Dad's in France!

And now for Part Deux, my Dad's trip to Nice!

Thursday brought about a lot of anxiety as it snowed in Nice and Dulles had been closed "until further notice" as of Wednesday thanks to giant snowstorm #3 of the season. Luckily, Dulles reopened in time for his flight and things went off without a hitch. Dad arrived on time in Nice mid-day on Friday. I was very impressed that he had gotten sleep and seemed pretty rested from his flight-- mine in October left me jetlagged for what seemed like forever. I was also just stunned to see my Dad in France with me!!! It was almost like role-reversal because I was the expert and had to lead him everywhere considering his French consisted of "Merci" "Bonjour" and the occasional "Gracias" (haha, love you Dad!) Anyways, after feeding him a tuna sandwich and plopping his suitcase into my apartment, we went on a walk. We walked around Nice, saw the sunset on the Med, returned my library books, got some dinner (pasta for me, pizza topped with pasta for him) and walked home.

I started feeling bad when Dad got tired near the library. I know he was jetlagged, but I realized I also had to be conscious that not everyone, especially my 54yo Dad, walk everywhere everyday. Plus, as I told him, I am still in college-walking mode which means I weave between people on the sidewalk all the time. So, I tried to be more conscious of how much walking we did.

But Saturday we trudged on. Sadly the weather could not provide Dad with much of a respite from winter, a cold wind blew off of the ocean, but Dad still thought it was better than snow! (He even hugged a palm tree on the promenade!) We did a walking tour of Nice, and stopped to munch on some typical Niçois specialties-- Socca and Farcis (cornflour crepe and stuffed veggies) and some Fries. Dad was a good sport as far as food goes-- I think the Garwood boys were fed meat and potato bottles ;) Then that afternoon we went up to the Colline du Chateau (Castle hill) and took in the beautiful sights of Nice. We did a little grocery shopping and had a delicious fondue dinner that night before heading out to the Corso Illuminé-- Carnaval Night Parade! I will write more later about Carnaval, since it is still going on, but let's just say we had a great time!

Sunday we went took the bus to Monaco-- the second smallest country on Earth. We toured the hill with the Royal Palace (Prince Grimaldi, woot woot) the Cathedral where Princess Grace (Kelly) and Prince Rainier are buried, and then made our way up to the world-famous Monte Carlo casino. There we admired Rolls Royce's, Ferrari's, and several other luxury cars. When we returned to Nice we watched some Glee, ate dinner, packed for Paris and headed to bed. Oh, and it was Valentine's Day, so I had gotten 4 mini patisseries for us to split for dessert-- they were amazing!

Now, Sorry to stop before the end, but I myself have gotten bored/distracted while writing this. More to come later for our whirlwind trip to Paris and an entry about Carnaval!
Bonne nuit!