Summer Festivals are Back in Business

June has been a beautiful month in Paris for the cafés to open and is equally as lovely a time of year in Nice. I took the late train down on Saturday, arriving just after curfew (11 p.m.), but there were still lots of people out on the streets of Nice as I wheeled my suitcase home down avenue Jean-Médecin, having missed the tramway by literally two seconds.

Sunday in Nice is ritualistic for me, with a marketing excursion to the Cours Saleya where I buy just about the same things each time: some new scented soaps from one of the vendors who has the best assortment of flavors (rosemary is my favorite); a mixture of fresh nuts; fresh fruits (there is one vendor who has the best berries, but as one might expect, at the highest prices); spices (a vendor at the far eastern end makes wonderful mixtures) and flowers (at the one flower stand where there is always a line). In addition, I always stop at Fragonard for a thing or two (some of my favorite goodies include: rose “Savons Transparents Glycérinés” and the “Menthe Basilic Diffuseur”).

The Cours Saleya from above, photo by Patty Sadauskas

Peonies for sale on the Cours Saleya

After lunch at Le Safari, one of the city’s classic Niçois specialties restaurants, also a tradition where I order the same thing every time (“Petit Farcis Niçois” and “Salade Niçoise”), I dropped off the shopping at home, put the peonies in a vase, grabbed my folding chair and beach bag and headed down to the waterfront as quickly as I could for my first beach day since last summer. The Mediterranean is still too chilly for me to have gone in further than ankle-deep, and the beaches are only half full compared to August vacation time, but every moment on the Baie des Anges was heaven for me. Oh, how I had missed it!

Petits Farcis, photo by Patty Sadauskas

Salade Niçoise, photo by Patty Sadauskas

I have a very busy week ahead of me here in Nice with several signings on properties being purchased by our clients. But, while my staff and I will be very hard at work, on the horizon are a few public events to punctuate and ease the work load. Make note if you’re headed this way, now that you can get into France with your vaccination or PCR/antigen Covid-19 test!

A beach on the Baie des Anges, Nice

For official information on the travel rules and other regulations around Covid-19, visit this government website.

Special note: for those of you seeking visas to live in France, the issuance of visas will gradually resume in the coming weeks. The practical arrangements will be set out by diplomatic and consular posts, taking into account the local context. This gradual resumption is subject to any new conditions and health rules for entry to French national territory, information on which will be provided when the time comes.

For more information, visit this site.

MUSIC IS IN THE AIR

Next Monday, June 21st, the Summer Solstice, is the 39th edition of the annual Fête de la Musique taking place all over France thanks to cultural venues having reopened last month, and within the framework of the evolution of the health situation.

The Fête de la Musique was originally set on this unique and symbolic date as a free and public event open to all musicians, amateurs of all levels or professionals, celebrating live music and highlighting the breadth and diversity of musical practices, as well as all musical genres. The curfew will still be set at 11 p.m., regardless of the festival. Only seated venues for the public will be authorized to avoid crowds which will still be prohibited at this time. Knowing the way things work here, my guess is that in spite of the restrictions, there will still be plenty of unauthorized performances and gatherings, so if you’re not ready yet to brave the crowds, then avoid the gatherings in the streets.

To learn more, visit the official website.

NIGHT AT THE MUSEUMS

Coming Saturday July 3rd, is the 17th edition of the European Night when many museums across France and Europe will open their doors for free, depending on the local regulations and the health situation in each country, from dusk until midnight. Illuminated tours, fun tours, screenings, and special events await the public. In 2020, the event was entirely digital, due to the epidemic situation. This year, museums and audiences will be happy to celebrate this moment of reunion.

For more information, visit this website.

ALL THAT JAZZ

Music is everywhere. The annual Nice Jazz Festival is back and big. From July 12th through the 17th, more than fifteen French and international artists will perform on the Masséna stage.

Yes, it was in Nice not in America, that the first jazz festival in the world was born. This year we will celebrate the 68th anniversary of this event which took place for the first time in February 1948, at the end of the Carnival. And it was in a place dedicated to “great music” that it took place, in part…the Opera! Another establishment, the Casino municipal, on the Place Masséna, now long gone, lent its Belle Époque decor to this resounding premiere, several of whose concerts were broadcast live by the French Radio. The greatest artists were there starting with Louis Armstrong, the undisputed star of this first edition, alongside other stars including Claude Lutter, Stéphane Grappelli and Django Reinhardt. During the closing night, at the Negresco, the party ended at dawn with a hot jam after the singing tours of Suzy Delair and Yves Montand. The festival was a historic moment, as it is now, too.

For more information, visit the Jazz Festival site.

Join us in Nice, Paris or anywhere in France this summer to help us celebrate life as we once knew it…pre-Covid (or at least in part, as we once knew it!)…

A la prochaine…