The magic of exploring Nice, France
It’s a place of slow mornings and flowers streaming onto streets. Where cheeses take up walls of fridge space at the supermarket, while milk only has one small shelf. Where croissants and gelato are found around almost every street corner, and watermelons still have pips in them.
Where excellent playgrounds are in walking distance of every home, because the majority of people live in apartments. Where kids come together to play football in the park, and every adult who passes by is happy to kick the ball back to them. Where people sit on park benches chatting, doing sudoku, or just thinking in silence, exceptionally rarely on their phones. Where a local homeless couple got so excited about our little Easter egg hunt in a local park square, so joined in by giving our kids hints. We shared our eggs with them.
It’s a place where effortless fashion abounds, but you better have a damn good jacket with you. A tailored jacket, good shoes and sunglasses - albeit accompanied by a leather bag - will have people questioning whether you’re local or a tourist. Speaking to you initially in French is a good indicator that you’ve hit the mark.
Lunches have naturally turned into fresh baguettes with cheese and salami, and un Petit Suisse for dessert has become a family favourite.
It’s where rocky beaches mean our traditional sandcastles have instead turned into building pebble towers, and the blasted Australian sand (while beautiful to look at and walk on) hasn’t infiltrated every nook and cranny of our bag, shoes, clothes and ears by the time we get home.
Sprawling bookshops begging to be explored don’t seem to have been taken over by national conglomerates. And while the French are very France-proud, their gigantic travel book sections are indicative of their interest in exploring other places and cultures around the world.
Travelling to Canada and Europe already this year has confirmed, perhaps more than ever, that Australia is home for me. But as I sit here writing in my little journal before transferring this online, right beside Nice’s Notre Dame Basilica, I find myself finding joy in the simplest things in life. I’m here, in Nice, on this sunny Southern French Spring day, with a coffee, orange juice and croissant, surrounded by people speaking a multitude of languages. I truly believe that there is something magical about exploring this incredible world of ours.
