Rain, Rain Go Away

Well, it sure says something when you are on the beautiful Cote d'Azur and you only take 5 pictures all day - and one is of a rainbow crosswalk only to prove they have them here as well as in other cities and the other is having dinner at a nice restaurant!  The skies today were varying shades of grey and certainly not the famous azure blue.  It rained and drizzled off and on and I don't think the temperature was higher than 20'.  

Stormy skies just before it rained

Place Garibaldi

Our mission yesterday was to return some shoes that my friend had bought here last October.  On the recommendation of a couple we met while having lunch in Villefranche sur Mer last year, we went to an Italian shoe store where she bought two pairs of shoes.  It wasn't until she got home that she found out that, for one of the pairs, she had two left shoes of different sizes.  Now, she is a good dancer so hardly needs shoes for two left feet!  So, hauling back the two shoes, we made our way back to the shoe store.  In spite of the website and the sign on the door saying the hours were Tuesday to Saturday from 10 to 12:30 and 14:30 to 19:30, the store was closed.  Determined, she returned in the afternoon and faced the same locked door.  The saga continues as we will try again before we leave.  The weather wasn't good so I just stayed in.

The day improved in the evening when we returned to Le Siecle, the restaurant in the Hotel West End where we had celebrated Delcie's birthday last year.  We reserved a table inside but with a view.  The maitre d' had remembered us from last year.  Gregoire was great and both the service and food were good.  Things were looking up - at least for now!  It was a fun evening and, by the end of it, we'd met the chef, Benoit, and the other waiter (originally from Calabria, Italy), Xavier.

We started the next day by returning to the shoe store again and this time success!  The guy was apologetic and sorted everything out so now Delcie has a pair of shoes - one left and one right - in the same size.  Everybody is happy.  After that, we started walking to the Nice-Riquier train station with the idea of taking the train to Monaco.  However, we walked by the stop for the #607 bus to Monaco so, for 2.50 euros, got on it instead.  It was a much better journey as we drove along the "bas corniche", the lower road, passing through wonderful villages and town renowned for the "rich and famous" such as Cap d'Ail, Villefranche sur Mer, and, of course, the various stops in Monaco.  There were some seriously looking wonderful mansions and villas (no photos of them).  We got off at the Monte Carlo stop (the Casino) and walked down through the gardens to the square in front of the famous casino highlighted in so many films.

From there, our intent was to walk down the hill, around the harbour and up the hill to where the palace and old town are located.  However, that idea went south quickly when the rains moved in.  Our umbrellas were no match for the torrential downpour.  We were soaked to the skin within minutes.  Needless to say, we abandoned that idea - I was disappointed as that part of Monaco is my favourite - but we were having no fun at all and were not "happy campers".  I remember the train station being up the hill from the harbour but we found a sort of tunnel that got us out of the rain and into the station.  At least, we were now not getting wetter.  Within 1/2 hour the train to Nice departed and we were on our way "home".  It was interesting when we got to Nice Ville (the station).  There were at least 15 police at the exit from the platforms.  Because of the Israeli/Hamas situation, France has raised it terrorist threat to "orange", the second highest.  As there were no police there when we arrived on Saturday, I am assuming that was the reason.  However, there is also a big illegal immigrant issue here so it also might have been related to that.  Anyway, we had our tickets and once we were checked we were on our way.  It was cloudy but not raining so we walked back to the flat, about 20 minutes allowing for a stop to pick up some salad and wine.  It was lovely to be back so we could get out of our wet clothes and get warm.  And, we made it just in time as not long after, a storm moved in and it was raining just as hard or maybe even harder than in Monaco.  

Tomorrow, the forecast is for a significant amount of rain.  There is an "red" weather alert and we heard from my friend who lives here that the schools tomorrow are closed.  This is not what I was expecting.  In previous years at this time, the weather has been great.  Oh well!  Saturday is supposed to be good.  Fingers crossed.  We were just finishing dinner and Delcie got an alert on her phone and I've posted a screenshot of it below.  I guess this is serious, folks!