Shopping & dining in Nice

Both Mikko and Sami were back on the Cote d’Azur, after their respective xmas holidays in Finland, so we decided it was time to welcome the arrival of 2009 with a dinner in Nice (although the year could’ve started a bit better, I s’ppose, with the financial crisis, fighting in Gaza etc…). We decided to head into Nice in the afternoon, to take advantage of the “statutory after Christmas sales” (what I mean by that is that in France, shops are only allowed to have sales between certain dates set by the authorities – they really do have regulations about everything in this country!).

The atmosphere in Nice could be described as tense, as some demonstrations about the fighting in Gaza were planned, so I finally got to see the notorious CRS (the French riot police, who are neither famous for their subtlety nor friendliness) – they certainly seemed like a pretty grim lot. Anyway, we kept a low profile and sneaked into H & M. After an efficient shopping session, we headed down to the cinema to watch “Slumdog Millionaire”, the latest flick from Danny Boyle. We really enjoyed the film – his best since Trainspotting, I reckon.

We then headed for our rendez-vous with Sami, Mikko and Marianne at the Luna Rossa, an Italian restaurant we’d wanted to try out for quite some time. Unfortunately, due to typically poor planning, nobody had booked a table, which meant the only option was a table on the terrace (which is a wee bit too cold this time of the year, even considering the fact that it’s covered and that this is the Cote d’Azur…). Thankfully we fond another cozy Italian restaurant, called Caffé Bianco, just a couple of blocks away. We ate well, drank well, and had many laughs – the smell of the sewers that assaulted us every now and then only put us off slightly ;-) Unfortunately, our friends at SNCF (the French national railroad company) were on strike as usual, which meant the last train was rather early (so no post-dinner drinks this time).