I went to the South of France for a couple of days, due to the generosity of Chris and Julie in inviting me along on their vacation, including flight and hotel. I’ve been thinking of ways to pay forward the hospitality and generosity Chris and Julie have offered me, either to someone directly or through generous habits or both, at some point in my life. Their contributions have shaped this trip greatly and I’ve found it affecting in many ways to accept generosity from people in a way I’ve never done before.

When stuck in Amsterdam and searching for lodging, I signed up to couchsurfing.org, which has shown itself to be a really nice community of people who want to enable others to travel. I’m considering how I may get more involved in that in part because of what C&J have done for me in Europe, as well as people like Zoe and the friends who’ve helped me when I needed it. I’ve decided while on this trip that with my office space soon becoming unavailable for use, I am once again looking for a new place to live, where I can see clients professionally as well. I’m keeping in mind the ability to host guests in my search.

I’ve just returned to Weston after another small traveling confusion in which we were stuck in Nice for a night. Much like the other flukes since leaving the US, it was in small part fortunate for me that we were delayed, having been afforded the opportunity to walk the French Riviera beach at night because of it. As has been the theme of this trip, I enjoyed the experience of looking on the bright side and going with the flow of things.

We stayed at the Hotel de la Buffa, on Rue de la Buffa and Boulevard Gambetta, a charming little family run hotel near the center of the Riviera stretch. Nice is an interesting, faster paced atmosphere than what I’ve experienced of Europe otherwise, aside from transit stations, and a bigger city than I was expecting. It’s busy, loud and well paved. My impression is that it is constantly under construction given how many detours and closed sidewalks I encountered milling around.

Thankfully, people in Nice either speak some English, will attempt to try if they only know a little, or don’t mind if you don’t speak French while politely parting ways. I know very basic hello, goodbye, please, thank you, and do-you-speak-English type French and not much more.

I did pick some stuff up while in France, though it’s mostly phonetic and I wouldn’t do well to try to write it out. I learned how to ask where the bathroom was pretty quickly. My experiences in France lead me to better understand how people can still function in life while illiterate.

My first espresso in France was amazing, and it turned out that while I assumed it would all be awesome, mostly I lucked out. Daniele made me my first, and best decafe of my entire trip. In general, the food was really tasty, as was the weather. Some may say it was lekker.

My best meal was at La Coupole on the Rue de France strip, where I spent most of my off-beach time. I had numerous tampas rafts and glasses of rose here. I had a really nice spaghetti bolognese in that neighborhood and learned to order fizzy water in French, as well as finding a few steeply discounted clothing items ($8-$20) and a few gifts for my peeps back home.

I was flirted with a lot while I was on my own, and quickly discovered the subtle joys in language barrier rejections. I also found that it’s ridiculously easy to bum a cigarette in France and they really don’t have a desire to let you pay for a single. A few people who I was mostly unable to speak English with approached me admiring my hair.

With all this time off from massaging, I’d forgotten what it was like to have nails. Upon the recommendation of a lovely young lady who did the first manicure I’ve had in a couple years, I considered visiting Eze, Juan les pins or VilleFranche sur Mer. I made it up to the train station, but none of the upcoming trains interested me, so I ended up walking through Chinatown and sex shops back to home base.

While in Holland, I biked and tried some space cake. While in England, I drink lots of tea. So while in France, I drank espresso and wine. Interestingly, I never got hung over feeling. A point for Blanc and Rose over Reds which cause me to feel like death the next day.

Other things I noticed about Nice:

• There’s lots of miniature dog shit on the sidewalks. It quickly became clear why I was the only person around in an ankle length skirt.
• There are tons of flower shops, pizzerias and pharmacies.
• They remove sewage by truck, during all hours of the day. I quickly learned to identify the trucks and flee.
• They have cooked beets in vacu-packs as a standard in the produce section.
• There are in fact very few hairy women, though they are rather clothed unflatteringly based on the shops I frequented. Hint: Women are supposed to have waists.
• The French Alps, having seen them on the flight out, are majestic.

The water on the French Riviera is spectacular, and pretty warm given how early in the season it is. However, should I visit France again, I want to visit a small mountain village or a more remote beach location. The parts of Nice I found convenient were full of tourists and little old ladies in cotton shorts, lots of construction and honking.

I’m not sure why, but it was decided to put the main, heinously busy roadway all along the length of the beach, which I think was a mistake. Even on the water, I was hearing traffic and road noise, though at one point I found an awesome little enclave inside a load of boulders which provided a lovely respite.

The side-trip to London that we’d been talking about is shelved. I’ve had enough big city for this trip, though I am considering spending a day in Bath while I’m somewhat close. Just a few days left in England, and then I come home. I am beginning to look forward to that, and when I travel again will likely shave a few days off the top of a 3 week length. My sense is that I will be more than ready to leave after this weekend.