Carnaval!!! in Nice

Anthony Peregrine in the Telegraph recently stated that he felt that the Nice Carnaval (no I don't know why it is Carnaval with an "a" either - but it is!!) was the best in Europe....who am I to argue...I think that unfortunately for us locals it is more of a time when we might choose to avoid the streets of Nice (and Menton too - where there is a lively Citrus Festival at around the same time) due to the influx of the great and good to the town!! However that said - it is a fantastic spectacle - running this year between February 17 and March 4 - the Nice Carnaval website gives details of all the events and how to get tickets - you many choose the join the throngs on the streets or take your chances with a €10-€20 ticket in the seating areas. The theme for the Carnaval changes every year - this year it is sports orientated, and around the parades which take place, there are beauty pageants, flower battles and all sorts of mayhem. It's a great time of year to be up and about in the early morning with your camera with more that just a note of Blade Runner in the confetti strewn streets and surprising towering papier mache figures around every corner......always surprised that most people don't seem to understand that it is - Mardi Gras - a pancake day sort of indulgence - feasting and letting your hair down before the rigours of Lent. It is non tacky - and must cost the town a huge amount of money - which must be more than made up for by the tourist dollar!!! If you have February flatness (and/or fatness!!), get yourself on a plane or train to Nice and come and enjoy some mindless fun.....street party sensation..... for us at spacebetween - we are occasionally minded to escape from our mountain idyll - the organisation of walking holidays here in the Mercantour and so forth - and to get down to the coast to woop it up. If anyone has been over to the Venice Carnival - I'd be delighted to know!! although I gather it is almost impossible to get any sort of transport booked at that time- never mind a hotel room!!!! Enjoy .......