One thing about enrolling in a shorter MBA programme is that there’s a very strong feeling that I must Make The Most of My Time (i.e. travel and experience as much as I can). So when I found out that there were no scheduled lessons today, I thought I’d take the opportunity to do a free walking tour of the city. I didn’t want to do a day trip because I’ve got a mid-term exam tomorrow, so the plan was to run some errands and do the tour in the morning/early afternoon and then study in the evening.

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In retrospect, I should have taken into account my need to get all the work done before I can relax (case in point: I’m typing this post after finishing studying). So even though I was about half done with studying and theoretically had enough time to study after the tour, my mind kept wandering financial ratios.

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That said, the tour was fascinating and I took so many notes (I had to take notes, it’s a thing). I learnt, for example:

• That Nice has 300 days of sunshine a year, possibly the most in Europe!
• The statue in the fountain at Place Massena is a statue of Apollo and it was controversial because 1) it did not contain Apollo’s charriot, and 2) the statue was nude. Many, many attempts were made to deal with these two aspects, including sizing down the offending part of the statue and moving it, but it’s finally back to its original spot. For a more detailed read on the story of the statue, check out this post from the Best of Nice blog.
• Nice is where the first evidence of the use of fire in Europe is found
• Ratatouille comes from Nice
• Nike and Nice are both named after the same Greek goddess

But even such fascinating facts, and seeing the oldest sweet shop in Nice was not enough to keep me from my desk. So when we had a twenty-minute shopping break at Cours Saleya, I decided to leave the tour early to buy a calculator and head home.

In the end, I had a good day once I was done studying. I managed to buy freshly made ravioli (a lady in the queue once told me that this shop had the best ravioli in the city and I’ve been wanting to try it since then) and have some tea and mooncakes with my classmates. Plus, I did end up spending two hours in Old Nice, what with the errands to run and the first part of the tour, and it feels like I still managed to explore a bit.

Still, I’ll be back for this tour and the next time I go, I’m definitely staying till the end.