The good times are continuing here in Nice. We did end up going to the beach late afternoon yesterday and it was absolutely glorious! Sorry there are no pictures, but we didn't want to leave our cameras unattended on the beach while swimming.
Nice's beaches aren't sandy but made of large, smooth, rounded rocks. It can be a little uncomfortable for sunbathing and very uncomfortable for barefoot walking, but it's nothing a mat, sandals, and/or proper stone placement can't solve. And the lack of sand means the sea is stunningly clear right up to the shoreline, no matter how many people are paddling around in it. And it's a very calm sea, with no breaking waves, making it ideal for swimming. When you're in the water and look along the smooth, wavy surface towards the horizon, it's like swimming in deep-blue silk.
Soon after we'd climbed out of the water to dry off a bit, we were entertained by something going on with the coast guard. First a couple officials came along the beach and told everyone to get out of the water, then a small boat proceeded to do systematic circles along the shoreline, puffing out nasty black smoke as they went. The purpose seemed to be to stir up the water in order to find something, as a couple men on the boat were peering into the water, but they never sent out divers or even swimmers. It was very weird and certainly intriguing.
On the way back from the beach around 8pm we picked up a pizza from a to-go place near our hotel, and it was seriously some of the best we've ever had. We had already noticed that pizza tends to be better in France than in Italy, but this one really beat them all. The crust was ultra-thin and just the right amount of crispy. The ham was delicious and the mushrooms were fresh and sliced super-thin. We are most definitely going back!
Today we did laundry and picked up sandwiches and an inflatable raft (yay!) from Carrefour, France's chain of huge stores best comparable to Fred Meyer back home. I rarely get very excited about sandwiches, but Carrefour has this line of them made with Swedish bread that are super fantastic. I don't think I've ever had Swedish bread before - it's kind of like a thinner, chewier and slightly sweeter version of foccacia. Yum. Not for the first time, I thought we might need to try to squeeze Scandinavia into our itinerary!