Old Town, Churches, EuroCup and the Irish are Boring
Old Town
Today we decided to hang around the city and explore old town in Nice. We also heard there was a little football (soccer) event happening today...
So after a hearty breakfast we headed off to old town. The area has lots of narrow streets and lots of restaurants and shops. So here are a few shots...
I wandered off into a very interesting residential area while the girls went shopping ...
Here is a nice church....
Here are a couple of the side altars... they were incredible...
OK... back out into the sunny, beautiful day. This area was built on a hill and there were lots of stairways & switchbacks to deal with the hills...
After about an hour, I met up with the girls and we went to a nearby square for a snack and to visit another church. Here is the square... Note the church in the background.
Here is a shot standing at the church. Note the guys in green... they are from Northern Ireland and are in Nice to watch their team play Poland Sunday.
I guess this would be a good time to talk about Euro 2016 Football (soccer) Tournament. This competition is held every 4 years (between the World Cup) and this year France is the host country. It starts June 10 and ends July 10. We will talk much more about Euro 2016 & all the activities a little later.
Here is the inside of the church on the square...
Here is the wedding car... pretty cool!
After the wedding was over, I got a few more shots. There were 10 side altars. Here are a few of them....
Here is a shot of the dome...
After the visit to the church is was time for a snack... a nice banana & nutella crepe. (I hired some hot French hand model :-)
The crepes were most excellent!
After refueling on some awesome crepes it was off to do some more exploring. Here are a few shots along the way...
Flavored salts seem to be very popular here...
As well as soap...
Weirdness Alert...
The europeans celebrate bachelor parties a little differently than we do. They like to dress-up and have spectators do silly things to them... alcohol is required :-) Here is guy being hit in the face with a cream pie...
After the pie :-)
I Guess This Euro Cup Thingy is A Big Deal :-)
As we turned the corner to enter the Cours Saleya (a large square surrounded by lots of restaurants and an open market in the middle)
And then we discovered... Euro Football 2016... Northern Ireland style :-) There are about 20,000 fans from Northern Ireland here to cheer on their team. They play Poland on Sunday. There were probably 1,000 fans drinking, singing and having a great time in the square...
Susie and Sandy met a few of boys from Northern Ireland. They were a lot of fun and very nice...
And a little bit CRAZY :-) One of their friends could not make the the trip to Nice so they put his picture on...
Here are a few videos... they can capture the moment better than pictures... (disclaimer... I still suck at videos :-) )
This will give you an idea how many people were there and to get a sense of the fun...
They brought out a bunch of food (I have no idea where they got it from) & shared some with us...
The Northern Irish are a fun group of people & really enjoy football & life. We enjoyed spending some time with them.
We decided to head down to the beach and see what was going on there. The promoters of EuroCup had a nice Fan Zone set-up on the promenade. Some pics:
Northern Irish & Poland fans having some fun!
I think these kids found the beach more interesting than football. (Yes the water is that blue!)
It was getting close to 8pm and we decided to head back to the Cours Saleya for dinner and guess what????? The Northern Irish boys were still at it 3 hours later.... :-) Notice how many beer bottle are on the ground :-)
After a nice dinner we walked around the area and every place had big screen TVs with the game (Russia vs England)... Notice the Northern Irish fans in green.
Our Tax Dollars Euros Hard At Work...
So the bus drivers are thinking about going on strike. They are demanding higher wages and shorter work hours. Here is a shot of the bus we had to take home. It sat there for 20 minutes!
Here is a close-up of the driver..... sleeping! (sorry for the poor quality)
We made it home & watched a little football at the restaurant/bar under our apartment. Lots of Polish fans...
Well... This is how I feel. Time for bed :-)
Cheers,
-jj
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