The Circus has come to Town

Sunday morning out little family went to the circus. This is the same circus went to last year, in a different part of the city. They offer open rehearsals for just 2 euros per adult - a big break off the regular price. And for a 2 year old, 30 minutes is just about the limit for sitting still. We went with Ines and her parents.

Here's Estelle's face when she saw the zebras:
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Whatever Estelle did, Ines did, and vice versa. So if her Daddy holds her, then my Daddy has to pick me up too......

And some big smelly elephants

Inside the show, a real Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom going on....

These girls truly enjoy each other.

Two Saturday nights ago was the annual festival on the Port of Nice. This was like a different kind of Circus, but, really it WAS a circus. The entire port is turned into a pedestrian zone, with a funky parade and a yummy food festival. Music and kids activities, etc. Then at 11 p.m. the big dance parties were to start. One of the biggest attractions at the start of the event (7 p.m.) is the Chef's Village. There are several stands and you pay 5 euros at any stand to have an individual portion of their one dish. These are not your local burrito houses - these are top-notch restaurants, including the ultra-famous Negresco hotel... We tried and enjoyed things we would never normally eat. Risotto something with saffran and something, anchoive blah blah blah and a sprig of god knows what floating around on a poached egg with creamed sole, vegetables stuffed with pureed something. It was fun.

Look closely and you'll see this ain't no American chew-chew festival - it wouldn't be French if you didn't have tables with white tablecloths and candles set up.

We had brought good old rice and peas from home for Estelle. We shared a table with some elderly people and their daughter (who herself was at least 55) and they were definitely in a different economic bracket than us. As a result we had the luck to have them offer us some of the things which they had bought so many of they couldn't eat. They were taken with Estelle but quite discreet about letting on just how taken they were with her. "How old is she?" the mother kept asking me. "Quite well behaved, quite well behaved." she would repeat this. Everytime she said this she'd push another portion of something our way. Then I brought out the big guns and told her I was one of 11. Always good if you want the entire table's conversation to stop. You know, they stop with their wine glass halfway raised to their mouth and say "Comment?" (this is another way of saying Excuse me?) 38 years old and I never get tired of it.

We were on our way home by 8:15, and watched the huge fireworks display from our balcony while Estelle was fast asleep.


Lots of weekend fun!