This is a misnomer of course since they don’t celebrate our Thanksgiving holiday in France. But today was a little special for Deb at any rate. About 10 days ago we found this wonderful fabric that had been made into a peignoir (robe) at the antiques market. The fabric itself is likely between 75 and 100 years old but is in great condition. It was originally created in a printed manner called toile in the 18th century. The prints frequently serve as patterns for expensive wall paper and fabric. We took it to a business that specializes in repair and creation of clothing and asked them to make a lining for the garmet. Ten days later voila, we picked it up and it exceeded our best hopes. At least that’s what Deb tells me and I believe her.
Today was a bit of a rest day after yesterday’s exertions, so we started out at the seaside in the sun. Sitting there gazing out to sea we noticed a large ship heading towards the city. Not much to stir interest but
somehow it did. We haven’t ever seen a freighter coming into Nice before because it is not a commercial port. But this one was heading in. When it got close enough I could see that up on it’s cargo deck were perched 6 fairly good sized motor yachts. They were the seagoing equivalent of a car carrier. As they got close to the harbor the swung the ship around and backed it into the marina. Presumably to unload one or more of the boats. I always thought that someone either sailed it themselves or paid another person to sail their boat to where it would be moored. What an exciting morning! (You get the irony?).
We had decided to see if one of our favorite restaurants, The Frog, had shut down for their Fermeture Annuelle. If not then we planned to eat there, otherwise we’d have to wait for another visit. Wonderfully for us it was still open, but crowded. So Deb got a reservation for half an hour later and we decided to walk through the flower and food market. On the way we noticed that the Opera House was offering a concert of songs by Steven Sondheim tomorrow and Sunday. So on a whim we bought tickets to see the show on Sunday afternoon, I wonder if they will be in English or French? You’ll be the first to know after us. Then we walked through the market and ogled all the flowers and also the beautiful produce that the vendors were offering. Were we not heading for lunch we probably would have filled a portion of the shopping bag that I always carry in Europe.
We got back to The Frog at our appointed reservation time and they seated us at a nice little table. But today you might have mistaken the place for an American restaurant. Not that it was filled with Americans because everyone seemed to be French, but because it was so loud. Normally a French restaurant will be somewhat muted with people using their indoor voices. But today there was a table of 5 women and one man who were obviously celebrating something because they were raising the roof. But it was good natured and the staff seemed to know them so it was tolerated. For the actual meal, we started with a small order of snails to be shared. Then I ordered a fillet of John Dory with black rice and thinly sliced raw vegetables. However, when we were in last time and Deb ordered it they said it was Croaker, so who knows. It was still delicious. Deb ordered the Sole Meunière which came as a whole fish of pretty good size. Along with hers was a large
bowl of roast potatoes and vegetables. Our server deboned the fish right a the table and was very skillful in getting it done. Their timing was extremely good too, because it took a few minutes for him to clean the fish. So as he was just finishing the chef walked out and presented me with my fish for a perfectly timed meal. Every table was filled and I asked our server it it was always like this, to which he replied, ‘every day’. Our wine for the meal was a nice dry Petit Chablis and was a really nice complement to the fish. I think they may sort of remember us from past visits because at the end of the meal they gave each of us a digestif, a small snifter of Limoncello. A very fitting end to a satisfying lunch. For a change we skipped the dessert and felt less stuffed for the rest of the afternoon.
The Frog is just outside of the old part of the city which made it easy for us to walk over to where we could pick up Deb’s peignoir. We try to vary our routes through the old city so that we become familiar with each street. Today I had stopped to take a picture when a man stopped to ask if we needed any directions. He said he was from Florida and sort of implied that he was very knowledgeable about Nice. We didn’t have the heart to tell him that we’ve spent a total of 3 months in Nice and feel pretty comfortable too. So we navigated our way through the narrow alleys and over to the Place Garibaldi. It forms the northern boundary of the old town and is only a couple streets away from our fabric repair shop. When we got there the woman at the counter didn’t even bother to look at our ticket she just walked to a rack and brought the peignoir out to display it to us. She said that it was very nice material and in great condition. Deb mentioned that she is
going to wear it for a party to celebrate her soon to be published book which excited the woman, the French appreciate erudition. The woman then mentioned that her business makes all the garments for an American designer, but she couldn’t remember if it was New York or elsewhere. Given their skills, I would bet that the designer garments are very high end. At our first meeting the woman was a bit brusque with me, but she lightened up considerably when I returned and was very congenial and warm at our last meeting. We took the tram back to the stop closest to our apartment and walked back in the afternoon sun. At the apartment I left Deb and went to buy bread and a couple little delights for our evening snack. A pretty restful day all in all.
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