Flower Parade


February 24, 2018  Nice Parade

Dinner last night was at a restaurant called La Rotonde located in the very upscale hotel next door, the Negresco.  We had tried to walk into the hotel just to see it on one of our walks, but were not allowed to do so.  Last night we got to look as we had a reservation at the restaurant.  The hotel also has another restaurant with two Michelin stars; dinner there is $300/person without wine or tip.  We didn’t eat there.  La Rotonde is decorated with carousel horses:


Today there was lots of excitement as the city prepared for the first of the big parades for Carnival.  Lots of security too.  On Bastille Day (July 14) 2016, a terrorist truck driver drove through the crowds on the major thoroughfare along the water, the Promenade des Anglais, and murdered 86 people, injuring another 450+.  That’s where the Carnival parades used to take place, but they’ve moved to a more secure, fenced-in venue.  The town is swarming with all kinds of police, some of whom are heavily armed including machine guns.  We bought tickets to the grandstands, and then waited in a long line to get through security, including metal detectors.  We got to our seats just as the parade was starting.

Billed as a flower parade, many of the floats did indeed have large numbers of flowers.  Click on the arrow::


There were contingents of confetti-shooting marchers:



There were international delegations.  Here are the Spanish:


And here’s a video of the Spaniards:



Here’s a photo of the Koreans:



The crowd was exuberant, the music was loud, and the mood was high.  Some of the floats carried through the theme of space:



There were balloons of sort of space objects along with dinasaurs:



And even what seemed to be a flying pterodactyl with a hoop under it and a woman doing flips and such on the hoop:



Here’s a video:


 There even were dancing horses:


 There was lots of energy, and lots of fun, but it was sometimes hard to connect the floats or the acts passing by with the theme and/or the holiday.  The music was from all directions, uncoordinated, and sounding for all the world like a Charles Ives holiday.  In any case, a good time was had by all.

Late this afternoon we met our Road Scholar group and had an introduction to the trip.  Tomorrow morning is our first lecture, on the art and artists of the Riviera.

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