Packing up day in Nice

May 12, 2025

We had a slow start to the day, with not a lot to accomplish, and in anticipation of a very early start tomorrow when head back to Canada.

The radar shows lots of rain in Corsica today. We lucked out. There must’ve been a rain shower in Nice overnight, but the weather was perfect here today. No need for a jacket, but not too hot.

Mel packed her bike up without difficulty in the convenient bike storage room at our hotel - it’s nice to have a work space instead of doing it outdoors or in a hotel room. She has a nice new Evoc bag that provides lots of protection and doesn’t require too much dismantling of the bike.

I went to Carrefour to buy a few treats to take home, plus picnic dinner stuff for tonight. And we also bought some French face creams and sunscreens that aren’t available in Canada.

When I see an abandoned bike that’s missing parts, I always wonder what came first, the parts theft, or the abandonment?

Then we took the tram into the city. It was nice to know our way around a bit. We saw Place Massena, which we had somehow missed our first day here. The Andersons visited it only a short time ago.

Place Massena. The seven statues of kneeling men on poles represent the continents.

This statue of Apollo is 7 m tall. It was installed in 1956 but was removed in the 1970s after objections to his nudity by the Catholic ‘league of feminine virtue’. He was restored to his current position in 2011. And he’s still naked.

We wandered around the old town again and then had a delicious late lunch of moules et frites.

Yes, again. Best yet! There was lots of garlic, and the steaming liquid was super creamy. We bought them at the simplest of locations, a place where the seating was shared outdoor picnic tables. The Google reviews were right.

We had a very early night since we needed to be in the hotel lobby at 3:30 am to get to the airport. It’s almost better to start thinking of it in Pacific time, since that’s an early evening departure. We were initially booked on a much more reasonable 9 am Air France flight to Paris, but the airline cancelled it. We went with an earlier flight rather than later because we both fear a possible gong show switching terminals and getting through passport control at CDG.

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Karen PoretThoroughly enjoyed your bike and hike tours!! Safe travels home! I just arrived in 🇳🇱 today, and know my adventures will not meet your fun!
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2 months ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesProbably a wise move taking an earlier flight to allow more time at CDG. Transfers at that airport have always turned into a disaster show for us, such that we will try almost anything now to avoid it altogether.
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2 months ago

Betsy EvansTo Karen PoretThanks for following along. Have a great trip!
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2 months ago

Betsy EvansTo Steve Miller/GrampiesAs it turned out, we encountered zero lines and probably would have been fine on a later flight. We’ll never know. 🤷‍♀️

‘You pays your money and you takes your chances’, eh?
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2 months ago