J'apprends à lire

Rio got a new magazine yesterday, which comes with an audio CD - and she was able to read the full 16 page story in French without many mistakes by this afternoon. We're still looking up some words in a dictionary, but she's really getting the pronounciation of letters and French sounds. It's pretty incredible! She's actually a more confident reader in French than in English, as she's not sure what she's saying anyway, so in some way it just makes it easier to take a chance on the pronounciation.

Highly recommended for reading kids who want to learn French.

http://www.milan-abo.com/netful-presentation-magellan/default/magazine_j-apprends-a-lire_abonnement.html

Ila's new discovery: burps on demand

Unfortunately Rio finds them way to funny, which helped to create a burp monster that drinks all the mineral water that she can find.

French word of the Week: Se Shooter

As we discover Nice and learn the French language, we thought it would be fun to include words that we look up to understand our new environment.

The word of this week is se shooter, which turns out to be a reflexive verb and means to shoot-up...as in heroin junkies hanging out on our doorstep at 8 in the morning. The mentioned clochard was just a sad wailing man, who spent half of the night bemoaning something in incoherent French, on our staircase.



But it was a cold, rainy night, and they typically prefer to hang out under the arches overlooking the port rather than in our dark staircase.



All in all, our next door neighbor, a taciturn transvestite-prostitute with an abusive live-in pimp is starting to look better and better.

Checking out Mont Boron

There is a place that we're considering as our potential next home. It's high up in the Mont Boron district (away from artisan boulangeries - :( ). So today we took a walk up the hill to check it out & discovered that spring has arrived in Nice. The Mont Boron forest-park is full of bright yellow flowers and wilted hyacinths. It certainly makes sense that Queen Victoria used to spend winters in Nice.

Going down we took a dramatic shortcut going from Mont Boron to the Port area, which takes about 10 minutes, at least to get to Coco Beach. Not so sure about the way up. It's a scenic work-out opportunity for sure.

The coldest days of the year....brrrrr

Brightened by the passing carnaval floats.


And as usual, the mid day spent hanging out on the beach.



After the beach we stopped by our reopened bakery to get a heart shaped gateau. It was hard to keep it away from the ravished children (I do think the sea air is improving their appetite, at least Rio's), but we did manage to save it for after dinner dessert.

Skyping with a 2 year old

So many emotions. And the big sister just keeps on interrupting.

It's not all sunshine here

We had a full day of snow yesterday. Not that you could tell at all today.

Just another February day in Nice

...and most women here can't decide whether to wear a bikini or a fur coat. So most wear both. And if you're wondering how the woman in black maintains her brown tan - she slept the entire 2.5 hours in the same position while we were at the beach today.

Horrors - downstairs bakery closed for the ski holiday!

The great thing about living in France is that you always have at least two bakeries to choose from within a 5 minute walk radius. In Paris we were lucky to be living close to Eric Keyser.

In Nice we have a bakery in our building (which fills the staircase with the most amazing aroma, especially morning-time) - makes the early morning pain au chocolat run quite convenient. Unfortunately they're closed for the ski vacation. Just as I was about to negotiate with them how we could lower a basket into their window and have it filled with our typical fare. That way I could lounge around for few more minutes.

Now I'm forced to walk an entire block to Boulangerie Maritime, which is apparently one of the best bakeries in Nice. I don't like their baguette as much, but they do have an amazing spread of breads, especially early morning, before it all gets quickly sold out.

Sun-day at the beach

There's enough light in Nice to finally take the camera out. London starting to feel long ago.
The kids spend all day mesmerized by the surf and throwing pebbles.



Ila inched ever closer to the sea, where the stones glistened the most alluring. Eventually she came up the shore crying, all wet to her knees. Apparently the sea rewarded her preoccupation with the pretty stones.



Not to worry, the sea in Nice is more play than fight. Time for some pizza!

Nice Carnaval 2010 preparations

Is this Obama superman? Will he save the world? Or are the French already mocking the American president?


Message of global warming?




Not really sure of these two. Any guesses?

All in all it was rather refreshing to see a carnaval with a strong environmental message. Those French, they never waste an event.

On top of the world (Nice Ferris Wheel)

...but Ila isn't so sure of the joy of being on top of it all

Good Restaurants in Nice

Tried and approved -

La Tabla Alziari at
4 rue françois zanin, vieille ville, 06000 Nice

Solid Niçoise cuisine. Simple, fresh ingredients, delivered without any pretense, but well prepared and reasonably priced.

We had stuffed sardines for appetizer, allouttes sans tete, and Morue à la niçoise, followed by melting chocolate cake and of course a really good pichet of vin from Var.

This is probably the first restaurant in Nice, that we tried, that seemed .... to care about its food. Typically you just get thrown the typical tourist dog food. The restaurant also has a nice little terrace outside, away from the tourist shops, in Old Nice, so it's probably even a better bet in warmer weather.

How did I find it? - by following local reviews here. So far qype.fr hasn't failed me.

Walking home at 6PM shots

Another apartment viewing, another walk home along the Méditerranéen.
Life could be worse.

Sara Midda Guide to February in Southern France