Good friends, rain and knifes in cafes

Blue skies, blue water, and stone beaches....2 of those 3 items were a part of my time in Nice.  Unfortunately the item that was missing most days was the blue skies.  It rained almost everyday at some point.  I felt as though I was in England still not in the South of France.  I didn't mind too much though since I wasn't there really to do any sight seeing it was just a trip to visit my wonderful friends.  My days there mostly consisted of sitting in the back garden with a book and soaking up the bits of sun that appeared in between the clouds.  After all my days of constant walking while I was in Bath this was a welcome bit of rest for me.  My feet were quite thankful!  I did spend one day walking around town again and taking in

The perfect day...good friend and a glass of wine!

some of the sights before the rain hit but we will get to that later.  My first day I was welcomed with a lovely lunch in the back garden.  It was so nice to just sit, relax and chat while sipping a glass of wine.  This is what life is all about.  It's the small simple moments that make life wonderful.  I feel like this excursion to Nice was filled with those.  There were dance parties in the living room with the kids, late night chats around the table and just hanging out.  It was exactly what I needed  and to be able to spend this time with these amazing people was just perfect.  I just feel so lucky that along the way in my random travels I have been able to meet such special people and make life long friendships.  I just firmly believe

Architectural beauty 

that we are placed in certain places at certian times for specific reasons.  Even though reasons are not always clear in the moment you gotta just embrace them all and take them for what they are at the time.
So like I mentioned I did take one day and walk around town. Don't worry guys...it was the middle of the day and the sun was shining.  I figured I couldn't have too much trouble....unfortunately I was wrong but we will get to that.  Lets talk about the good bits first.  So on my wandering through the streets I tried to look at it with different eyes.  Not my I don't like this place eyes but the ones that can appreciate beauty and surprise.  I was pleasantly surprised!  There are a lot of really pretty buildings in Nice if you take the time to look up instead of straight ahead.  I love all the detail on the outside of the buildings and the iron work is quite nice too.  Old town Nice is a place I didn't go too much last time so I did venture over there this time and had a great time!  There was an antique market happening and I was in heaven.  It was really fun to just wander the streets that were alive with people selling their wares.  There was

Just a rainy walk in the park

 tons of real silver place settings, vintage linens clothing and anything else you could imagine.  I even saw some crazy swords that looked like they should be headed into some battle on the hip of a knight atop his trusty horse.  Of course I didn't buy anything since I have limited space and a weight limit on my suit case but it was still great fun to just look at it all.  After the market I purchased some food from a super mean lady at the grocery store who made jokes about me to the other patrons in line because she didn't think I understood her even though I did.  Fortunately I can understand a bit of French however I can't really speak any which makes it hard for me to comment back.  Anyway, I tried to shake off the bit of grumpiness the lady gave me and enjoyed a lovely lunch by the sea...then it started raining.  I sought refuge in a park under some trees for a bit then headed into a cafe.  This cafe was one I had been to may times and figured I couldn't have any issues here.  Wrong!  I sat down and there was a lady sitting next to me and she was quite nice and chatted me up a bit in broken English.  Then her friends (2 shady looking guys) showed up.  One sat down with her and the other reached over to my table to grab a chair and gave me a big grin which nicely displayed the empty spot in his mouth where one of his front teeth should have been.  He took the chair then turned back to me and asked me if the lady they were joining had been alone or with any other men.  I wasn't too excited about where this was going but I just politely said " No,no men...she has been alone."  He then proceeded to pull a knife out of his pocket, open it up, point it at the lady and say..."is that the truth?  you were alone?"  She of course said yes then he said ok...ok...I believe you and put the knife away.  They all laughed and he turned to me with his toothless grin again and said in broken english "Ha, Ha...that was just joke... you know like Ha Ha Funny.  She my friend."  I just smiled nodded and continued on reading my book.  All I could think was "Seriously...did he just pull a knife out in the middle of the cafe as a joke?"  And now I know he has a knife in his pocket that he has no problem pulling out and waving around.  The comfort level that I had started to have in Nice again just disappeared completely.  Needless to say Nice still is not my favorite place but some of my favorite people live there so I will return but maybe I should start carrying a knife too.
All in all the 5 days were relaxing and I enjoyed the time with my friends immensely.  Now it's time for me to head back to England....London to be exact and I am beyond excited!