Pinch me…I’m dreaming
In an effort to persuade teenage son to get out of his pit this week, we decided last night to fill in the room service menu for breakfast. Now this is something I’ve never done in a hotel before, partly because it’s always cost more money and partly because I feel uncomfortable being “served” in such a way. But we were told when we arrived that as the normal dining room was being re-decorated this week, they were happy to provide room service breakfast at no extra charge. So having ticked lots of boxes before we went to bed, we are very excited to know what will turn up today.
Spot on time, nice man arrives with trolley which folds down to create a table. We had chosen what sort of bread we wanted: I’d gone for chocolate croissants and Dougie had picked country-style bread. When four croissants and four big chunks of bread arrive, I’m instantly a big fan of room service. Fresh fruit, cereal, yogurts, gorgeous tagines full of scrambled egg, hot coffee and a big flower in a vase! The little prince in the room next door gets a huge tray filled with sausages, bacon and a whole french stick. As he picks at his food whilst staring at Sky News on the TV, I have a Road to Damascus experience……..with all this food we can create a decent packed lunch without the usual smuggling of rolls in my handbag routine. So half of Rory’s french stick is buttered and filled with bacon and sausage, croissants are wrapped in tissue and five of the eight tangerines we’ve accumulated are whisked away. You see I may be living a life of luxury for a week in a lovely hotel but I’m just so common at heart, and a free lunch is a free lunch not to be sniffed at!
The rest of the morning we wander round the clothes shops and look at all the sights around us, including geriatric ladies in impossibly high heels and a curiously large number of men carrying little dogs in pooch-carriers. In the afternoon we return to the room with a bottle of wine bought from the local Spa. Unfortunately as we seem to have no bottle opener, we have to buy one from the supermarket and it costs more than the wine!
A lovely few hours is spent chilling in the room, drinking wine, eating the remains of breakfast and watching the flower parade from our balcony. Must admit, I expected something more impressive and I reckon our Spalding Flower Parade is much better. In our parade we decorate the floats with cut tulip heads; here the floats are small trailers pulled by Noddy cars and the flowers are simply arranged on a central backboard on each float. So once you’ve seen one you’ve seen them all. Rory gets bored and decides to lie on the bed watching the Italian version of Deal or No Deal, followed by a French Wheel of Fortune! Meanwhile we brave the elements on the balcony as it’s now gone very cold. Feel rather sorry for the dancers that intersperse the floats as they must be freezing. Some groups have come from South America to join the festivities and, not wearing very much, they must be feeling the chilly sea breeze. Dougie looks at one woman shaking her booty at the front of one group and asks me,
“Is that a Brazilian?”
“I’m not sure”, I reply, “but I’d say yes by the high cut of her leotard!”
Dinner tonight is at Lou Nissart, which is a traditional Nicoise restaurant. Hubby and I decide on the set menu to get the full experience and can hardly move after eating a special onion pizza tart thing, roasted peppers, ravioli, beef stew with gnocci and a big pastry pine-nut concoction. It’s all very tasty but far too much and I’m regretting being so greedy as we walk home.
As we fall into bed, Rory comes wandering in saying,”Look what I’ve found in my mini-bar?”
“What’s that son?”
“A bottle opener….you didn’t need to buy one after all, Dad”
He has a lot to learn: you don’t tell a Scotsman he’s just wasted 6 euros on something he could have had for nowt. It’s the travel adapter all over again!
February 2009
February 2009
Just found your blog hope you don't mind a coment!I love the way you write! I've never been to Europe (Canadain) and I do have all these lavish pictures in my head of what it will be like when I get there. Feel like I'm getting a peek at the real thing! I too would be packing a lunch from my leftover breakfast! Love it:)
Just been having a squizz at your posts about Nice and feel compelled to say you must come back for anther flower parade. The floats are definitely not just blackboards with a few flowers on anymore, they are incredibly detailed huge creations with thousands of tons of flowers (which leads me to a whole other question about the environmental impact this must have growing them all in hot houses to be ready for February….) But environment aside, it’s really impressive these days.
We adored the Carnival which was incredible with the size and detail of the floats but the flower parade didn’t quite match up to that. Really good to know it’s better now. We loved our time in Nice – I can’t believe it was so long ago!