The Best of Nice…Getting Nicer All the Time!

I cried Sunday morning watching the news from the United States, even though I happily live in France. It’s not even necessary to detail what that was…you already know what I’m talking about. It’s why I can’t retire just yet, since our “raison d’être” is to help North Americans move to France.

APRES-MIDI

At Thursday’s Après-Midi in Nice, facing about 60 of our clients and friends upstairs at Restaurant Oscar, after we played three past House Hunters International shows that had been filmed in Nice and vicinity, I told the audience how rewarding it is to do what we do. We have a team in Paris and a team in Nice, all devoted to helping Americans make the transition to a richer and less expensive life in France with all the benefits the country has to offer. Over lunch prior to the event, our team, like the Musketeers, vowed to follow our mission, and that is to put the client’s interest above all else. Money was never to be a factor in making important decisions. We’ll leave that for capitalist America.

Billy Linville was scheduled to speak on “The Future of American Politics and What it Means for Expats Living in France,” when his back went out making it impossible for him to make his presentation. I stepped in at the last moment with three of our shows we could play for our audience, who can’t see them from France without a VPN set to the U.S.:

• “Becoming a Buyer in Nice, France”—Season 55, Episode 1

• “High Above the Cote d’Azur”—Season 97, Episode 11

• “Teen Tennis Academy in France”—Season 197, Episode 13

They are fun and funny to watch, especially for an audience who has already crossed the cultural divide, who has jumped through similar hoops to find their new homes and can fully relate to the “contributors” who were filmed. In between the shows, I opened the floor to questions and made some comments. Unfortunately, there’s no YouTube video for you to watch this time around, as we are not allowed to broadcast the shows that are the property of the HGTV network.

In the later part of February, I’ll be filming another show, my 59th…this time in Lyon!* There is one show “in the can” filmed in Nice last May, that hasn’t aired yet. We should get word of the air dates soon as normally the shows air about six months after filming.

You can see the photos and get the full report from Après-Midi.

Billy Linville will be back to speak on May 28th, so mark your calendar now!

*To any of you living in Lyon: I welcome you to connect with me to help me learn more about Lyon and the American community there to enhance the show! Please email me.

IMMERSION FRENCH IN THE HEART OF NICE

The Institut de Français Nice just opened its doors not much more than one week ago and the classrooms are filling up. Some of our clients and friends are already there.

Frédéric Latty, their pedagogical director, and General Director Déborah de Martino, gave me a tour of the new facility (10 Avenue Félix Faure). I thought it was a smart move to put a branch in Nice, even though it’s just down the road from their flagship location in Villefranche-sur-Mer. It’s a bit less expensive because meals are not included, and if you’re living in Nice, you don’t need accommodations in Villefranche to attend!

The facility is beautiful and well-designed. The program is quite brilliant, even if not easy to fully immerse oneself in a foreign language, but it works! If you want to walk away after only a few weeks actually getting French out of your mouth, this is the way to do it. Contact them for more information and be sure to tell them we sent you!

DIANE IN NICE

My personal assistant and administrative staff member, Diane Carruthers, came to Nice for a few days to get to know the city and meet our Niçois crew. It was an opportunity for me to play tour guide to show her at least some of the city in three short days. Unfortunately for Diane, the rains came down every day she was here…part of the winter rainy season we can’t avoid.

We also made time for ourselves by doing a one-hour Gyrotonics session with Alexandra Dufour, a state-certified sports coach specializing in fitness, Pilates mat, sports health, and Gyrotonics, located near the Riquier train station. (I highly recommend this treatment to strengthen your spine! If you contact her, tell her I sent you!)

From Alexandra’s studio, we walked back to our neck of the woods via the new Promenade du Paillon, Saison 2, “La Forêt Urbaine,” where the Acropolis and other city buildings once stood. This was Phase II of the creation of an urban park covering approximately 20 hectares in the heart of Nice, aiming to increase green spaces, promote biodiversity, improve summer comfort and rainwater management, and strengthen pedestrian and cycle continuity.

I hadn’t had the chance to visit it before, and was astonished by the transformation of the entire area. (I contend that property along the route has escalated in value multifold and should be taken seriously by investors!) We walked straight through to the Tête Carrée now collared by a healthy cactus garden (my favorite), through the gardens of the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, all completely redone, too, and on to Place Garibaldi for lunch. If you haven’t done this yet, put it on your to-do list and take advantage of the urban park that screams what Nice is all about!

PIGGING OUT IN NICE A LA REUNION ISLAND

Patty Sadauskas took us both to her very favorite restaurant—Le Barachois—the first Reunionese restaurant and grocery store in Nice. Founded in 1976 by our the staff’s uncle, A. Dijou, it’s delicious, unique, and completely homemade.

It’s a hole-in-the-wall in an unlikely location that you’d never venture into if you didn’t know what lay beyond. Family run, the food from La Réunion is a happy collision of French, African, Indian, Malagasy, and Chinese influences. Think bold spices, slow stews, rice everywhere, and serious comfort-food energy. It brings me back to my New Orleans roots. It’s worth the special effort.

BEST OF NICE JAZZ

In a December Nouvellettre®, I wrote about a Niçois “secret” divulged by Allison Coe, founder of The Best of Nice Blog, who frequents the Cave Romagnan (22 rue d’Angleterre, 06000 Nice) on Saturday nights for the jazz. It’s already become one of our habits.

We arrived there at 6:15 p.m….the latest you want to arrive, as you won’t get a seat after that. It fills up quickly, as it did this past Saturday night, in spite of the pouring rain and cold temperature. The music starts at 7 p.m. and ends at 9 p.m., after two or three sets by the musicians, whoever is playing at that time.

Here’s a brief video review of Saturday night’s jazz. I didn’t take this video, but I might as well have as I’m just next to the photographer who managed to skip over both of us!

From December 15th’s Nouvellettre®:

“The Cave is a throw back to another time. The owner is as old as the hills, perched behind the bar, doling out drinks as slow as molasses. The drinks are the cheapest in town. He doesn’t seem to care. He smokes at the bar and doesn’t care about that either, hence others come to smoke alongside him, but only at the bar. The lights are so bright they are blinding. A Coca-Cola refrigerator from another era sits in a corner behind the musicians…completely empty and taking up valuable space. Again, no one seems to care. They came for the jazz…and perhaps the feeling of another time. There is a wall of books and tchotchkes that could likely be a kind of lending library—but who knows? There were no snacks—we bought the last small plateful of olives and they weren’t edible. Others had brought their own peanuts and chips, fully prepared to stay for the evening.”

For jazz enthusiasts, there is a free publication in Nice: “Le JazzoPhone,” published quarterly, that was handed out at Cave Romagnan.

This time, Allison brought a bag of Trader Joe’s Macadamia Mix—to replace the bad olives—that she bought here in Nice at Aldi, another great find I hadn’t heard about. Believe it or not, they offer a wide variety of the American products and you can find the stores all over France.

Thanks to Allison for even more Niçois secrets! Be sure to subscribe to her Best of Nice Blog, if you haven’t already.

A la prochaine…