(written by Dave) First a report from Nice football.  Mats and I went to the Montpellier vs Nice football match last night.  It was the first time either of us had been to a big time European football match. It rained lightly the entire match but it was not too uncomfortable.  The weather and the … Continue reading Football and winter touring in Nice

(written by Dave) Full disclosure.  I skipped school yesterday and went skiing in the Alps with Alice and Mats, at the resort Isola 2000.  Actually, I didn’t ski, and neither did my mom but Mats did.  Australia readers would know that skipping work or school when you are not really ill is called “chucking a … Continue reading Chucking a sickie in the Alps

(written by Dave) Monday was a big day. After 2.5 weeks Nancy’s mom (Jan) flew back to the USA on a 6:20AM flight. My mom (Alice) and nephew (Mats) arrived 6 hours later, also from the USA. We had a nice time with Jan – she did a great job nursing Nancy back to health. … Continue reading The swap in Nice

(Written by Nancy) First, thanks to all for the birthday wishes! I am sorry to report that we did not have any big 50 birthday bash (not yet, at least). I ended up with a bout of food poisoning or a stomach bug that hit on Tuesday night and was laid flat for three days … Continue reading Birthday bust and Monaco Rally

(Written by Dave) Yesterday we visited a nearby mountain town called Eze. Tomorrow Nancy turns 50 (editor’s note – acckkkk!!!). So, we are Ezeing into Fifty (editor’s note – not really all that funny). Having just passed this milestone myself, you can only imagine how helpful I’ve been to Nancy in telling her what to … Continue reading Ezeing into 50

(written by Dave) Our wine exploration continues...  Before we go too far, it should be noted that a key limiting factor on our wine tasting odyssey is that we drink so little.  This makes research painfully slow.  Our budget is of course also a limitation but our consumption rate is definitely critical path. So far … Continue reading French wine and other Nice musings

(Written by Dave) First, an update on our wine tasting... We are now four bottles into research. We have had a couple nice drops but I am sorry to report that we really still have no idea what we are doing. Everyone says “you can't go wrong with a nice Bordeaux”. I'm not sure if … Continue reading Second week in Nice update, plus Mimosa from Cambodia

(written by Dave) Nice is becoming more and more comfortable. Class is going well. At the end of one week we both feel like French is sticking a little at least. This proves that old people can learn a new language – all of the other students in our class could be our children, without … Continue reading More Nice

(written by Dave) We survived three days of French class. So far, we are keeping up ok, but it's not too hard when the first day is a short city tour with our instructor and the second day is mostly how to introduce ourselves. Today things started to get a bit harder as we learned … Continue reading Nice impressions so far