Nice could be nice - Day 2 - The Spot

So, as I let people know back in 2019 before the pilot strike canceled my Nice trip and my up coming 2022 Nice trip, I was met again and again with the question:  Have you ever been to Nice before?   I always said no, or I don't think so.  How could I not remember if I have been in Nice or not.  Then again, who remembers anything 33 years ago?  I have always been so confused about this because I have been to so many other places along the French Riviera.  I've been to Marseille, Saint Tropez, Cannes, Antibes, Èze, and Monte Carlo.  I haven't forgotten that.  So why don't I remember Nice?  I have lots of photos and a few memories of these places.  But nothing from Nice.  So this is why I wanted to see Nice - because somehow, I missed it on my travels through the Riviera 33 years ago.

So, I booked my flight to Nice with 30.000 points.  Then it was time to book a room.  First I started with Booking.com.  It was a bit pricey.  Then I found a great place on AirBnB.  On AirBnB the same apartment was actually cheaper than on Booking.com.  I wanted a place in Old Town and with some sort of view.  AirBnB would only tell you where the apt. is located AFTER you pay.  That's stupid because I want to know where I am staying BEFORE I pay.  The apt. was great.  The price was great.  The view was amazing.  On AirBnB they showed pictures the room and gave a description of the apartment and showed a view from the window towards the top of the Opera house and a church steeple.  Well that was all I needed to know.  I went straight to google earth and starting my scanning of the city.  By doing so, even though AirBnB kept the location as a secret for security reasons, I could easily find where it was located.  It took just moments to match up the view on AirBnB with the below photo from google earth.  When I saw this, I knew that I HAD TO HAVE THAT ROOM !  

You can can spin the angle around on google earth and see that there is also a balcony and lots of light since it is facing south.  This is the perfect apartment in the perfect location.  

I HAVE TO HAVE THIS ROOM!

So I booked it.  A day later I get a mail saying my payment has not gone thru because I need to send proof of who I am.  WTF!   This went on for a few days.  They wanted a copy of my driver's sicense and a copy of my passport.  WTF !  I of course covered the numbers on the passport.  They kept saying the image is not coming thru.  I have to upload the passport and license via their app.  Something was not working on their end because it came out fine on my end - all 5 times that I tried.  AirBnB ended up calling me TWICE asking me bla bla bla.  I told them to stop bothering me.  They know who I am, they just now spoke with me on the phone, they can see that I have used their service 2 times before, I have a profile on their site and bla bla bla.  I told them at Booking.com, I just have to click and pay.  Now I been trying to book this room for several days and still it is a no go.  I said I leave soon so I need a booking confirmation NOW!  So please stop bothering me.  Plus I said - I just booked a room on another site and it took only minutes.  Oh we are sooo  sorry, they told me.  It's because the owner of the apartment has requested the information for security.  Well I sent the information but apparently it isn't enough or there is something wrong with your website.  Oh we have never had this problem before and we do apologize for your inconvenience. As if that was going to help the situation.  You can imagine my disappointment when I had to give up that dream home. But I don't just want to look at an apartment on line.  I also need to sleep in it.

So snooping around online, looking for an alternative, I came across a site called: my flat in nice in one long word.  Click on the link and watch the beautiful video.  My apt. was just minutes from this site.  Anyway, I found a room and it was the same story:  first pay and then you get address.  I did the same thing with this place.  I checked out the view from the apartment window and I matched it to google earth.  It turned out to be only minutes from the first place that I wanted.  No balcony, facing north, smaller view but still ok. Price was almost the same as the first place that I wanted.  So in that respect, it turned out to be more expensive but it was still within my budget.  And it was still a better deal than a regular boring hotel room. I booked it and that was that.  €436 / $470 for 4 nights.

Here are a few pix again of the apartment in case you by-passed the first blog.

and my view

That was a very long intro as to why "THE SPOT"  is so special to me.  It's because I have been carrying 2 handfuls of photos with me for the last 33 years (from the year before I met Jens) of my European travels.  I have a lot of photos of the Riviera but no photos of Nice.  I do however have 2 photos in the pile that I have no idea of where they are from, though I know it's from somewhere in the area.  There is also a 3rd photo that all these years I thought was from Cannes, but I know now it too is of Nice.  So..... as I am playing around on google earth and google maps, using these tools to help me decide where to book a hotel, I came upon a sculpture/monument carved in the mountainside that caught my eye.  It rang a bell.   It matched the photos that I have.  My jaw hit the floor when I saw that sculpture.  I quickly went to my photos and pulled out the 2 pictures that I have been in doubt about for 3 decades.  I was thrilled.  I was jazzed.  On google earth I saw this:

And then I knew the answer to the riddle.

Now I just needed to match up the view point angle with these photos that I snapped from 33 years ago and that would lead me to the right spot.  

Do you see it yet?

There's the answer.  The statue in mountainside was the clue that gave me the answer I have been looking for.  I have been to Nice.  Or more likely - passing through Nice on a motor bike.  And with the aide of google earth and maps, I was able to find the exact spot where these photos were taken.

The photo on the left is from google maps.  There was so much detail that it was too easy to confirm that this is "The Spot".  I mentioned in the previous blog that I wasn't sure if I was at the right spot or not.  It was similar but something wasn't quite right.  The fence.  Where's the green fence?  It's all because the fence, on the right hand side of the photo, that I knew it wasn't the exact spot.  Both viewpoint spots looked similar but the one spot didn't have the green fence.  When I looked down the hillside, I could see the right spot AND the green fence.

I still have unanswered questions that I will probably remain a mystery forever.  You see, there are 2 motorbikes in the photo.  I was traveling with another guy.  I don't remember where we started from.  I seem to remember being at one beach town and trying to get to another beach town by bus.  Why by bus?  I was doing everything by train.  But I remember being in a dusty town at the water's edge, walking into a little shed to buy a bus ticket.  There was a guy in line in front of me. He was buying a bus ticket too - to the same destination. No body spoke English at that time. The guy in front of me walked out of the shed where we bought our tickets and I just followed him to the bus.  He got on, handed the bus driver his ticket and found a seat in the back of the bus.  I get on and hand my ticket to the bus driver and he starts to go bezerk.  In French. So I'm like - WTF.  Although the phrase "WTF" didn't actually exist at the time.  But for sure my eyes must have been popping out of my head in great confusion.  There was only me and that other guy on the bus. When the driver starts yelling at me, the other guy gets up from the back of the bus and walks all the way through the bus and says something in broken French to the driver.  The bus driver takes my ticket and lets me on the bus.  Again, WTF!  So I ended up talking to this guy.  He just knows a few words of French. When I asked him what the bus driver was going on about and what did he say to the driver, he just waved his hand as if to say, don't worry about it.   He's from Brazil and traveling through Europe.  On a tight budget like me.  The dollar is low and the Franc is high.  So he asked me if we should get a room together, 50-50.  Sounded like a good plan to me.  I don't remember at all where we started from or where we were going to.  I have a photo of him that I snapped. This was our room or apartment. Very dark and un-clear.  

I don't remember if we were there 1 night or 2 or more.  What I do remember is he suggested we rent motorbikes.  I ride a dirt bike but I don't have a license to ride a street I told him.  He said it didn't matter in France, meaning as long as you have the money......  So I said ok.  But there was just one catch.  He didn't have a credit card.  I would have to rent 2 motorbikes on my credit card and he would pay me cash for his share.  That was risky but I did it.  We got our bikes and helmets and we took off.  I had no idea were we were going.  I just followed him.  This is one of "The Spot"s we went to. He snapped a photo of me with my camera.  From here we went to Èze and Monte Carlo.  He must have studied up on all of these places because I was like a typical American tourist - no idea of where I was.  Heck, I still don't know where I was.  If it wasn't for google..........

So the rest of the story about the guy and the motorbikes:  I must have followed him all the way to Monte Carlo.  I remember a police blowing his whistle because I must have been doing something wrong.  I just gave the bike more gas.  As we are riding along, I see something that I wanted to check out.  I turned around.  But the Brazilian kept on going.  I never saw him again.  I don't know what ever happened to him.  I just remember hoping to god that he would return the bike to the rental shop.  Otherwise, I just bought a bike for a total stranger.  When I got back to the states, my American Express was not maxed out.  Thank goodness.  So I have wondered for 33 years - whatever happened to that guy?  Why did we never meet back at our hotel?  One thing is for sure - he was very honest to return the bike.  

This was such a great moment on this trip for me.

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