Tuesday, July 26 - Arrived in Nice and forgot to bring the rental car telephone number for pickup. The info desk at the airport found the number and arranged the pickup. The car was a brand new Renault Megane diesel with 12km on it when we got it. Filled it with diesel fuel and headed for the Negresco.

Checked in at the Negresco. Fantastic room, overlooking the Cote d'Azur.

We ended up at Flo's, the Nice outpost of the Flo Group. We love many of the Flo Group restaurants in Paris including Vaudeville, Julien and La Coupole, so it seemed like a good idea. All of the Flo Group restaurants are sort of upscale bistro food and service is in the traditional manner. While the food is not haute cuisine by any stretch of the imagination, it is very good. Especially the sea food. They are sort of like the Danny Myers places in NY except that they are less pretentious and much less expensive. And the service is as good or even better. The food is also less creative and more traditional.

Hal started with the most wonderful gazpacho. It had a what we think was a lime sherbet in it. One of the most delicious and interesting gazpacho Hal has ever eaten. Then he had a fish dish which was good. The sauce and veggies accompanying it were very good. Hal followed with a Soup au Frais desert. It was fantastic. Had a mint infused soup and some of that same lime sherbet. Great first night dinner.

Back to the hotel for a good nights rest.

Wednesday, July 27 - We woke up late and didn't get out till close to 11am. We headed east and found a place for breakfast on Grimaldi square. The place ran out of croissants, The waiter suggested we go across the street to a MonoPrix bakery to get the croissants, which of course we did. The coffee was good - even if the iced coffee Hal had was a bit diminutive.

We continued around passed Eze. We were considering a restaurant outside of Eze, Cheve D'Or, that was recommended by Hal's doctor, but we couldn't even consider trying to drive those mountain roads back to Nice... so it will be a pass this time around. We need to stay there if we are going to eat there. If Hal's doctor prescribes it, will GHI reimburse?

We continued on to Monte Carlo. One huge traffic jam from one end of the principality to the other. We did drive some of the Grand Prix course including the Mirabel turn. We stopped for a few minutes outside the dock. The yachts were just unbelievable, one huge one tied up to the next.

We were surprised by the congestion in Monaco. The place has apartment buildings built on top of one another. The density is just unbelievable. We got bored looking at the giant yachts and headed back to Nice.

We stopped in Nice near the Gallery Lafayette and had sandwiches on the mall nearby. Jane had her salami and Hal had his ham and cheese. Plus lots of Coke Light. We then did a quick stroll through the Gallery Lafeayette and then headed back to the hotel.

After swimming Jane had a beer and Hal had a Compari and soda. What a way to live.

And while I am all for topless beaches - sometimes it is not as pleasing as one would expect. Some people are best covered up.

That night we were so tired that we decided to eat in the hotel. The formal restaurant there (a 2 Star) didn't appeal to us so we went to the bistro part. We ate on the terrace overlooking the Promenade Des Angleterres. The folks at the next table (lubovd@bellsouth.net) had an ex New Yorker as well some Floridians. Interesting to meet people, even if they are Americans. Jane started with a green salad, then had risotto fruits de mare. Hal had a red pepper mouse followed by a coquille dish. Finishing off with a frozen chocolate mousse. The food was exceptionally good and served with grace the French way.

We then went up stairs to get the laptop and went to the business center to send some email. They need to get with it at this hotel. It was just unacceptable to not have Internet service in our room.

Thursday, July 28th - Got up for breakfast around 9:45, got dressed and headed to the old city (Cours Seleya). We had breakfast at an outdoor cafe, but again they were out of croissants and us the bakery next door. Can you imagine someone in Starbucks telling you to go next door to get some pastries to bring back to have with your coffee? It seems to be the thing to do in France.

The Cours Seleya is an open market place with all sorts of wonder fruits, vegetables, spices and flowers. Everything looked so good. We ended up buying just some wonderful peaches.

We were getting tired and headed back to the Hotel on the A8 highway. At the hotel we relaxed for an hour, then went swimming at the Neptune Plage (beach), owned by the hotel. Had a great swim, did some reading and Hal had a terrific bloody Mary. Back to the hotel for another short rest.

We went to dinner at Kai's Passion, a seafood restaurant noted for its wines. We had the menu which started off with some Mojito served in a test tube, and a plate of tastes - including anchovies (neither of us had that), an avocado mouse in a pastry shell, candied tomato, candied pineapple, melon with mozzarella cheese, and escargots. We then had a fish appetizer with red snapper on baby artichokes followed by a tiny cup of Gazpacho with a basil sorbet in it.. The main plate was sea bass on a bed of girolles with these wonderful little potatos that looked like French fries but tasted like very upscale knishes.

Then a pre desert of pineapple and yogurt mouse (foam). Very light and wonderful. Finally the desert was a grapefruit in a light aspic with yogurt sorbet and candied pineapple. We had a wonderful Cote Roti (a half bottle only) and a couple of bottles of San Pellegrino.

We walked back to the hotel and finished off this commentary.