Living on the Côte d’Azur goes on, as always and unperturbed if you return back home from a sunny holiday. We love you to keep you updated at an almost weekly base to inform about the important events and knit these together. We bring this French Riviera news update this time from the Colline de Chateau; you know that striking vantage point at the port of Nice. Once an impressive chateau with 12 hectares garden but still an enjoyable walking area with great views on the harbor or the Baie des Anges. Next year they will renovate this piece of old Nice seriously with new railings and plenty romantic walks.
Uber French Riviera style
It is from this place that we looked down on the French Riviera Uber drivers. Uber is that handy application that connects your phone directly with a car and driver. It provides a lot of extra work for those with a car and willing to work. The sour faces of local taxi drivers at Nice airport shows that Uber is a succes well, or rather, precisely meets the needs of the Cote d’Azur. Anyone still paying more than 150 euros with an official overpriced taxi driver from Nice to Cannes? With Uber you do the same ride for less than half the price.
But here’s the joke. You agree as a driver/ entrepreneur on your earnings; 20% goes to Uber, the US taxi company without taxi cabs. You bring in your own car in the Uber super fast system if you are committed to a certain number of hours of work per week. Oh. Wait a minute. Work?! Now the Southern French Uber drivers will go on strike. They pulled a day-long the connection with the Uber system from their phone in order to express their dissatisfaction with the Uber working conditions. Hahaha, I always laugh again as much strike readiness, even if it costs money for only the striker. Smart thinking, just before Christmas.
Christmas Presents
Fortunately the royal couple Prince Albert and Princess Charlotte of Monaco are not on a strike; they invited all six hundred local children in their palace. It was the first Christmas celebrations for Jacques and Gabrielle, the small Royal smurfs. At the end of the festive afternoon everyone got a present. Now that’s nice eh?
More gifts for all residents of the Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur region. The French state has at the very end of the new government decided to increase the annual budget of 826 million euros to 56 million euros. Where does that money come from anyway, if not the economy is growing, you may wonder. Then you’re the only one for this extra money will be cheerfully next year to improve rail links between Aix, Marseille and Nice. The rest of the money for cultural development. Let’s hope that unemployment and crime also covered cultural development.
Pizza and truffles
The best French culture remains of course the food culture on the French Riviera. Or maybe the sports culture as almost everyone does sports with soccer being the first national sport. A bar-restaurant in Saint Jeannet (where we happen to eat often) combines both these cultures and named this week a pizza to the striker of OGC Nice, Mario Balotelli. That has to be the highest honor you can get as a sportsman. No Sport Gala awards; once a pizza is named after you, you’re really baked in terms of immortality. In this case, with sundried tomatoes, capers and topped with ricotta cheese.
So many goodies they can in prison only dream about, and that is disappointing for the four newcomers this week. They were up to 30 months in prison convicted of human smuggling. In a van they took sometimes 17 migrants along, against payment of 200 euros per person. The illegal migrants were in Nice or elsewhere deposited. Consequently, you will see the evening whole families on their doorstep at Galarie Lafayette. And nobody does anything about it. They smile or friendly, but nobody buys what. Another remarkable conviction; a 50-year-old man enter this summer with his yacht through the port of Cannes. Through a megaphone, he shouted very loudly “Allahou Akbar” without taking themselves to blow. Because the two weeks after the horrific attack happened in Nice, the judge sentenced the man with his bad joke to six months in jail.
#iloveNice
And so we come to today’s reality in which the state of emergency remains in force and red berets in groups of four parade through the center of Nice. Mer than a thousand people took part this week in Operation #IloveNice. Dressed in blue, white and red they they created these words as a human handwriting, from Place Garibaldi to the sea. A tribute to the poor victims of Nice.
We had to say goodbye to another Nice citizen this week whose handwriting was already known by many. Irish poet John Montague left Nice on the beautiful age of 87 years. Born in New York and living in Nice for ten years. On the Cote d’Azur he wrote some of his poems, including this beautiful Blessing.
Blessing
A feel of warmth in this place.
In winter air, a scent of harvest.
No form of prayer is needed,
When by sudden grace attended.
Naturally, we fall from grace.
Mere humans, we forget what light
Led us, lonely, to this place.
Agenda
With Christmas approaching, we feel our extra ‘blessed’ to be allowed to live in the South of France. With the school holidays we can enjoy its pure nature and the nice and beautiful things in our agenda. Check out our free French Riviera Lifestyle app for the complete and always current cultural agenda.
Truffle market in Grasse
7 and January 15, 2017
The feast of the black diamond under inspiring leadership of Chef Jacques Chibois. You are welcome to the Bastide Saint Antoine in Grasse, overlooking Cannes. From 11 o’clock in the morning you can enjoy demonstrations by truffle sniffer dogs and of course countless dishes with truffles. A week later, the party repeated in Rouret.
La Bastide Saint Antoine, 48 avenue Henri-Dunant
06130 Grasse
Tel: 04 93 70 94 94
Rallye Monte Carlo
16 to January 22, 2017
This car rally with historic name follows the trend in 2017. There is also a ZENN rally (Zero Emission, No Noise). The cars are still cornering hard enough to tear through the mountains of Nice and Monaco.
Tel: +377 93 15 26 00
//