Day #1. I'm in Nice!

 As I'm writing this, I'm sitting on my balcony overlooking the water. :) Not a bad way to start a vacation! Today is Day #1 of the French Riviera. I'm with a tour group (Collette) that's going to different locations throughout the week - Nice, Monaco, Cannes, etc. I got here a day early to get a little more adjusted to the time difference, and to let me get settled in. The first activity is dinner tomorrow night, so I've already got plans for during the day. Did you know Nice has resell shops?  

First observation for the trip - budget cuts are hitting the travel industry hard. The line for security check in (even TSA pre check) was about 45 minutes. I've never seen that happen in CLT. Also, there were no amenity kits on the plane. I know, I know.....total first world problem. But - the flight attendant mentioned that they came from China, and there were some issues with shipping. Both of these things don't seem like big problems, but they also make me wonder what's to come. 

Now, on to Nice. It's beautiful here! I'm in a waterfront room facing both the beach and the promenade. It makes me laugh because it sounds like something straight out of Bridgerton. The weathly English patrons built the promenade so they could do exactly that - walk up and down by the water, show off and gossip. Today it's a great place to stroll, ride bikes or jog. 

.....and, it's now past my bedtime because jet lag is seriously catching up with me. The poor waiter at dinner....he was trying to hard to be nice and ask me questions about where I was from, and I could barely string together a sentence in English, let alone French. Hopefully I'll have more sense tomorrow! 

A few pictures from today.... 

The view across the water, taken from the 8th floor of the hotel 

The private beach / restaurant area of the hotel. I'm going to try to eat lunch there sometime this week. 

The promenade is the red concrete area, the beach is to the right of it. The beach is all tiny stones, which is not something I'm used to. People are spreading towels and laying down on it like it's soft sand...

The view from my room.....

Marketing miss, or lost in translation? This is the snack / beverage menu for the British Airways flight. It makes the immature junior high schooler in me giggle.

Mountains, taken from the window of the plane