Every year in February it's carnival time in Nice and we were fortunate enough to get tickets to view the Flower Parade. Rows of bleachers were assembled on the boardwalk and we joined thousands to see the spectacle.
The first group was colourful, unique and bizarre all wrapped up in eight tidy packages. Their trademark - a band on stilts with rollerblade type wheels certainly got everyone's attention.
Each float was decorated with fresh flowers and while we're not completely certain, we believe the theme of this year's parade was communication via the world wide web.
Still, there was room for a nod to history. Besides, what's a parade without horses?
Another float...any ideas about what it is? No. Me either!
This crew were dressed up in what looked to us like walnut costumes (they had shells!). Perhaps the nut theme echoed their sole purpose in the parade - firing off their machines that resembled leaf blowers to release miles and miles of coloured streamers.
After they passed by everything was draped in streamers...the parade route, the floats, parade participants AND the crowd!
Being carnival time there was no shortage of mardi gras costumes.
Another communication themed float.
Are these snails or steampunk eggs riding motorcycles?
For the life of us we couldn't make head nor tail of this one...and we think it's got both appendages!
Gorgeous flowers on this float.
Another float...see all those streamers courtesy of the Walnut Gang?
A movie reel?
A combo locomotive-log-cabin-something or other, but definitely a nod to the American wild west.
The Flower Parade Queen and Ladies-In-Waiting...
Many floats were adorned with paper posters, but the wind off the Med so strong many blew away.
Okay. This float I figured out...movie reels!!
The @Twitter Lady.
I could be wrong, but this crew may have been drag queens...and for the record they were spectacular, darling!
A two-man rock band totally immersed in the moment and song.
This group carried wands that when fired released sparkle streamers and confetti. Shortly after this photo was taken they climbed onto the bleachers and showered us with their fairy dust. Magical!
These next two photos really do not do it justice, but in no time at all after the parade began the entire area - street, buildings, trees - were covered in streamers and confetti.
The parade route was circular and when it passed by us a second time we soon realized each float was being systematically dismantled and all of the flowers were tossed and distributed amongst the crowd. The parade ended when the floats were bare and many, many parade goers returned home with a fresh bouquet of gorgeous flowers.
We strolled home via the park and stopped to admire this square with these amazing carnival statues. (It was quite crowded on parade day. This photo was taken a few days later.)
Balloon anyone?
While the visual aspect of the parade is delightful there's also the audio. This short clip gives some indication of the mardi gras mayhem. Enjoy! Here's the Youtube link just in case: https://youtu.be/NWbBjXWpSdE.
This is our final post on Nice for 2016 and we'd like to extend a very special thank you to Katherine and Paul for giving us the opportunity to house and parrot sit again this year, for their friendship, and of course for entrusting us to care for their fine feathered friends Jake and Petra. Plus, we really appreciate the gift mugs featuring the boys and 2016 Florida Parrot Rescue calendar featuring Jake as Mr. May. Merci beaucoup!
* * *
