Après-Midi Recap

Ella Dyer

Zoom has become our “meeting place” and while it’s not perfect, it sure beats being so far away from one another. Ella Dyer, author of Nice in Nice, was the guest speaker —  with Ella in her kitchen in Nice, me in Paris and participants from all over the U.S. and France. It’s pretty amazing how almost 100 people can come together and actually hold a conversation, as if we were all in our usual spot upstairs at Le Café de la Mairie like we have been every month since 2003.

Ella wore her iconic pink dress, the one she’s pictured in on the cover of her book, but she’s known to be in a little bubble gum pink dress on many an occasion — it’s her trademark just like mine is the red beret. With a champagne glass in one hand, a cigarette holder in the other, she exemplified “une Niçoise” taking advantage of all the Riviera has to offer.

She joked about how she “stalked” me for years, then flew to Paris just to have lunch with me — true story — and how easy it was for her to do that. (It’s one of the advantages of living in Nice — the immediate access by plane, train, boat or car to be just about anywhere.) I liked Ella immediately and recruited her to work with us as our leading search consultant. She happily took on the role and that gave her a good excuse to be in Nice more often, not that she needed it.

Lots of Niçois clients and friends were present, such as singer and contributor on House Hunters International, John Garland Jones, among others, extolling the virtues of living in the coastal town. The discussion easily led into which neighborhoods they loved best…and like in Paris, everyone loves where they live, whether it be the Carré d’Or, the Quartier des Musiciens, the Quartier des Fleurs or Le Vieux Port. The one thing that prevails among all Niçois residents is their utter adoration of Nice and the Côte d’Azur. Ella continues to iterate that a lifetime there is simply not enough.

The mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi, is very well liked. He was re-elected with 59.30 percent of the vote in this recent second round of the municipal elections. The city of Nice is traditionally on the right, politically, but his kind of right is the kind with which I can agree. What he’s done for the city has been phenomenal and we don’t see anyone complaining about all the improvements that have made the city one of the country’s most desirable places to live.

Posters popped up in the Paris Métro promoting “Mon Eté à Nice,” a summer of unique cultural and event programs sponsored by the city. The French are flocking their for their summer vacations in lieu of heading outside of their homeland as they might normally do. I don’t blame them. I’m heading there myself next week after Bastille Day to spend the rest of the summer, culminating with the kick-off of the Tour de France from Nice on August 29th. No way, am I missing it!

The two-hour Après Midi session was recorded, so even if you weren’t there live, you can live vicariously by watching it now here.