We discovered beforehand that Elias prefers the aisle while I yearn for a window seat. I could tell this would be a good trip.
With family, tourism, and a SPARQL calendar demo looming, naturally the plane flight from JFK to NCE featured dialogue on religion, morality, and child-rearing. While I demanded a "short nap", Elias attempted to watch the movie. Not a coincidence that against past trends, Elias slept, too.
Touchdown and touring. Twilight and a short hike through darkness, guided by Elias. On a hillside on the French-Italian border, a Venezuelan, Nicaraguan, and two Ecuadorans dance to Latin American music.
Artists on a hilltop evolve into souvenir shops on a hilltop. English-speaking French playing bocce1 on the sand. Handwritten menus and dinner conversations stretching into the night with a German banking Chairman, his wife, a Jewish grandmother from Long Island, and her husband. Complimentary mandarin grappa and heavenly chocolate cake. Feverish sleep.
Carnaval de Nice. The king burns; the sky awash with color; the rocky beach kissed by the waves. German beer at an Irish pub. Mint tea at a Moroccan bar. Live Brazilian music, American whiskey, and French youth dance Samba late into the night.
Semantic-web believers from Scotland, England, Belgium, Holland, and Paris-via-Japan-via-Maine share an elegant French dinner, resolve to rest for a year, and enjoy pizza in the village of Mandelieu.
In Nice, a lightweight tripod can commandeer aircraft.
1OK, so it was probably Pétanque, but I didn't realize that at the time.
