The renovation got fully underway in April of 2024! Once we had the green-light to get work started, it really took off. The crew assigned to our apartment was a husband and wife team who did all the work themselves, and they certainly had a big job cut out for them. They worked through the summer months (with no A/C yet, mind you!) and were there late nights and early mornings.
Since our family trip was already planned for the Tour de France 2024 and Summer Olympics, we had the unique opportunity to see the apartment in the “mid phase” of renovation. This was actually pretty great in that we could see things in person to determine if the layout would meet our needs. It was also a good amount of lead-time to order furniture and have it be ready in the right amount of time. Shopping for linens and a small amount of decor for our home was so very fun to me. I could start to see our home take shape in my mind. Laura had excellent time management of the tasks we needed to do while in town.
The kids had never been to Nice, nor had my mom, so it was a very special trip. While the apartment was still in rough shape, it was actually looking a lot more modern already! Mom hung out with the kids at the beach a few of the days while Brian and I drove around the greater Nice area with Laura. Seeing the apartment in person, and verifying that things were actually improving by the day, was a big relief in our minds. This was physical progress that we could see for ourselves and know that the finish line was not too far away.
Of course we did a lot of this after the Tour de France wrapped up, and before the Olympics started. We have to speak for a moment about the incredible experience of seeing the TdF in person. As cycling fans, we were in absolute awe of the whole thing. While we had seen the Giro D’Italia before, I think the TdF is above and beyond and why it’s the pinnacle of the cycling season. Due to the Olympics being in Paris, the TdF organizers decided to make the finale (and actually last 2 stages) in Nice, an unprecedented occurrence. The finish line of the final stage, a Time Trial, was going to be 900ft from our apartment!
We saw both the second-to-last and final stage in person perched on the Mediterranean with thousands of our closest friends. The TT stage was a level of epic I cannot explain but I will try. Each and every rider still in the Tour passed by us one by one with their support cars in hot pursuit, from the last place rider to the first place rider. So for hours this went on, each rider coming by more elite than the last. The kids entertained themselves by going to grab drinks and snacks, we felt that even with the intense crowds they were very safe here. By the time the last rider (and ultimate winner) Tadej Pogacar went by, the cheers were to a feverish pitch. We didn’t have passes to be at the Podium ceremony and we were so hungry that we enjoyed some pizza outside on the Cours Saleya, only blocks away from the celebration. We got the fly-by overhead of French fighter jets streaming the tricolors of the flag! This day was possibly the highlight of my sports-spectating life to date. Next up, the Olympic experience!
