipane.

On our way home, we walked on the other side of the street – so I saw some new signs and things we hadn’t seen before. If you look around at the different buildings, there are lots of memorial plaques for people who were killed or deported during World War 2. There is also a cool little fountain dedicated to animals.

We took the bus part of the way home and there was a cute German Shepherd puppy riding with his owner. He was such a sweet puppy – soft and well-behaved. I got to pet him a little bit and his owner told me that he was being good because he had just been to the park for over an hour and was tired from playing so much.

Sundays in France are pretty relaxed – most people have the day off, many stores are closed, and it’s a time to spend with family and friends. I started off the day with a trip to the gym (no Z – he only goes 3 times a week) and saw a very French thing:

Yes, it’s a wine bottle in the window outside of the weight room. I stopped by the boulangerie on the way home then took the bus up to the Monoprix by our apartment. I’ve never seen it so packed! The lines were long because they didn’t have the self-check open. Eventually they did open it. The people in front of me were buying a bunch of glass Christmas ornaments, which the cashier wrapped individually. So it took a while…no big deal, Sunday is supposed to be a day of relaxation, not stress.

We took a walk this afternoon – first to the dog park. Z finished reading his Tom Clancy novel and we wanted to leave it in the little free library. That particular location has books in several languages, and the English ones seem to get snagged so that’s a great place for it. It’s crazy – I’ve been in Nice for only 3 weeks and I know where 3 different free libraries are. I hung out with one of the dogs in the dog park for a few minutes and then we headed to the arenas park.

The Matisse museum is right next to the park. The building is painted with trompe l’oeil around the windows.

The park has a Jazz music theme, with the different alleys named after musicians and a few busts of American greats.

There are always people playing pétanque at the park. Anywhere there is a flat surface suitable for a game, they will start playing. We sat and watched for a little while.

The park has some beautiful vegetation. The olive trees are over a thousand years old, and there are many flowers and other trees.

We visited a second little free library. No books for me today, but maybe next time…The library had that wonderful smell of old books, but it’s different from the smell of books in the US. It just smelled older, I guess?

And we said goodbye to the arenas, we’ll see them again soon since we pass by them most days. It’s really cool to see them each day.

We went to the nearby city of Antibes today. It’s a medieval town with some cool things to see – including the Picasso museum and a lot of yachts. But it’s also where a local hypermarché is – Carrefour. Zbyszek loves the hypermarché and was hoping to get a new shirt.

On the way to the train station, we noticed that Santa is in a bit of trouble.

Anyway, onto the train and off to Antibes…we arrived and you can tell that this is a very popular place for two types of people – British and rich. The area near the port is filled with yacht and boat supply stores, with many offering employment to those hoping to join a crew. All of the signs are in English, not French. And for some reason, there are a lot of cacti in Antibes. This was the best view we’ve had of the Alps, since you can’t really see them from anywhere else we’ve been.

We ran into some interesting things along the way to the medieval part of the city.

This is the Picasso museum, in an old castle that belonged to the Grimaldi family from Monaco.

There is an interesting statue in front of it. Anatomically correct.

The streets in the old part of town are windy and very narrow – you can’t really park a car there. It’s mostly residences until you get to the very center of town.

We then took the bus to the Carrefour Hypermarché. Zbyszek’s excitement was palpable. When we got there, I took him to lunch at Flunch – a very popular French café that is cheap and fast. You buy the main dish and an put as many sides as you like on the plate.

We then went shopping. This store was bigger than a lot of Wal-Marts, and they had pretty much everything. It’s a little early for the galette des rois, but they had it. I didn’t buy one (yet), but will in January when it’s closer to 3 King’s Day.

Time to get back on the bus, then the train, then another bus to head home.

We came home worn out, after 5.99 miles of walking and carrying our groceries home.

No big plans for today after our trip to Antibes. We planned to walk down to the gym and then spend the afternoon relaxing and reading. On our way down to the gym, we saw this cat. Surprisingly, you don’t see very many cats in France – they just aren’t outdoor animals so much. This is only the second one we’ve seen since the cemetery cat.

We also saw the workers changing out some of the posters on one of the display poles. Yesterday, we had seen a completely different set of political posters saying “no to both of these guys!” Today they were covering up the post with new posters for the current mayor. The municipal elections will be taking place in March 2026.

After the gym, we headed home. There’s a really cool house along the way – I would love to know about its history and how old it is. Unfortunately, France doesn’t have the same real estate system as the US – so I can’t go to zillow and get information about it. Our neighborhood is full of neat buildings with Belle Epoque architecture, and Queen Victoria liked to vacation here.

We took the bus part of the way and ran across some construction work. The road was single-direction only, with each direction taking turns. Instead of having a couple of workers hold up a slow/stop sign to direct traffic, they have temporary red lights with timers to let people know when it’s their turn.

And the Christmas tree in the lobby of our apartment building is now unwrapped and the decorations have started to arrive. One thing about French Christmas trees – they stay wrapped up until you get home with them, for the most part. Some of the ones by the open air market were “unwrapped” so you could see if there were any bare spots, but all of the ones at the grocery stores are wrapped. You can’t see if you’re getting something from the Charlie Brown special or not, but I don’t think people care too much.

We took the bus down to the coast and then the elevator to the top of the hill. As it gets closer to the 25th, more decorations are being set up and the Christmas market is in full swing. We haven’t gone to the market yet, but we do plan to before we leave Nice.

The hill overlooks the Promenade des Anglais and used to house a chapel. The chapel is long gone, but there are still a few archeological ruins. There’s a great view from the top. The park has a Greek theme with references to the Odyssey.

There are two cemeteries at the top – a Jewish cemetery and a Christian cemetery. The Jewish cemetery is divided into a newer section and an older section. There is a wall outside of the cemetery for the righteous among nations. When you first enter the old section, there are two urns – one that contains ashes from Auschwitz and one that contains some remains that were used to make soap. There is also a wall outside listing all of the names of those deported from Nice under the Nazi occupation.

In the Christian section of the cemetery, there are lots of cool sculptures and tombs. There are some important people buried here, including the author of the Phantom of the Opera and the man who started the Mercedes company.

Even if you don’t like cemeteries, the view from the top is worth a trip.