What a nice day for Nice

It was a rough morning. Still feeling the effects of the previous night’s libations we had to be up by 5am to get to the airport. As Emily and I zombied our way towards the airport we began looking forward to some beach and relax time. Unfortunately this portion of the trip was not well planned as we spent 3 hours at the airport then flew for an hour then got to our next hotel too early and we couldn’t check in… a little exhausted we made for the beach with the clothes on our backs. Solid decision as it was a hot overcast day and the beach had sand-side service including booze…  the remainder of the day was filled with relaxing beach time and booze leading to an excellent night of sleep at our beautiful hotel. I figured I smash two days into this blog as our last 2-3 days we planned to do absolutely nothing. 

What a great night of sleep, so much so that we both slept in. With such an energy recharge we elected to run our 4 miler along the coast. The views of the coast and the statuesque people made for a very enjoyable run. It was gloriously sunny and a slight breeze off the ocean made for an enjoyable jaunt. Up until now I have not described French people. I have yet to see a fat French person. They are all perfectly marshmallowy tanned, fit, thin, and slightly smug. But if I looked as good as they did then I’d be slightly smug too. The beaches were filled with six pack abs and Brazilian bikinis. We returned to our hotel for a mimosa infused breakfast and threw on our suits to head back out to the beach for another day of relaxing by the ocean.  What a beach, not sandy but sunny with warm ocean waters to swim in. We read, drank champagne, laughed, and people watched, it was glorious.  4 bottles of champagne and a bottle of fine rosé (what Nice is known for) later we were happily inebriated and sitting on a beach in southern France.  It started to rain slightly and the WHOLE beach packed up but Emily and I remained sipping a fine rosé and enjoying the ‘sprinkle’. Emily is turning into a true Alaskan as she looked around perplexed as to what anyone would leave a perfectly fine beach at 75°F with a little rain (and thunder with lightening).  I couldn’t be anymore in love. As the sun set we had to pack up for our final hurrah. A two Michelin star restaurant for dinner awaited us…

Oh wow, by far and away the best dining experience we’ve had thus far. We ate at a Michelin restaurant called ‘Pure and V’. I think I will write a review. This was a quite unassuming little restaurant with 7 tables, all worn-looking and 3 wait staff, one of whom was the chef.  The quaint vibe in conjunction with Scandinavian chef, Christian Kanstrup Pedersen, resulted in a gastronomical adventure with hints of Nordic influences.  Seven perfect courses all the while the chef kept returning to our table to receive exaggerated praises and watch as we exalted over each mouthful.  3 hours and 7 glasses of wine later we stumbled out on to the street and made our way back to our hotel for another night of great sleep! One more day…