Sorry, folks, I spent my teenage years and early adulthood in Nice: it's
the most wonderful place to live.
Actually, unlike Cannes, for instance,or any of the other little towns along the coast, Nice
is a real, working city. It isn't a stage set. My parents had a shop (around Boulevard Gambetta - 15 mins from the Promenade des Anglais); I went to the lycée, then to university, and none of us was ever bothered by tourists. They were just those funny people who wandered around the town centre half-naked while
we were going about our daily business fully dressed, like all the other inhabitants. LOL! The trick is to stay away from the tourist areas. When I was young, I wasn't allowed to go to the Vieille Ville on my own: it was the red light district, full of supposedly 'nasty' people. Now it has been cleaned up and has become
the tourist area par excellence, and, of course, it's lost all its charm. But there are lots of superb places where you feel you are among 'ordinary' people.
...and we still get mostly south-of-France weather.
Pull the other one!
The day Lyon can boast anything as beautiful as the Baie des Anges and the views there, I will concede that it can be compared with Nice. Until then... The Arènes, where the boss is going to sing, are out of this world.
The Dubai thing is so preposterous, words fail me (that doesn't happen very often).
