It felt as if we had the city of Nice, France to ourselves. It was late January and the coldest winter in recent history throughout all of Europe, but here we were wandering the streets of Nice on this brilliantly sunny day and enjoying every cold yet satisfyingly intimate moment of it. We had heard horror stories about the harassing street performers and bustling crowds, but that’s not our Nice…not the Nice we experienced. Of course, we also didn’t experience the legendary beach scene…but our quiet, locally sourced picnic on the desolate rocky beach left a lasting impression of it’s own. As did this charming little spice store we wandered into as we lost ourselves in the cobblestone alleys.
It was one of those moments that you walk in to a store, stop and just soak it all in. Look at those big chunks of Pink Himalayan Salt! The fresh mixed herbs de provence! Mounds of curry powder, Hungarian paprika, cumin, you name it and they had it! And it was all just out in the open begging for you to run your hands through it and touch it, smell it, experience it. Ummm, what? Wait a minute. That’s not sanitary…nor is being out in the open air like that preserving the spices very well. Okay, well, sometimes you have to just get lost in the magic of it all and leave the logistical details to someone else. So maybe I wouldn’t buy my spices here, but boy did I want to hang out here…there was something just so sensual about all of those spices piled up high and the scent of them intermingling. Beautiful.
