Friday in Nice

Hello all. Friday in Nice was nice. Justin and I headed out and explored Nice a little (not the touristy areas... we bought our sandwiches on a street with several car repair shops and across the street from a dried-up man-made river) before meeting the other couples and heading down to the beach for a nice dry, sunny afternoon of sleeping in the sun. :) The beach at Nice is made of rocks--smooth gray rocks that are like large pebbles all one color. They're pretty hard to walk in. Later Justin and I went for Chinese for dinner, to satisfy a craving we had developed on Sunday when we were in Spain. The food wasn't very good, but the conversation and company were :) and then we met Pat and Rachel, Chris and Megan at ten to go out. We wandered around a really long time without finding anything suitable, though, and eventually walked up the big road running above the beach and admired a huge monument to those who died in the world wars that was cut into a cliff. It was really neat and lit up with lots of Mediterranean foliage sprouting out all around it on the cliff and on the ground. Then we were pooped and all went back to our respective sleeping establishments.

Tonight's feature: European canines. Europeans love their dogs. Dogs in Europe get treated as members of the family: they are much more likely to wear jackets, get rides on trains, shop with their owners, and maybe even be included in restaurant dining. As a rule (listen up American dogs!), European dogs exhibit much more restraint in their personal conduct, making them pleasant to have along. They generally mind their own business and avoid dragging their owners around by their leashes. While there are of course many large dogs, there are many more small dogs here, which means it's easy for people to take them shopping or on trains, because they just pick them up. Most of the small dogs are the longhaired lapdog type, not as many Jack Russells. Europeans also have really cool dog leashes. Instead of just being one long strap with a loop at the end for a handle and one snap for the collar, the whole thing is often one big loop starting at the dog's collar (or maybe it's just really long and doubled over), which gives the owner more flexibility for holding or tethering the dog. Also, there are a couple more rings along the leash, so you can tether the dog to a fence or whatever more easily. Rating on this aspect of European society: very positive

posted by LizC @ 3/18/2005 02:26:00 PM