Nice Again!

We were invited back to cat sit in Nice again this year. 

The 'grosse' ginger cat is Lily, Marie's first cat. Lily has a lovely trilling voice, is very affectionate and eats non-stop.

The weather was cooler and it rained a few times, saving us the chore of hauling buckets of water down two flights to aloe vera plants left by a deceased old lady. They are planted in flower beds leading down to the gated parking area but Marie claims responsibility for them.

Marie's role seems to be to adopt feline and vegetative orphans in their apartment building.

This lovely lady is called Scratch, the French term for Velcro. She did in fact lose two claws in the fleece cover of the couch during our stay. We're told she pushed her way into Marie's household last year, insisting on being adopted. Scratch is very affectionate but last year was fighting Lily every night; she is now definitely the Top Cat in that flat.

Perhaps this was why we were able to pick up and leave keys with kindly French ladies on other floors; Marie is no doubt known throughout in the building.

This is Fifi, the newest member of the family. She looks very like Scratch - a lot of the outdoor cats look similarly - except she has no ginger on her back. She gets different food and seemed to squawk rather than meow to let us know she was ready to be fed. Her voice made me think 'whiskey and cigarettes.'.

This time we were there for 10 days, much easier than three weeks. Unlike last year, we lived more like locals. There was only one tourist-y thing we did, to visit the Matisse museum. Oh, I lie, we did a scenic train journey as well.

Fifi is a master at hiding...

Having taken the tram for the first time I discovered a whole different shopping area, the one with the luxury brand names, the big shopping mall that is open in August, unlike the small businesses last year where I had hoped to buy shoes and fabric.

If there is another invitation next year I will enjoy window shopping in that area no doubt. Also, my small shoe size (5.5 US, 3 UK, 36 EU) is more likely to be stocked in European shops than British.


There was a third cat this time, adopted after a death. They hadn't decided on a name Fifi or Fidele, but we called her Fifi - when we finally found her. It was three days before we spotted her streaking across the living room when the other two cats were in our laps. Such a relief - I was convinced she had escaped or died in a corner or something.

We learned two new things on this trip: there is a bus stop just outside the airport that could save us 10 Euros if we could manage to find it again; and if there is another trip we will take along a clothes brush. We enjoyed the lovely warm weather but it's a relief not to be covered in cat hair!