February in Nice
From Bordeaux, we took an EasyJet flight back to Nice to spend the month of February. All the Christmas decorations that had been up in December, around Place Massena, had been replaced with stands of seating for Le Carnaval de Nice. The first time I went to Nice in 2018, we had happened upon the Carnaval parade. This time, we bought tickets for the opening night parade. The theme changes every year, and this year it was “King of the Oceans”.
From the exhibit “Nice, Ma Ville, Mon Quartier” we had seen in December at Le Musée Masséna “Nice, Ma Ville, Mon Quartier”, we knew that the Carnaval has been happening in Nice for quite a long time, because one of the displays contained old Carnaval posters and photos. But, I was still surprised to discover that (according to Wikipedia) the first recorded mention of the Carnaval in Nice is from 1294, when the Count of Provence, Charles Anjou, wrote that he had passed "the joyous days of carnival”.
So, while that was the first mention, from looking into its history, it seems like in the late 1800’s it became more organized with competitions for the floats and the masquerades, and in the Wikipedia article, you can see the themes dating as far back as 1882.
As I mentioned, when we arrived, the scaffolding was being setup in Place Massena with the seats, lights, speakers and screens. Then, just in time for the Carnaval to start, in the darkness of night, the Queen and King arrived in Place Massena. They somehow appeared overnight on Friday, February 14th, and the opening parade that we attended was on Saturday the 15th.
During the Carnaval, there is a small “Village du Carnaval” setup in the Promenade du Paillon with activities and rides for children. The Carnaval lasts for three weeks, with the Parade of Lights on some evenings and the Flower Parade happening on other days. The Flower Parade has floats that each require around three thousand stems of fresh flowers. From what I read, 90% of those flowers are locally grown, starting in November. During the parade, thousands of flowers are thrown to attendees. In total, 100,000 stems of flowers (gladioli, gerberas, daisies, carnations, roses, lilies…) and kilograms of mimosas are thrown to the public. Now, just to be clear, they are not throwing glasses of Champagne and Orange Juice to the crowd. I learned that mimosa is also the name of boughs of small yellow flowers that you can buy in the market when spring is arriving.
During the day, there would sometimes be groups of performers wandering down Avenue Jean Médecin. This year’s theme of “King of the Oceans” had a bit of a steampunk aesthetic to it.
The other thing that was advertised on all the posters was that you could get in to see the parade for free if you were in costume, but they were very specific that you had to be in costume from head to toe. But, to help people get in the spirit of things there were many tables setup selling masks and bags of confetti.
Oh the confetti. So much confetti is thrown during the parade. From the people on the floats at the attendees and from the attendees at the people on the floats. In the Wikipedia article on the Carnaval it mentions twenty tons of confetti. At night, after the parade has finished, there is an army of people sweeping a wave of confetti off the street so within hours of the parade finishing, it’s like it never happened.
The Carnaval floats have always had a satirical tone to some of them, and this year was no exception. The theme of plastic and pollution was pervasive throughout the parade. There was a float depicting Sea Shepherd leader, Paul Watson, breaking free of his shackles.
There was a “despot cruise ship” piloted by Trump with Putin and Kim Jon Un dancing in front of him while others, including Modi, are hanging their heads out of the porthole windows.
The steampunk aesthetic was in some of the smaller floats and costumes, including this fantastic animatronic polar bear.
And some of the costumes, were simply captivating and beautiful.
A beautiful series of jellyfish floating above the parade.
And, of course, towards the end of the parade is the King himself.
The scale of the floats is impressive and they wind their way along the Promenade des Anglais, through the palm tree lined streets. Then, the floats disappear from sight and the army of people clean up the sea of confetti left in the parade’s wake. The Queen and King return to their place in Place Massena, waiting for the next parade to begin.
It was lovely to be back in Nice for the month of February, but aside from experiencing Carnaval, the month was busy with getting ready to return to Canada (after being away for four months), medical appointments, and, for me, starting a new job. So, when not working or organizing ourselves, our time was spent at many of the same places we visited in December: Copenhagen Coffee Lab (for coffee and fresh bread); Cafe du Cycliste (best coffee, croissant and pain au chocolat in the city); Cafe de Max (a small coffee place just off of Avenue Jean Médecin);Aperitiv (a small store with a couple of locations selling wine, cheese and charcuterie) Maison Tosello (fresh pasta); Attimi (still the best, thinnest crust pizza in Nice); Blue Beach (a lovely place, down on the water, to sit and have a coffee); and La Claque Café (a cute coffee place in the Old Town).
From Mauritius in November, to Nice in December, to Bordeaux in January, and back to Nice in February, it was an amazing four months, and we are both thankful that we have jobs that allow us to work remotely. So, from the shores of the Mediterranean, we returned to Ottawa, to my family, our friends, and….. snow.
