I like a nice promenade. City planners take note – If you want to design a promenade, look no further than the 200 year old Promenade des Anglais in Nice. It is really one of my “ happy places”. It has all that a promenade and public space should be. It has a fantastic view of the crescent shaped Baie des Anges (Bay of Angels – as in angle fish) and the shimmering blue waters of the Mediterranean Sea.

Planes land and takeoff at the Nice airport only a hop and a skip away. It is so close in fact that you cannot only say that you have to “run to the airport”, but you can actually run to the airport. (I once even saw a guy on one of those electric unicylces towing a suitcase on wheels behind him along La Promenade to the airport. Ok, he also had one arm in a sling. What a schmendrick!) At night, the runway lights wink at you from the other side of the bay.

While on La Promenade, I am calmed by the rhythm of the sound of the waves lapping up against the famed stone beaches that run its length. As much as I like La Promenade itself, I like a stone beach even more for I have never been cleaner going to any beach. And there is the choice of the public beaches (replete with showers) or the private beaches with their own restaurants and lounges.

Did I mention are actually places to sit? Yes, there are. There are rows of the famed metal blue chairs that look over the beach and the sea. And there are even benches under large wood gazebos with latticed roofs.

La Prominade itself is broad and there are designated and well-marked bike lanes. And there is then a manicured palm tree lined boulevard replete with pubic art, much of which is bicycle themed, in homage to the Gran Depart of the 2020 Tour de France.

Janny and I were in Nice last weekend to visit her mom at Baycrest Sur Mer. I went out for a waddle on Sunday morning. I noted my Garmin watch comes with a running setting and a walking setting, but not a waddle setting. It was a spectacular blue sky sunny day with the temperature of about 12 degrees, but feeling warmer. And I was not alone. People were out (most masked up) participating in every form of activity, from walking to running, to roller blading to simply promenading. A few courageous soul also ventured into the water.

With not a single restaurant in this country open, people were congregating in small spaced out groups holding picnics along the beach. It was welcome relief from an otherwise miserable Covid winter

The waves of cyclists Sporting their matching club kit was a welcome sight as was the whining sound of their bikes as they coasted along.  And I could hear their witty banter, mostly in French, but some in Italy, it being only 30 kilometres or so to the border.

All of this was of course in stark contrast to the saddness in the days and weeks following the July 14, 2016 truck attack along La Promenade. I was in Nice a few weeks thereafter and there was a quiet and stillness as we drove that I had never experienced before. Even the palm trees seemed to be weeping.

If I had any complaint (and I can always find something to complain about) it is the French seem to promenade as if they drive and not a care in the world about anyone else. There seems to be no such “stay to the right and pass on the left” rule as opposed to simply taking up whatever space they want without regard for anyone else around them. Maybe this is what is meant by liberté (as in liberté, égalité, fraternité).

I have been blessed to have abele to waddle along some spectacular trails. Vancouver waterfront trails come to top of mind followed by The Sydney Harbour and the beaches in Cape Town. The waterfront trail in Tel Aviv certainly ranks, but for being terrified of ebike traffic.

La Promenade though has it all. Maybe that is one of the reasons that Nice has been a world destinations for the past few hundred years. May it continue.