Safety Tips in Nice

No wonder the French for the bill is "l'addition" - that refers to the addition of extra items you haven't had!. An innocent mistake? Perhaps, but this was the third time this year I noticed mysterious items appearing on a restaurant bill.

Some of the wheezes were really quite crafty - the "budget" pichet of wine suddenly became a half bottle of wine, adding an extra 8 euro to the bill. In another case an additional main course we had not had was slipped on to "l'addition" increasing it by Eu7.99.

In each case the bill had been bumped up by about 15% - not by so much as you might notice, but by enough to make the "mistake" worth while.

The language and currency is unfamiliar. What was that dish called again? People are having a good time, they are on holiday, guard down, difficult to argue with the waiter if your command of French is not up to it.

Many people just read the bottom line and pay. Perfect opportunity to boost the bill a little.

You would be well advised to check off the line items on any restaurant bill, to make sure you recognise each of them. If not, welcome to Frances new tourist tax.

UPDATE: New French merchant's wheeze,

When goods in a shop are on special promotion or special offer, the computerised master ledger linked to the barcode on the item will often still have only the original price, not the special offer. And the original price is what gets put on your bill. So your bargain isn't. Both Virgin and FNAC are prone to this sloppy merchandising. Last week, three special offer CDs were rung up at the till at the full price.

This is not something you will find written about in general tourist guides, but ....see all those beautiful belle epoche buildings - see a fire escape on them? You wont, because generally there isn't one. The Nicois are proud of their firemen - the sapeurs-pompiers - because their lives depend on them.

Fire in a six story apartment building means smoke filled stairwells. Your instinct to flee the building down those stairs to get out may be your last - smoke inhalation is often fatal. The official advice is to stay behind closed doors, get out to fresh air, phone 18 for the fire brigade, and let the sapeur-pompiers do their job. They train in evacuating apartments by fire engine-mounted extending ladders. Strangely it is not a requirement to fit smoke alarms. Health and Safety in France is not as big a priority as in some other countries, so don't assume anything.

The tragic story of a mother and daughter killed by fire a few weeks ago in their top floor Riquier apartment is described in the local newspaper (pictured). Connoiseurs of French will note the liberal use of cooking terms in describing the effects of fire. The poor mother was "carbonisee"'d in her appartment, and the family pet dog, "un Yorkshire" (this is France, they love dogs, they need to know the breed...!) was "sauted par la fenetre".

(One of the more curious traits of the French is that not only do they make a point of mentioning the breed of dog in any doggy-related story, they do the same for cars in the event of any car-related story, especially accidents and fatalities. When two policemen were fatally injured in a crash in Cannes recently, the press coverage made a big deal of their driving a Citroen. Sort of reverse advertising)

Recent fire in Paris echoes same tragedy on a bigger scale

By the end of the day, if you look up in the sky you are going to see a lot of dark small things moving...these "things" are actually migratory birds searching for a warming place after hunting, and this place is Place Garibaldi (or any place with a tree). If you don't have "any surprises" coming from the sky, avoid this area around 5 to 7 PM..

If you want to save money and take those 1€ buses (such as n° 200) to visit other cities in the Riviera, make sure you have a lot of patience and plenty of time ahead of you... especially if you're staying in cities between Nice and Cannes.

For those staying in cities between Nice and Cannes, you should take the local train (of course, if they aren't on strike) to avoid all the hassle.

If you are in Nice and want to go to Cap 3000, instead of taking any of the TAM buses, take either bus 52 (direction Saint Laurent du Var) or 217 (direction Villeneuve Loubet).

My advice is taking the bus directly at the bus station in Nice or Cannes, because along the way, it can almost be impossible to get on the bus (it's already full). Or if you do wanna try to the bus stop along the way, you will need a lot of patience, because the first bus passing by may already be full and you will have to wait for the next one (one bus every 15 minutes) available.

And keep in mind, that traffic in high season is horrible!!! Beware that a trip to Cannes from Nice can sometimes take 2h30!!!!

One of the most expensive fish restaurants in Nice just gave me the biggest diarrea. I have lived here for many years, speak French fluently and am no tourist but I have rarely encountered more rudeness and worse food for money or what the locals call rapport qualite/prix. 18 euros for a frito misto that was half a plate of fried fish that smelled funny to begin with. The portion was more a side dish than an appetizer. The wine was a cotes de provence rose which is always a safe bet here but there was a tiny bug in my son's glass. When we pointed this out the waiter replace our wine but did not apologize even in a most superficial way. We were the only ones in the Restaurant and if it was not for its famous name and write ups I would never have ventured to eat there. The view was incredible but the acute stomach upset that I got upon coming home made me decide that I would write about Coco Beach restaurant and warn people to avoid it. We paid sixty euros for two appetizers and a half bottle of house rose! Not a sinlge smile or apology for the wine. Typical French you might say but really the worse I have seen in the thirty years I have lived and visited here.

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In Winter 1929, seventy five years ago, it snowed on the Cote d'Azur. ("Zoot Alors! C'est incroyable! Toute le monde c'est blanc! ") That week you could toboggan down the Chateau, chill out - literally - on the Promenade.Heaven knows how the Nicois coped.

Towards the end of September, as the temperature dips below 20 degrees, the locals don overcoats and ladies their thermal underwear. Little dogs are fitted with smart burberry pattern body warmers. Poor dears. They are used to 250 days of sunshine a year.

Snow on the palms? It could happen again. So be prepared. Pack an emergency pair of snow shoes and earmuffs and . . .

Nah. Only joking.

UPDATE 30th January 2005
Well, it snowed on Saturday night. Didn't last and didn't settle but snow it did! An icy blast intended for the skiers in Isola 2000 strayed a tad further south than it should. Global warming not.

UPDATE2 22nd February 2005
OK it snowed on the beach, and it settled. Very apt as the Nice Carnival theme at the time was our deranged climate. A picture is on my Carnival 2005 Travelogue

Update February 2009
Well, its becoming a bit predictable now. Yes, snow again on the beaches, not just far inland, in February, in town and on the beach. Plus very strong gales and high tides, and storms. In addition to the air traffic controllers and the train drivers on strike. And the collapsing Pound. Nature is not happy and man worse. Spare a thought for north west France which took the brunt of high seas bursting defences. Still I guess we have the Summer to look forward to. I hope!

Update February 2010
Yup. Snow again on the beach. Becoming a regular feature of February

You weren't in any hurry, were you?

The French simply don't do retail. Despite its superb quality of life and nearly everything else, the supermarket checkout is a tortuous and agonising process.

Old dears fiddle around endlessly with small change, problems arise every second, everyone is still writing cheques (which are sacred here), there are not enough checkouts open, the assistants chat happily with each other, the queues are long and hardly moving. Grit your teeth and double the dosage of any anti-hypertensives you may be on.

Still, you will still be greeted with the traditional "Bonjour" (good day) and a fond farewell "Au revoir, bon soiree" (its night time by now) . Don't forget to reply in kind.

Especially in Summer, afternoon or evening, wherever you sit in the cafes of the Cours Saleya, Palais de Justice square or the Zone Pietone, be prepared to be busked at.

If you are a big fan of "Incantation" and Peruvian pan-pipe music, Bulgarian wedding bands, solo saxophone renditions of The Godfather theme, you will most definitely love Nice. In a more modern twist, troupes of back-spinning hip hop dancers draw big crowds in the Place Massena, or this lively 5 minute performance of The Beatles greatest hits.

Some of the performers are are good, some less so, but you will have to listen anyway so you might as well get into the spirit of it and put a few centimes in the hat. It goes with the territory.

In the newly refurbished Place Garribaldi open air cafes have spilled out to line the roomy square, and the quality of busking raised the bar considerably, with a jazz quartet and chanson francais. Beats pan-pipes any day.