Promenade des Anglais

After an emotional evening with Adam and the kids, we had all gone home and to bed.  The travel had been tiring, but combined with this catch up, it had turned into an exhausting day.  I showered and collapsed into bed.  I slept soundly.  I was certainly tired, but there was almost a feeling of finality or achievement.  Arriving and seeing Adam and the kids felt like the completion of a long awaited task and so there was a level of mental relief with that part now addressed.  We would see them more before we left, but this first catch up would of course be the hardest.  So I slept well.  I woke up the next day more refreshed than I expected and ready to go explore the region with the whole group.  First thing we did was go and look at the lovely markets in Antibes.  The market was full of life as always, crowded but in a way that made it feel active rather than uncomfortable.  We looked at the different foods, I bought socca for us all to eat and the girls went shopping at the small clothing stands.  

We kept walking around Antibes.  There were tourists on every corner and down every street.  Children were running around.  People were eating gelato.   At the town square, the bandstand was actually full with a band.  They played music for the crowds gathered.  It felt like a normal day out with friends, we just happened to be on the other side of the world. 

After enjoying the lovely Antibes for the morning, we moved on to our next location.  Our plan was to visit Nice and to wander the streets and to embrace the beach life of the South of France.  For Todd, Phil and myself, we missed the water and the beach life.  Our days living in Australia were still fresh in our minds.  We wanted to be in the water and on the beach.  This was a bit of a different approach though.  The idea of private beaches with deck chairs and service was very foreign to us (which is unsurprising given we were in a different country....)  Beaches in Australia are always public and so are always free for all to use.  Even something as simple as selling food and drink of a beach in Australia is prohibited so as to ensure that it remains a place for public use.  It's something I have always appreciated about the beach back in Australia.  It's a truly democratic place, somewhere for everyone.  This was the opposite of what I was seeing here in France.  Here, there were sections of the beach which were public, but for the most part here in front of Nice, it was all about the private beach clubs.

The prices for entry were high.  We weren't dissuaded.  We were all new to this and we wanted to experience it, so it was something we were willing to all splurge on.  There were long waits for the deck chairs.  We patiently waited up at a seated area, cooled by the drinks available.  The lady at the front desk was inundated by a never ending procession of people looking to get seats.  We continued to patiently wait.  Chairs started to open up and more and more people continued to arrive.  Veronica decided that the lady at the front desk needed a reminder, so she went up with a smile and asked about the rows of chairs which had opened up.  A group of girls jumped ahead of us insisting that they were first.  The lady at the front desk very forcefully snapped back at them "NO!  They have been waiting before you."  The insistence of the girls seemed to make her even more adamant, and so she quickly changed from contemplating our request, to immediately granting us the precious chairs.

We had a good spot.  All five of us were arranged in a line, only a few rows back from the beach and with no one behind us.  Visually, it was a spectacular scene we had in front of us.  The water was a deep turquoise blue that seemed to glow in the light of the sun.  We all looked out, amazed at the beauty of it all.  It looked like some idyllic scene from a French impressionist painting.  The colour and the light, combined with the vibrant contrast of the white and blue umbrellas made me want to stay and just stare out for as long as I could.

We spent the next few hours moving between the chairs and the ocean.  The water was a lovely temperature.  Not yet too warm, but just cold enough to be refreshing and cooling.  We jumped around and swam like we were kids again.  Being with Todd and Phil, I felt like we were on one of our boarding school trips to the coast, but of course in a significantly more luxurious lifestyle.  At the chairs, we ordered drinks which were brought to us.  We continued to move back and forth.  Water and relaxation.  Veronica and Tanya collected rocks and shells.  Myself and the boys tried to throw one another into the air from the water.  As the sun slowly went down, the colours changed.  The blues faded to a paler shade that was just as beautiful.  We had our fill of the fun, and went to get changed and headed off to dinner.