2nd day in Nice, jet-lagged but getting comfortable...

Our 2nd day in Nice left us all feeling very much at home. Our flat in the old town of Nice is really growing on us. As we walk to the Monoprix supermarket 3 minutes away (on pedestrian only streets) we walk past: a dozen or so cafes, and the following beautifully displayed stores with plein-air storefronts: bath salts, provencal soaps, wine, olives, spices, a pirate candy shop (?!)... skinny little winding streets with towering red and yellow buildings.

Today we attempted to get over our crazy time change by attempting to go back to sleep after our initial waking up at 3:30. Finally we gave up at 5:30 and just got up. Fish had to get up too, since we were so loud. We decided to take an early-morning walk (to eat croissants) and ended up in a little church square at 8 am with the kids running around the fountain at top speed trying to scare away pigeons. At that point Fish and I knew that we were in for a long day because how could this energy be sustained? True to form, we decided to tempt fate. Fish went off to school (4 hours of French classes! He is truly amazing in his energy & focus) while I, fully knowing that the children are hopeless in the heat, decided to take a walk to the Molinard perfume museum with the girls. The museum was super small and very accessible, showing the tools & implements used to make perfume and soap. Most interestingly, it discussed the reasons for the invention of perfume: in the 1800s when it was considered unsafe to bathe more than twice a year, frankly they just needed something to disguise the stench. The girls each got a little animal soap (chicken and cat) and proceeded to play with them for the next hour. Alas, on the walk home the kids wilted and we had to stop off at an expensive cafe for an Orangina and a cafe latte, but the stop was perfect, just enough to get them up the hill to the flat. A stop for flowers (where the girls completed the transaction on their own), a little sprucing up of the flat (the girls are very motivated since they are receiving 50 euro cents per day that they help out) and we were all out. Unfortunately, the getting up from the nap was the hardest part of the day, taking a full hour and involving a whole lot of whining (much of it from me), but eventually we did get out the door in order to go see Nice's Modern Art Museum. On the plus side, it was free (the mayor's attempt to make culture more accessible to the citizens was to make all city museums free to the public) and it had very interesting exhibit on Chinese fireworks artist Cai Guo-Qiang which definitely woke the girls up. We also were able to talk a lot about nudity and why the French are so important in art history as the ones who were able to re-vitalize the nude after a period of repression of the human form following the Renaissance. Hopefully there will be no bad dreams from the museum.

I (Balika) went off to my language class which was only two hours, but definitely made me feel like a dunce- although I really did get a lot out of it. And on the walk home I marveled again at Fish's stamina to do 5 times the amount of language classes as me. And a follow up on the castle hill is in order... apparently the canon that goes off daily at noon really does occur, and it is right above our house, and both times we have heard the blast (meant to be a time keeper for the people of Nice) we have screamed. The playground on the castle hill (although not the greatest playground in the world) does have the best view of any park I have ever seen... it looks out over Nice, Cannes, Monaco and the great big expanse of the bright blue Mediterranean. beautiful. Beware, however, the following of directions of a 7 year old who swears that she remembers the way home. You may just find yourself on the wrong side of the mountain. Tomorrow the goal is to not have a nap and to sleep through the night!