DAY 61 - TUE 4/30 - Professeur Martino

It's D-Day minus 4! Sniffle...

Just to refresh your memory, remember back on DAY 55 when we stopped off in Cap d'Ail, at the end of that day in Roquebrune Cap Martin, and by chance met Philippe and Thomas, the Belgian and Danish cyclists who are studying for their MBAs in Entrepreneurship in a business school in Nice? Well Philippe did speak to his Professeur about possibly having this retired businessman whom he met (that would be Marty) come and informally talk to their fellow classmates about building a business and some of its challenges, pitfalls, and possible solutions. Marty called Justin at home to go into his files and email Marty a few of his key background documents that he could then pass along to the class so they would know who he was.

The Professeur thought this was an unexpectedly brilliant idea to be able to seize the opportunity of having a real businessman come and talk to the class. Philippe contacted Marty to set it up, and so today was the day they arranged for this to happen. Marty and I brain-stormed a little to remember some seminal situations and examples of key points he thought would be relevant to their course of study of entrepreneurship. Marty was exited about doing this and we were both having such fun with it...we were pinching ourselves thinking who knew stuff like this would happen! Serendipity again!

We started out with our usual routine of going to the Gran Caffe, but instead of wearing jeans, we got dressed a little nicer to be grown up and business-like for Marty's maiden voyage in Professeurship. We chatted up some old friends at the Caffe, and kibitzed with Maurizio, the owner, and his tall lean attractive much younger wife/barmaid Martina...

                                                  

The sun came peeking out, even though the forecast was for rain again. We had an important errand (!) to run in Cap 3000, the big mall just west of Nice. So we decided, because it was lunch time, to first go to the boardwalk along the sea in the town of St. Laurent du Var just near the Cap 3000 mall. 

                                          

There we could sit in a wonderful outdoor restaurant in the sun facing the sea, which we had done once before, and have our favorite lunch, a delicious Salade Nicoise.  

The sun was shining and everything was glorious, especially the people-watching.  We wished again that we had places like this back home in Scarsdale that we could just go to at the drop of a hat, but the topography and environment is sooo different!

                                                  

After lunch, we walked over to Cap 3000 and went into Lancel to do our important errand(!). Lancel is  the famous French leather goods store that was one of Jill's favorites back in the days when we lived in Paris (there used to be one in NY, but no more). Jill had her heart set on a beautiful red handbag that she had seen on a previous trip to the mall there but didn't buy.  But now she had made up her mind. We went in and did the deal, filling out all the tax-free forms to present to the Duane (Customs Agent) at the airport in Nice when we leave on Saturday. Jill was a happy camper!

By now the day had slipped away...it was already 3:30 and Marty had to be at the University in Nice to meet Philippe and Thomas at 4:30 in preparation for his presentation at 5:30 when the other students will arrive. The school is on the main drag, Promenade des Anglais, on the west side of Nice opposite the airport, so getting there from Cap 3000 was not too difficult, just how we planned it. We found a free parking spot nearby and went into the main building.

It's called EDHEC Business School, a 'grande ecole' specializing in business and management, based in Lille, with an expanding campus here in Nice right on the Côte d'Azur, as well as Paris, London, and Singapore, has about 6,000 students, and has been in business for over 100 years...who knew?! The course that Philippe and Thomas are taking is the Global MBA program, with students of every nationality, age, and varying prior business experience. EDHEC has a very beautiful and professional site here...we were impressed with everything we saw...and not a bad place to study!

Philippe took us to a large classroom in the round, with stadium seating. Slowly some students started arriving for Marty's talk. Since this was impromptu to fit into everyone's schedules, Philippe explained that probably not the whole class body would be able to come because they have a major assignment due on Friday presenting their final Business Plan. In the end about ten students showed up, as did Charles Lumbers, the Programme Manager for this curriculum. Marty seemed very relaxed and the lecture just flowed, like he had been doing this forever. The students and Prof. Lumbers were all very interested, and the students seemed to be hanging on Marty's lips, as they say, taking notes from time to time. After about a half hour Marty opened it up to questions, and there was a very diverse, interesting and charming dialog among them all. Each student's business plan was based on the kind of business they want to create. 

 
Philippe (front row left below) is 31 and actually already a credentialed psychiatrist, he knows nothing about business but he really wants to open mental health clinics throughout his native Belgium which he says do not exist. Thomas (front row right below) is about the same age, comes from a business family, and sees a void in his native Danish market of half bottles of wine, an interesting and very focused niche. 

                                          

Some of the other ideas were a women's career center in Lima, Peru to help them develop business skills, one young woman student is moving to New Caledonia because her husband got a job there and she is still trying to figure out what to do using her business knowledge now. One of the wackiest ideas was to infuse liquor into Gummy Bears, yes those little ubiquitous candies, with the liquor being relevant to the country, e.g. Grand Marnier in France, Grappa in Italy, etc., etc. you know it just could fly with the right business, marketing, and finance acumen. We've got first dibs on the stock!

As the discussion drew to a close many students gathered around Marty, the 'Serendipitous Professeur', for one-on-one chats and he gave everyone his email address and offered to help them develop their ideas. Then Thomas presented Marty with two half liter bottles of wine as a thank you gift for coming. As we were about to leave the building, Prof. Charles Lumbers walked over to us to personally thank Marty for his visit and we talked for about 20 minutes. He is Canadian, married to a French woman, and has worked at the school for 27 years...a good man but, as Philippe mentioned, a bit scattered...but what a life and life style he has...We're jealous!

It was now nearly 6:30 and we had no plans for dinner. Jill called and secured a reservation at L'Hippocampe in Roquebrune Cap Martin, the restaurant where we had that fabulous lunch overlooking the sea one day last week. We enjoyed a very nice seafood dinner of soupe de poisson, moules farci (stuffed mussels), sole en croute, lobster cannelloni, and tart tatin with caramel ice cream...a wonderful way to end a very nice day. 

 

We should mention, however, that getting to and from all these fabulous places that we've grown to know and love has been very stressful on our marriage. You see Marty loves to drive the curvy precipitous corniche roads...AND THEY ARE EVERYWHERE!! And Jill hates the curves and cliffs at any speed, she's usually under the dashboard, with gasps of breath and sweaty palms occurring regularly. To calm Jill down and make things easier, Marty says "Why don't you not watch the road but look out to the sea and see the beautiful yachts." Yeah, right!...with the steep rocks in your peripheral vision and the sea undulating! THAT SOUNDS LIKE A GOOD SOLUTION! Not to worry though, we're still together and happily married.

Home at last, we crashed, on the bed that is, and slept soundly.

Night, night.

DAY 60 - MON 4/29 - Italie Encore

It's D-Day minus 5!

Today turned out to be a crazy good day...thanks to serendipity once again. Since it was still raining and not great for the beach or people-watching or a passagiata, we decided after breakfast at the Gran Caffe to get in the car and go to Italy which is just a few miles east of Monaco. We did want to do that at least one more time before we leave for home. 

So we decided we would go all the way to San Remo, the first big town in Italy along the sea from France, and a little further than Ospedaletti where we had gone for lunch at Byblos several weeks ago with the Linds and Johnsons.
                                          


Jill checked her Michelin Bible and found a 2-knifeandfork, Ulisse, just off the autostrada in San Remo that specializes in fish, so off we went. It took less than an hour and it was a lovely place. The only drawback was that it was Monday lunch and there was only one other table taken, and so the atmosphere was kind of staid. 

But the risotto ai frutta de mare, gambaroni alla griglia, and semifreddo con rhum and cafe macchiato were all just great. 

We rolled out of there at about 3:30 and took the road down into the city. San Remo is a big city...we parked and walked along the waterfront which did not impress us as it is a bit scruffy. 

Inland a few blocks was much nicer with shops and restaurants.

  

  

  

  

But after about an hour we decided to leave. We headed back to Francia, passing Ospedaletti where we had dinner two weeks ago at Byblos with the Linds and Johnsons, and decided to stop at the next town, Bordighera. That's the town where Kim Smith lives...she's the good friend of the Johnsons who came to dinner with us last Saturday night.
  

We had given Kim our contact information that night so that she could email us with hers, and then we could make some plans to get together again. But we hadn't heard from her yet and since we hadn't planned to be in her town of Bordighera, it seemed like we were unfortunately not going to make contact with Kim anytime soon.

It was now about 5pm and Marty wanted to make one last attempt. As luck would have it, we were sitting in a very chic cafe in Bordighera that had WiFi, and as Marty checked his email there was an email from Kim containing her phone number. He dialed and Voila! she answered. 

  

Kim said she lived right nearby and would come to meet us. How serendipitous was that! She joined us for a cafe a few minutes later. 

Then she showed us around the center of town. It's a simply beautiful and very classy town, a hidden gem with no tourists, right on the riviera! We fell in love with Bordighera!

Kim then asked if we would like to come up and see her apartment. We of course were delighted with the suggestion. She will be staying here for three months, the max you can stay without any papers more than just your passport...no visa, no carte de Sejour, etc. she's in one of the best neighborhoods, in a very classy part of town. You can see that there is a lot of money here, and it's definitely not a scruffy little beach town.

Kim warned us that she is in the top floor of a 4-story building with no elevator, but that didn't bother us. The stairs weren't bad and then we entered her sweet little apartment. It's about the same size as ours in Beaulieu, but with an extra bedroom. 

  

  

It's a long story, but the kicker is that when all is said and prorated, we're paying on the average of $115 per night for our 1-bedroom overlooking the Mediterranean, and she is paying about $33 per night for her 2-bedroom in the center of town!! How's that for a deal?  Both are GREAT!!

Now it's about 6pm and Marty has to put more money in the meter. Kim says she had bought a rotisserie chicken for tonight and she has a few more things in the house, and asked if we'd like to stay for dinner. We looked at each other and immediately agreed, without consulting, that this would be a great idea and we shouldn't pass it up. So Marty moved the car to her street where it is free residential parking, and Kim and I quickly went to the local grocery store that was just closing to get a few more things for our dinner.

They had already turned the lights off in the store, but they let us in to get some pre-sliced prosciutto, mozzarella de buffala, bread, wine, and fruit...perfect with the chicken! We came back, set the table, put on some music, lit the candles, set out the food and poured the wine. Marty and I looked at each other and said: 'Where are we?!!' 

We relaxed over our delicious impromptu dinner and spoke about lots of things.   We brain-stormed about her ideas about what she wants to do based around her yoga expertise, and we discovered lots of possibilities, especially here in the Côte environs. Kim was delighted to learn how Justin runs his similar personal training business to give her ideas for her startup.

Then Kim took us on a moonlit passagiata along the boardwalk at the sea...magnifique!!

                                                  

                                          

All of a sudden it was 11:30 and we realized we had to drive all the way back into France and Beaulieu. Kim does this route all the time because she still has many friends and connections there from when she used to stay in St. Jean Cap Ferrat. She said it takes exactly 40 minutes...no problem...we had our trusty GPS. We got in the car and reached Monaco with no trouble. Then our GPS starts directing us to drive higher and higher to what felt like the Grande Corniche, the one Jill didn't really need to experience again ESPECIALLY in the PITCH DARK at MIDNIGHT!

Suffice it to say that it took considerably longer than 40 minutes to get home, and Jill was holding on to the dashboard even though Marty was driving nicely and it was too dark to see the cliffs below. And we made it safe and sound.

Another fabulous day on the French/Italian Riviera.

                                          

Bonne nuit, tout le monde...