I don't know if you can see, but the tomatoes to the left look like pumpkins. The vegetable and flower market in Cours Saleya.

Enjoying our bike tour.... so far.

I had to get this because he looks so big for the bike. Gustaf told us that most bikes used in the city are these city bikes because they are easily collapsible and stored when not in use. The mini wheels are a trip.

A corner of the Opera de Nice. The front of the Opera opens away from the Mediterranean Sea. At the end of the 19th century, aristocracy still thought a sign of beauty and wealth was indicated by your milky white skin. No one wanted a tan. If you were going somewhere, you would exit your carraige, quickly put up your parasoul, and enter the building out of the sun. Nice was not a place to be in the summer. Before the 1900's, Nice was only used as a winter get away. The whole town was closed to visitors in the summer. A doctor may send you down to the French Riviera for your health. Sea air was good for the lungs, but never for a tan. Not until the Industrial Revolution did tans become popular. With the working class moved from the fields to the factories. Leasure time was changed from inside to the outside. A catapult for this was the pressence of American tourist in The Cote D'Azur. Legend says that Coco Chanel was playing in the bay with some American friends one day and got a really bad sundburn. Instead of hiding in her home that night, she went out to all the restaurants and bars to show off her tan. Everyone complemented her on it, and from then on tan was the new white.

The famous candied fruits of the Auer Candy Store. This shop is right outside our door.

A view of the Tower of St. Francois.

A daytime shot of Apollo. The horses on top of his head are an artistic liberty. Apollo was the Greek God who pulled the sun across the sky with his chariot of four horses. He didn't have room for the horses in front so why not put them on his head. Apollo just recently made his reappearance in the square last summer after a 30 year banishment. The ladies of the Catholic league for something or other decided that some of his body parts were too offensive to be shown in public. Don't mind the other bronze statues in the fountain who are showing just as many body parts and one of them is a naked woman. The league tried covering them up with fig leaves, but those fell off so they banished him to be a fixture infront of the sports arena. We are glad he is back to his rightful spot. I am sure the other gods in the fountain had missed him the past 30 years.

Just waiting for someone to claim them.

The dome atop the Hotel Negresco, Nice's finest hotel, constructed in 1912 along the Promenade des Anglais. The dome for this hotel was designed by the same architect of the Eiffel Tower, Gustave Eiffel.

An archtectural nod to the old idea of suntans being evil. You can tell which hotels that were built before the 1920's by the size of their balconies. If you did not want to get a tan, your balcony would just be cosmetic, as these are. Beautiful iron work, but not space. It's all show.