Nice

Popped over to Nice with Maryam for the afternoon/evening.

The train ride is incredible--next to the water almost the entire time.  It wasn't the best weather, a little cloudy, but the cliffs going down to the water were amazing!

Once we arrived in Nice, our first order of business was shopping.  There will be pictures of my achats later.  Nice has a thing for weird lighting: check out this cool pink chandelier off the main street...

The other interesting part of the lights and the architecture of Nice was how it all changed from day to night.  Here is the church on the main street:

The main plaza also changed completely from day to night:

Ignore the rando, check out that super-modern tram going through the very old city!

Sans tram, sans rando

The same plaza.  Yes, those are neon men sitting on top of poles. Yes, they were there during the daytime.

We didn't notice either, until they started GLOWING

It seems that Nice doesn't go to bed quite as early as Menton, and shops still looked inviting even after the sun had fallen.  

 The buildings are just as vibrantly colored as in Menton, and much more so than in the north.  I love the contrast of the red against a gray sky, but I have a feeling the entire city feels like it should be colored in these fire tones when it's lit by a summer sun.  Fittingly, the central figure in this fountain is Apollo, and the whole thing is La Fontaine du Soleil (Fountain of the Sun).

  

 Not exactly sure what this is... some sort of ruin above the city.

 Map painted on a building highlighting lots of cool sites in Nice... we didn't make it to most of them, so we'll just have to go back.

I blame Maryam for making me take creepy pictures of this quintessentially French couple. So classy.  Them, obviously, not us.

 This was such an easy trip, just a few hours out of our day.  I'm sure we'll be going back regularly.  And as with most journeys, good company made everything more enjoyable.

Coming soon: Torino (my first trip to Italia)