Were you glued to the Olympic figure skating and ice dancing competitions over the last couple of weeks? Well guess where the next ones are going to be… in Nice!
In 4 years France will be the next host of the Winter Olympic Games: the snow-based events up in the Alps, and all of the skating competitions – Ice Dancing, Figure Skating, Speed Skating, Ice Hockey, Curling, plus the Closing Ceremony – will all be in Nice!
How is this going to work, you might ask…? Well here is the plan so far:
Figure Skating will be hosted at a new permanent ice stadium with 10,000 seats, to be built across from Ikea and right next to the Stade tram stop. (Purple in the photo)- Ice Hockey and Speed Skating will be at the existing Allianz Riviera Sports Stadium (just behind Ikea), which will be temporarily covered and converted into two ice stadiums, holding 17,000 seats each.
- The Athletes’ Village will be built just across from this complex (undoubtedly furnished by Ikea), on the other side of the tram tracks, will house 1500 athletes, then be turned into student housing after the Olympics. (Orange in the photo)
- Curling can be easily hosted at the existing Nikaia Stadium. (Not in photo, but just a few tram stops away)
- Closing Ceremonies are a wild card, and could potentially be held along the Promenade des Anglais, inspired by the Paris Olympics Opening Ceremonies, but nothing is final yet.
These stadium locations are grouped in a newly developed expansion of Nice called the Plan du Var (formerly agricultural land), which was chosen to dovetail with Nice’s new airport-adjacent transport hub, connecting tramway, train, bus station, airport and freeway, so the local logistics should be pretty smooth. And this should hopefully light a fire under the stalled-for-years plans to modernize the slow-speed train tracks between Nice and Marseille to better handle TGVs.
On the other hand, getting from Nice up to the ski venues high in the French Alps will be a major pain. The best plan, in my opinion, is just to stay in Nice and focus on the various skating competitions, and if you need a snow fix, just take a daytrip to one of the several ski resorts that are just 60-90 minutes away by car or via the ski bus.
Many of the skating stars that you just bonded with in Milan will be back to compete again in Nice, including the French Ice Dance pair Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron.
The QuadGod Ilia Malinin will certainly be back to take another shot at the gold in Nice, as will USA’s Amber Glenn, and Japan’s delightful Ami Nakai who was only 17 this year, not to mention all the other runners-up that now have an Olympic Games under their belt and will be ready to medal at the next one.
So mark your calendars: February 1-17, 2030 for the Winter Olympic Games in Nice France, followed by the Paralympics March 1-10, 2030. Nice is going for the Gold!
Photo Credits: Alysa Liu photo by YantsImages, Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron by Eric Salard, both licensed under Creative Commons. Olympic Rings by Best of Nice.
This year’s theme is ‘Long Live the Queen’, and my favorite float celebrates the woman that saved Nice. If you are not up on your Nice history, you’ll want to know how Catherine Segurane, 
Approximately 2 hours before each parade, the floats drive in from the Carnaval workshop in the port. Hang out on rue Arson (for the Corsos) or rue Francois Guisol (for the Flower Parades), or the Port (for both), or the seaside bordering the Old Town, and wait for the Carnaval to come to you, as the impressive floats meander past with none of the muss or fuss. Here’s the timing:
Silver lining for Carnaval haters: The Prom is basically closed off all day Saturdays and Wednesdays, plus all late afternoon/evenings on Saturdays and Tuesdays, so these are the most wonderful times to go have lunch, dinner or drinks at one of the Prom-facing cafes/bars, with no cars for once… just the soothing sounds of the waves and birds… ahhh.
The 
Rumors have been flying that season four of 
This luxurious 32-acre hilltop hideaway has its own private beach on Pampelonne Bay and its ‘beach shuttle’ is a chauffeured Rolls-Royce. The 28 rooms and 71 suites (plus a private villa) all have butlers. Choose from 3 picturesque pools and 5 gourmet restaurants, and send the small scions off to their own kids section in a very Willie-Wonkaish mini choo-choo train that will certainly show up in at least one scene.
In 2020 a massive storm named Tempete Alex walloped the hills above Nice in the Roya Valley, washing away roads, bridges, train tracks, entire homes, and 18 townspeople. The damage was dramatic and the rebuilding has been a long, but finally, months ahead of schedule, the mountain train known as the Train of Marvels, rides again!
The giant Monaco 
Just in time for the holidays: a spectacular all-new immersive light show in the magnificent Notre-Dame Basilica. 