Last Day in Nice

For those who were trying to connect with us, our "free" internet connection that we discovered at our apartment weakened preventing us from getting online. But we are alive and well. We depart tomorrow morning and should be in Orange County by 11pm PST tomorrow.
The past few days was filled with road trips. The Cote d'Azur government provides regular buses to the outlying areas for on 1.3 Euros per trip. On Thursday, we went to St. Paul de Vence, a medieval walled village filled with artist galleries. On Friday, we drove up the coast to Monaco. We saw the royal palace and the church where Grace Kelly married the Prince.
On the 26th, we went to the Nice Opera's performance of La Vie Parisienne. The Opera house was stunning. The performance was well done, but the Opera, itself, was a bit convoluted ending with a 10 minute "Can Can" dance (don't ask me to explain it, but the French were loving it).
We also found time for a trip to the Modern Art Museum. Interesting museum, but not as good as the Barcelona museum. As I don't have a lot of time to post pictures, I have attached a bunch from our recent trips.
We have not eaten out as much as in Barcelona because it costs about twice as much. Instead, we have enjoyed some lunches and eaten some nice foods at home (there is reasonably priced take out food here).
Today, we took a gourmet tour of the local market and a cooking lesson from Canadian Ex-pat living in Nice. She is a gourmet writer who is well versed in Provencial cuisine. She took us through the market talking about the local produce and delicacies. Then, we went back to her home to cook a large, and delicious, lunch. After lunch we went to a Olive Oil specialty store to learn about and sample different olive oils. The tour is a bit costly, but it is a real good time. I wish we could have taken the tour at the beginning of the week, so we would know about what foods to buy to eat at our place.

Opera/Modern Art Museum/St.Paul de Vence



Monaco and some Bars

Christmas Day Walk in Nice

Here are some shots from a Christmas Day walk here in Nice. There were alot of people out; many restaurants were open, but few shops. The Mediterranean looked absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately, the sky was cloudy, although quite mild.

Merry Christmas

Arrived in Nice

Lindsey and I took the train from Barcelona to Nice on Sunday. We decided to walk to the train station, but discovered we went the wrong way and had to rush to catch a taxi to get us there on time. As this is a 10 hour train ride, we decided to buy first class tickets. Here 1st class costs about 30% more and only means a nice seat and a bit more leg room, but is well worth it as it made our journey pretty comfortable.
We arrived in Nice Sunday evening and it was raining. We met up with the property manager who showed us to the apartment. The unit is on the 5th floor (which is really the 6th floor in North American terms) with a terrace overlooking one of the narrow streets of the old town. The stairs are a killer (I am really starting to feel the burn), but the unit is really nice. The property managers had a little welcome basket with coffee, tea, wine and some biscuits.
The next morning proved to be a real nice day. We could have walked around with only a sweater and felt pretty comfortable. We went and got some groceries to last us through the Christmas holidays. It wasn't very much fun carrying 50 Euros worth of groceries up 6 flights of stairs. Afterwards we walked around the old town. The area is full of little shops and restaurants. It looks to be a great starting point. Below you can see pictures of the apartment.

Commerc 24 Experience

One of the things I wanted to do while in Barcelona was to eat at one of its many world famous chefs. One of the chefs that I identified was Carles Abellan, a young up and coming chef who trained under Barcelona's famous chef Ferran Adrai. Last Friday, we got a reservation to his new Barcelona restaurant, Commerc 24. The experience was definitely beyond our level of sophistication, but definitely memorable.
The restaurant serves a series of small dishes of tapas designed to give the customer a full dining experience. On arrival, we were advised to order the festival menu of seven dishes including desert. Knowing we are small eaters compared to a traditional Barcelonan, we asked to share one order. They said that 2 people had to each order the menu emphasizing that these are small plates. We couldn't fathom any plate so small that we could each finish seven plates, so we decided to order four dishes a la carte from the menu.
We ordered a wild sea bass, a cuttle fish and morel ravioli, a chicken rice with prawns, and beef entrecot with potatoes and wasabi. We followed up the meal with a desert platter of one of each of their desserts. As you can see from the pictures below, the meals were intricately designed to maximize presentation. Each dish (except the prawns) demonstrated a comprehensive understanding of flavors and how unusual flavors can mesh to create a unique dining experience.
For example the sea bass dish (we forgot to take a picture) looked like a desert. It had a flat round slice of sea bass covered with a flat, round piece of salt water ice, topped with a small scoop of raspberry sorbet that had a tiny sliver of red onion on top. If you just ate a piece that had only the salt water ice and the sea bass, the flavor would be incredibly salty. But if you consume a piece of sea bass, with the ice, sorbet and the red onion slice, you would experience a unique, yet balanced, taste. Can't explain it, but it worked.
The ravioli and the beef dishes were equally amazing provided you pulled all the flavors together into a bite. The chicked rice with prawns was something that wasn't on the menu, just added for the night. It was a big disappointment and felt like it wasn't designed by the same chef who built the other dishes.
Overall, it was a unique and memorable experience. Although, I admit it may be a bit too sophisticated with both of us.

Oh, and About that Spanish Soccer Game...

We learned a tough lesson that when in Spain if you buy a ticket for a soccer game on a Sunday and they say that the they will announce the kick-off time at a later date, that announcement may also change the day of the game. We got a notice that the game was to start at 8pm, but did not notice that the day was changed to Saturday! Thank god we did not get all dressed up in RCD Espanyol gear, we would have looked like some dumb tourists. Oh well, on the bright side we got to know the Barcelona metro (very nice and clean) and got some incredible views of the city.

Sight Seeing Day 2

The second day of our Barcelona Tourisme Bus experience saw us take a southern route into the olympic stadium area and then along the waterfront. Unfortunately, the day was cloudy and cold, so it was not the most fun riding in the open top of the double-decker bus. Therefore, you may see that the weather affected the quality of the pictures.
We made that trip quick, so that we could make the 3pm tour of the Palau Musica. The Palau Musica is a concert hall built by a rich Barcelonan patron during the beginning of the 20th century. It is built in the architectural style of modernisme and is filled with intricate statues, mosaics and stained glass. The center-piece is a stained glass window in the ceiling of the concert hall in the shape of a water drop and made to look like a sun. It would be an amazing place to see a concert. Unfortunately, we are not allowed to take pictures of the inside, but you can see pictures here.

Lindsey's Birthday!

There was not much fanfare for Lindsey's 29th birthday. After that long day of sightseeing, we headed home to rest. Around 9pm, we went out for dinner at a nice restaurant. I had a lamb shank whose meat just fell off the bone. Lindsey had a tuna steak with soy and ginger served with tempura vegetables. We followed it up with a decadent chocolate cake with coffee mouse. It was quiet and romantic. We headed home around 11pm.
It is still weird to be walking home at 11pm and seeing people go into restaurants to start their dinner.
Yes, I realize we did not take any pictures of Lindsey at her birthday dinner.