Nice : Sometimes it's funny when things go right too!

I've been reading a travel memoire called Without Reservations - The Travels of an Independent Woman by Alice Steinbach. I've been reading it rather slowly because I've found that I'm not as interested in where the author went and what the author did as I am in her little insights about people and the world and what you learn about yourself from travelling.

Coincidences are a funny thing. They play on your mind. Or they do on mine. I've mentioned to several people now that I always see cats when I'm travelling. Especially in Europe. My theory is that they're following me. Responses have ranged from the very concerned – err.. maybe you should talk to a professional about that, to the very reasonable – dude, cats are everywhere, don't you think you're being a little self-centred? When I say that I think cats are following me, I don't mean in a conspiratory way. I'm not paranoid. I don't think they're plotting against me. In fact, I think it's kind of nice. Almost like having a travel companion. For me, it's a good omen. Everywhere I go, a familiar shape watching over me... anyway, I digress. What I wanted to say was, that's what coincidences make me think about. It makes the world seem a little more fantastic. It's good to believe in magic I think.

Whenever I read Without Reservations, I always think it's more than a coincidence that the particular chapter I'm reading speaks so loudly to what has just happened to me on a particular chapter of my adventure. Perhaps all travellers share the same learning experiences, I don't know, I'm not every traveller. But sometimes things happen and they affect me in such a deep way and I don't know why and more than a few times now, I've discovered the answer, or part of it, in this book. And that's a comfort.

This is what I learnt in Nice:

" Dear Alice,
I think what I will remember long after I've forgotten rural England's history and patterns of settlement may be the lesson taught by Barry, an instructor in ballroom dancing. Not only did I learn the quickstep and cha-cha from Barry, but, more important, I relearned something I had forgotten: the pure joy of letting go and just having fun. Alice, try not to forget this again. Further down the track you may need this knowledge more than English history.

Love, Alice "

-.-

Tuesday, 31 October, 2006.

I arrived in Nice around 3pm. I found a hotel quite near the station, checked myself in and started walking the streets armed with a list of things I wanted to see and more importantly, EAT. Miss blu's Let's Go guidebook declared that everyone should try the local chickpea bread specialty, socca, and that the place to go for food was a highly popular local café called Lou Pilha Leva in Vieux Nice. I hadn't had lunch, it was approaching 4pm and Vieux Nice was near the beach, which I desperately wanted to see before sunset, so that decided it. Walk to beach, about twenty minutes from the hotel, take in much-missed coast, then head to Lou Pilha Leva. I had a map, I don't know why that made me confident because it hasn't stopped me from getting lost in the past, but I felt optimistic. And hungry. Hungry for food as well as for the much promised unbelievably blue-blue of the Côte d'Azur.

Of course I got lost.

Vieux Nice is a tangle of tiny alleyways that all look exactly the same to a hungry/tired traveller who's just arrived. I managed to see the beach, but only by accident, emerging from the maze of Vieux Nice suddenly and going 'oh look! water!!' It was as blue as had been promised, but by that time I was so famished I was feeling pretty blue myself. I almost gave up on the idea of Lou Pilha Leva and wanted to buy an overpriced hotdog from the stands along the promenade, but a little voice inside told me I was just about to give up right before I would find success.

It was right.

I tried once again to orientate myself with my too-small map (which I discovered the next day had a close up 'zoom' map of Vieux Nice on the back I hadn't seen!) and tried to follow my instincts. Five minutes later I was standing in front of Lou Pilha Leva scoffing down deliciously warm socca I had hardly finished paying for and buying a postcard of a sketch drawing of this very popular local café.

And this is why it's lucky I didn't give up:

I turned a corner only to find a very familiar face watching me just as curiously. Sitting with a friend having a few beers outside a bar that would soon become our haunt, Les Distilleries, was none other than my French tutor, Aurelien, from my French I class last year!

More coincidences: Aurel, who is French, studied at Lyon II too and majored in Linguistics. His Australian mate, Alex, is also a tutor at Melbourne Uni and will most likely be teaching a class I'm enrolled to take next year: Postmodernism. We were all on holidays in Nice until Friday.

Aurel was kind enough to invite me to join them for some drinks and later dinner and after dinner, a farewell party. To be completely honest, I was elated. Someone to talk to! Someone to do things with! Friends!! And it really did feel like that. Within a few hours, Aurel and Alex were like old friends. Sure, we still didn't know each other very well, but discovering that we all knew the lyrics to the same Bright Eyes songs was connection enough for me.

It was Halloween. Aurel said that it had become increasingly americanised and commercialised in France these days, kids trick-or-treating in the streets in full costume chanting 'bonbons! bonbons! bonbons!' Alex tried to give away some marshmellows but only one kid was brave enough to approach us - and only because his mum was urging him to.

After the pub, we went to dinner at an excellent Italian restaurant called La Voglia with Diana, Aurel and Alex's Niçoise friend. Diana told us that La Voglia was the place to be 'seen'. The food was delicious and generously proportioned for the very reasonable price we payed. The service was perfect. The wine was good. Except when a fly decided to land in mine. So Alex flicked it out and we swapped glasses :P I hadn't eaten and dined this well in so long! Not even when I was out in Lyon with Ling and Kotoé. Now that I'm back at Allix eating two-minute noodles for breakfast, La Voglia seems like a lifetime ago..

The guys wanted to be made up for Halloween so we all went back to Diana's appartment to chill for a bit. A few more beers were had while Diana donated her make-up as well as artistic talent to making the guys look as scary as possible. In the end, only Alex left the appartment with anything on his face, and even then, only a hint of Diana's handiwork.

That night I met a lot of French people and spoke a lot of French, but mostly with Alex, who is a beginner and had been learning for only three weeks with Aurel. From Alex I learnt that it is preferable to speak bad French and have people laugh at you but get to know you and love you, than to not speak at all and have them never know you. I met a lovely psych student, Flora, who was just about to leave for Paris, who loved Heartbreak High and we talked about how hot Drazic was. We spoke about accents and she told me how she hated her boyfriend's accent when he spoke English and I told her that foreigners loved it. All those French zzz's! We had vodka and caramel shots and beer. Lots of beer.

We got kicked out of that bar and made our way to another. One of the only two bars that were open after 2am without a cover charge. It was SOOOOOOO packed! Under normal circumstances in Melbourne, I would've probably seen the crowd and not even bothered going in. But no, here we were a group of eight and somehow we managed to squish ourselves into a corner with seats! More beer was had. A band made up like Kiss was playing rock way too loud. Wolf Creek silently on the television above our heads. Flora and Diana saying a sad, tear-filled farewell. More beer.

I got back to the hotel that night (the next morning) at around 4.30am...

All in all that meant a full twelve hours of drinking with almost complete strangers. And I hadn't looked at my watch all evening.

And that was only day one.
That first night was like a lifetime.
I remembered the pure joy of letting go and just having fun.
Strangers' perfect meetings.
I'm so lucky to have had so many...

more to come

xx luce