Nice on crutches

The title of Sunday's post says it all! Having been prepared a la nicoise, we decided (that's we spelt with a capital C!) I was up to some extended, assisted hobbling.

This was after Carol had ventured, unaccompanied, to the marche - she's really starting to love the freshness and the availability and the buzz! In fact, it's one of the major factors in us both feeling that Nice may just be our perfect holiday destination! It has the climate, mostly; it has the sea; it has good transport links to interesting places; it has shops and restaurants; our accomodation is well-nigh perfect and there is the market! Voila!

Anyway, Carol came back with loads of goodies, including ravioli, gnocchi, chicken legs and, of more immediate benefit, croissants! So, coffee and croissants it was. However, the time had come to put my french dressing to the test ( do you like the culinary pun?!).

So we caught the number 22 bus to Magnan, just the other side of the jardin you may recall, with the intention of walking as far along the Promenade des Anglais as I could manage and then getting one of "the many buses that go that way".

Well, the weather was great - warm and sunny - and there were lots of people promenading, although still plenty of seats available to rest at - ideal really. My average stretch between sit downs was about 200 metres so it took a while! We stopped at one point for an ice cream - I felt a really good boy!

Eventually, we gave in and got a bus - one bl**dy stop! - we'd walked a helluva long way with quite a lot of stops. Who says I don't have perseverance? Obviously, this level of effort was worthy of a beer but we weren't inclined to go into the old town on this occasion (little known fact - there are no public transport links into the old town of Nice, you have to walk/hobble).

We found a little bar with seats on the pavement (why can't this be more common in England??) near Place Massena and proceeded to spend not much short of 2 hours people watching, chatting and sipping beer - the things I put up with on holiday! In fact, Carol declared that this was a far better spot than our usual bar despite the higher prices. I have to say that there were far more noteworthy sights from here.

We then caught the bus home (which is what it feels like now) where I proceeded to make a concoction using the chicken legs Carol had bought earlier at the market. Shallots and garlic softened in butter, legs jointed then browned, celery, carrots and leek softened, red wine reduced down, 15 year old stock cube added, chicken returned then simmered for 90 minutes. May be appalling grammar but it was delicious!! Even managed to make mashed potato without a masher and without lumps! I won't mention how much butter was used in making this meal in case my doctor gets to read this!

All this was washed down with a bottle of Cotes de Ventoux - another link to a previous holiday in Provence. Very good way to finish a day!