I have been on the fast train in France only once some years ago. It was a memorable experience: comfortable wide seats, two on each side of a central table and large clean windows to view the spectacular countryside at 90 mph. We were booked second class on the SCNF to Nice for a visit with friends from America and I was looking forward to it. We were up at 5, at the train station at 6 and ready to go. Not to be.
At 7:30 we, with 150 others from 2 late trains were waiting on the quais for an arrival. What a disaster! The train was party full already. Lots of jostling. Tom and I found two fold down side seats between people who had scooters, leaving little leg room and giving us a view of several sets of legs holding up the bodies standing. It was pretty uncomfortable. We obviously missed our connections but had to rebook inside the station in Lyon. They put us on the fast train to Marseilles so we could get to Nice before dark. What a lovely place: calm sea, sunshine, no wind, a delicious dinner and walk along the promenade before bed.
Friday we set out for a walk along the Coulée Verte, a green corridor that was built to replace a very large freeway that used to curve along the north side of Old Nice down to the Mediterranean. We are told the road was usually jammed with traffic. The new space is about a block wide and has lots of playground areas and spaces to sit.
Later we caught the bus to the Chagall Museum, which was designed by him to hold many of his works. The most interesting was a very large space that held about a dozen of his paintings representing stories from the Old Testament. As we were there, a middle-aged man who works in the museum wanted to know about my missionary name tag. He was aware of the Church, but not of our chapel in Nice. We ended up in a long conversation about religion, scripture, miracles, etc., and I was fortunate to remind him that the greatest miracle was Christ’s resurrection, which brings about the resurrection for each of us eventually. 
Mosaic at the Chagall
It looks like a sculpture but it's a tree!
Saturday was a surprising day. This was the day of the burning of the king, a burnable statue of Neptune, symbolic of getting rid of our mistakes and failings of the past year. The weather was perfect as we sauntered along the rocky beach viewing sailboats, bold swimmers, and Eric spear fishing for a fresh catch for Sunday. Along came all the floats, decorated with fresh flowers, on their way to the parade - it was like a mini Rose Bowl Parade and we didn’t even have to wait in line.
We climbed Le Chateau and dreamed as the seagulls soared and the ferry arrived from Corsica. So fun to watch that huge boat dock.
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| The Corsica Ferry docking |
We spent a lazy afternoon visiting, eating Thai, watching My Octopus Teacher, and waiting until 10:45 pm for the big event and fireworks.
