My dream holiday,Nice along the Cote Azur, Dec 2 2018
The Blue Coast or Cote Azur in all its Glory Dec 2, 2018
Antibes, a fishing village in all its glory, Dec 3 2018
The boats docked in the small marina, Dec 2 2018
Last December, for 13 days, we took the holiday of a lifetime and travelled to firstly Nice, then Florence and finally Turin. We are very fortunate to be able to manage this trip in winter which was uncharacteristically splendid in winter with temperatures of the low to mid teens.
Nice was our first stop and we stayed 4 nights enjoying the nice cool weather, the holiday feel, the fine French cuisine and spent several lovely trips to see the quaint and picturesque St Paul et Vence (artists love to stay there, reflect and do their thing), the beautiful Antibes fishing village about 45 minutes from Nice.
In addition, we also took trips to Cannes of the famous film festival and the neighbouring principality of Monaco with the world famous Monte Carlo district of F1 and James Bond fame.
When I was a young man, all of 24, I had the good fortune of being able to travel thanks to my wonderful parents who funded me on an all expenses paid trip to Europe for 35 days back in the June of 1987. I some some very valuable memories then of us all in our salad youth and springy walks and we were then told that Nice was the Fame Capital of the World, with Cannes being the place where film stars go every May for the Cannes Film Festival and get their photos taken on the Red Carpet.
During that 1987 trip, we only passed by Nice, as we were poor students and our Singapore dollar was a pittance compared then to the French Franc, (I believe the EURO currency came into existence in 1999) so we did not even stay a night and my impression then of Nice, and Monte Carlo was one of supposed 'fame', glamour and rich people all well dressed sipping champagne in their yachts with pretty girls in bikinis in their yachts and lounging by the poolside.
Fast forward 30 years later, as a middle aged man, fast going into young old age, my mental and world view has broadened very much more. I have seen my country move from the developing 3rd world into a sparkling first world country with world class marina, top end boutiques, millionaires aplenty driving their sports cars and the 2 ubiquitous casinos fronting the glitzy skyline.
The paradigm (long held perception) that Monaco was a glitzy place and Singapore the backwater has taken a major shift.
Singapore is now the Monaco of the world. We have numerous world firsts, the F1 race for the last 11 years now and I look at Cannes and Monaco with a rather jaded look. The once glitzy places seem rather well worn now. The large glitzy casino looks rather smallish compared to our mega casinos (although we are eclipsed many times by Macau).
Our marina has huge yachts and the country is having one of the world's top 10 Universities (National University of Singapore).
From the outside, we the country of Singapore has it good. The shoe is now on the other foot.
The Paradigm in my mind has indeed shifted.
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