Back to Blue

So here we are, back in good old Nice feeling nostalgic and content, like Ulysse after his "Long Voyage". Nostalgic of all the places we saw, the foods we tasted and the ones we didn't. When will we have a chance to do this again ? What about all the places we haven't seen at all yet ? This was our big trip and it seems difficult to imagine how it could happen again so we need to cherish what we have done rather than what we haven't, focus on the positive and look forward. Content also at the easy familiarity of Nice, it's streets and shops. Knowing where the good bakeries are, the nice cafes, the quickest way to the sea. It's a chance to have a rest and find our feet again. Getting started on various projects cooked up on the road, doing all the "normal" things people do. Hopefully we can find enough to do to keep the travel bug from resurfacing furiously.

We have been here for one week now, after a challenging train trip where we had about 8 minutes to dismantle our bikes and shove them onboard along with the other 6 bags we had strapped on there. Getting off was a little easier but not much. We rolled down the hill from the train station and were home just before midnight. We didn't go to bed for a while, feeling a bit dizzy rediscovering a place so familiar yet so strange. Like a shell of our former home, the appartment looks very bare at the moment, with sparse furniture and nothing on the walls, the cupboards empty and the only sign of human presence being the delicious apple pie my dad had put in the fridge for our arrival. We ate a piece, worked out which room would become ours and went to sleep.



We wook up on sunday with sun streaming through the window. We unpacked our panniers, mopped, vacuumed and slowly started turning this house into our home for the next few months. A strange thing after so many weeks moving around every few days. We went for a long walk down the quiet main street, all the way to the water packed with the usual mixture of bikes, rollers, walkers and late summer tourists. The sea was its usual, incomparable blue. A scene so familiar but still fresh, like an old friend you haven't seen in a while. We sat at my favourite spot in Nice, a half circle at the end of the beach overlooking the whole city. We also watched, with some consternation, the surprising number of people who still think rollerblades are a good idea. 90% of people can not use them properly and face constant danger at every bump in the ground. Glad this part of my life is well and truly behind me. We slowly walked home and hung out for a while. Eventually we made some dinner and watched some neverending movie out of my dad's dvd collection where you will mainly find an array of western, war and prison based movies. Fun stuff...

The next few days are a bit of a blur and all seem to merge into a series of long slow mornings, a few errands here and there, frequent visits to the supermarket, many coffees and dinners at home with my dad. We have struck a fantastic deal where we take care of all food related things like shopping and cooking while he gives us a bit of money to cover the associated costs. Suits us and it will give him a break from his frozen meals. The only thing missing this week was some exercise. Apart from a bikeride along the coast, we haven't done very much and are both feeling it. For our defense though, we both got struck down by a cold which is taking a few days to clear. Once some sort of routine is installed, we'll make it fit.



The coming week should be a bit busier with Chris starting intensive French classes (4 hours a day, 5 days a week for 3 weeks), I will be starting a small part-time job as an assistant during cooking classes in the old part of town and we have visitors, Heleana and Adrian, passing by between Paris and Rome.