Office outing!

Sanderson Estate Agents

O la la - Office outing!
Cote d' Azur.

Still in Britain at the Airport.	Well the anticipation was there on the Cote d'Azur, and had been following the spontaneous booking of the trip to Nice, Azure back in November after much Internet trawling. Well who wouldn't go with the flight only £34 plus taxes!? Soon after the Hotel was then booked - Hotel Normandie 18 Rue Paganini ((33) 04 93 88 48 83) and we were sorted.	Our Hotel
We arrived at Liverpool with sandwiches in a carrier bag for the flight on the 'no frills' airline Easy Jet for a 2pm departure left on time and landed in Nice at	5pm. Within 30 minutes we were at the Hotel and booked in, and no floral wallpaper in sight! A charming and clean 2* in basic style, with en-suite showers	and bathrooms not far from one of the main shopping streets and the Promenade d' Anglais.

We set trail to the Voyageur Nissart, 19 Rue Alsace Lorraine 04 93 82 19 60, whilst strongly recommended from the Routard Travel book it was unknown. I can honestly say it was one of the most pleasant meals I have enjoyed in France, 109ff set menu for 4 courses. It was an unassuming establishment and with pastis, and 3 bottles of wine the bill was 615ff yes about £60 for the 4 of us,

then it was off for a gentle meander to seek our night cap. We arrived at a small bar sitting outside when all hell broke loose inside and a fight ensued, tables flew and blood was spilt, believe it or not it was we think a fight over the honour of a woman!!. Well after the glass had been cleared up we had one more drink for the shock I assure you!!

The next day apart from Andy looking decidedly rough we set about exploring Nice, Andy went for a run and swim! Those of us looking for culture went to the Modern Art Museum, I am still bewildered by the term "art" putting rubbish in an acrylic box is not what I want on my wall, but I am probably a heathen! After that a walk around the Old Nice and the flower market well worth going to, and then a stroll back to the hotel and lunch. La Petite Biche, 9 Rue Alsace Lorraine, 04 93 87 30 70, again we were surprised by the quality and value, soup d' poisson, salade nicoises, herring, roast lamb, sweets and coffees with 2 bottles of house wine £40 for the 4!!!

The afternoon was a gentle preamble around Old Nice, which is a photographer's delight with Mediterranean colours abound, as one would expect on the Cote d' Azure!

In all I would strongly recommend taking advantage of the EasyJet flights and take timeout to visit Nice, but if possible go for a long weekend. For someone who loves going to France this was a bonus, to see such a beautiful town with all the colours and to enjoy the food and drink so much, was better than anticipated.

Highlights:-

photograph of Andy mucking about in a door-way, or was he suffering from 1 pastis too many?! A real bar fight, involving the love of a woman and the questioning of her honour! Multitude of silly little white dogs with coats, one stood out, black plastic/rubber coat that looked as if it was out of a rubber fetish shop! Rollerbladers on the Promenade, and how 3 hours in a little restaurant just flew by!

Some would say we were mad to do something like that, I think if you can do it and not go you are mad, cost flightaccommodation food and drink and transport to and from Airport say £120 each!