Nice

9 September 2015:  I'm sitting at a café in Vieux Nice, sipping Chablis and wondering how to begin this blog post.  Every day since May 1st, I've written and posted a report about our hike on the GR5 from Hoek van Holland to... Nice.  Today we hiked from Aspremont to the official terminus of the GR5 at the Maison de l'Environnement in Nice.  So this is my last report about our GR5 hike.  I think I need another glass of Chablis to take that on board...

We received a warm welcome at the Maison de l'Environnement in Nice, which became the official terminus of the GR5 just a few years ago.  The folks there were very interested in our hike all the way from Hoek van Holland, and they gave us "Ville de Nice" tee-shirts and caps as souvenirs for the occasion. 

Of course, we could not stop there.  The real terminus of the GR5 has to be the Mediterranean Sea!  So after checking into our hotel (the New York), we walked down to the beach.  We did not merely walk into the water.  I performed the little ritual that I had planned back in Hoek van Holland.  (See the post with that title, dated 30 April 2015.)  I poured some of the North Sea water that I have been carrying along the entire length of the GR5 into the Mediterranean (thereby diluting the salinity of the latter by an infinitesimal amount).  I then added Mediterranean water to the remaining North Sea water in the little container.  That mixture of North and Mediterranean Seas will be a tangible souvenir of this wonderful, memorable hike. 

So now we face the transition to life off the trail.  We are struck by the intensity of urban life:  There are so many traffic lights in Nice!  After more than four months of hiking, when we carried everything we needed on our backs, we now have decisions to make every time we step out the door.  Do I need a jacket? An umbrella?  We went out this evening for dinner and brought along jackets in case the weather turned cool, but nothing in case of rain.  Well, it began to rain during our dinner.  We'll have to dash through the rain back to our hotel.  Had we still been hiking, we'd just dig into our backpacks and pull out the necessary clothing. 

We'll make the transition back to urban living, but we'll also look forward to our next hike in the mountains...

*   *   *

Departure from Aspremont this morning, hiking toward the last hill of the hike:

The Mediterranean now dominates the horizon.

It's all downhill from here, Mary!

The route followed by the GR5 into Nice includes a nasty, dangerous section on a road without shoulders or sidewalk. 

We paused for lunch at a pleasant restaurant, where Carroll chose a ... salade niçoise.  What else?

Arriving at the Maison de l'Environnement in Nice, we encountered our last GR5 marker!  Imagine how many of those markers we've seen (plus a few that we missed) since May 1st...

They served us well:

We were warmly welcomed at the Maison de l'Environnement.  

Wearing our new "Ville de Nice" caps and tee-shirts, we waded into the Mediterranean - and provided a show for the sunbathers and swimmers on the beach. 

Carroll performed the ritual of Mixing the Waters:  First, he poured some North Sea water into the Mediterranean.

Then he collected some Mediterranean water and added it to the remaining North Sea water in the little container. 

Finally, he filled a separate container with Mediterranean water.  This container will form a pair with a container of North Sea water that we collected and saved. 

Et voilà!

L'Hôtel New-York:

Tonight's celebratory dinner:

The last in a long series of tiramisu desserts:

Au revoir!