It was a little hard for us to leave Bordeaux, as we had found the relaxed atmosphere there to be quite a change of pace from Paris, even though, a lot of shops were closed for the month of August. Maybe it was the fact that we were to board on yet another overnight train ride that also made the three of us a little bit on the edge. The thought of the French Riveria, only 7 hours away kept our spirits up. We boarded the train along with a million other passengers heading to Nice, the train compartments were packed with travellers and with our large bags it did not make getting our seats an easy task. The pushing and shoving from other passengers made our train rides in China a walk in the park. Needless to say the ladies were not too impressed with the train ride. We did manage to get a little sleep, but the smell and the garbage left on the train as we disembarked the next morning made the train feel more like the city dump rather than a 2nd class train.
The discontentment from the previous night on the train was gone though when we reached our destination. Nice was a comfortable 23 degrees with the sun shining brightly in the sky, and more importantly the Mediterranean Sea only minutes away. I left the girls at the tourist information office, and was on my way to find us some accommodation for the three nights that we were to spend here. Much to my surprise the prices in Nice were even more than that of Paris, so I was hoping that maybe the girls would have had more luck than I in finding a place. Upon my return to the tourist office, the girls indicated that they had in fact found a place near by and at a decent price. We decided to book with the Comfort Inn and proceeded to venture there on foot. We found the hotel after meandering through a couple of streets covered by construction of a new train line. Everything was set and we were all eager to hit the beach….or so we thought!!
After paying for the room we ran into a couple of snags… the room was not ready, fair enough we can drop off our bags and get changed and be on our way we thought. Well we were wrong! The new intern receptionist then told us that there would be an additional charge for leaving the bags even though our rooms were not ready, and now she could not guarantee us a room with two beds for the three of us. We politely asked her why we had to pay for leaving the bags and why she was now changing her mind on the room that was available a couple of minutes ago and now may not be available. She said that she was not able to make such a decision and that we would have to talk to the manager at maybe two or three in the afternoon. After about ten minutes of asking her to speak to someone that could make a decision the yelling and screaming started. We wanted our money back so we could go to another hotel, but she refused to cancel Nat’s credit card charge and reimburse the cash to us. After 2 hours of arguing with her and me going back to the tourist office where we had originally booked the hotel, we got our money back. Needless to say Nice was not that nice! from the first couple of hours that we had spent there.
We proceeded to check into the Berne Hotel a couple of blocks away, where the receptionist appeared like an angel compared to the last one at the “Un-comfortable Inn”. We got a room for three where we checked in right away at 11am and were allowed to leave our bags there for the entire day for “free” on our day of departure all $75 euros. With the accommodations finally settled, we set forth to see what Nice had to offer.
The three of us ventured through the streets discovering restaurants and stores inhabiting every street leading to the sea. Although Nat found the shopping to be second to none (4 purses later), I thought the city could have used a couple more “Mineli’s” (purse stores)… right Nat? So we found our way to the beach, with only a few pit stops at the shoe and purse shops and a beautiful waterfall atop a cliff overlooking the sea. There we saw what Nice was really known for – it’s beaches and blue waters.
We could not resist the blue water of the Mediterranean Sea as we were very hot after the climb to the top of the waterfall. The water was cold at first but it was still very refreshing once you were in. The beach though did not have a single grain of sand, instead it was covered with rather large pebbles, which made getting into and out of the water very difficult. Both Rav and Nat found this out first hand as both were rag-dolled by the waves while trying to leave the refreshing water.
We had a great dinner that night at a near by rotisserie, followed by some cheap wine and then a night of… well let’s let the picture do the explaining….
It was all good though as we had to get up pretty early in the morning anyway for our day excursion to Cannes the city famous for the annual film festival.
Cannes
Located about half an hour by train west of Nice, Cannes is a definite resort town for the rich and famous. Although the city itself is really small, there does seem to be a lot of money there with Ferraris and Lamborghinis everywhere, the 5 stars hotels and high end stores lining the main artery of the little city. We spent the day wandering through the streets, checking out the stars who have imprinted their hand prints in front of the Grand Auditorium where the annual film festival occurs and even took in a show “The Wind That Shook The Barley”, an Irish film that was pretty good.
We took the train back to Nice for the night before heading to Monte Carlo, Monaco the following day. I did not know what to expect from the visit to Monaco, as I have not done any research prior to visiting the country.
Monte Carlo
It was a 45 minute bus ride through the winding roads over looking million dollar homes perched on rock cliffs overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. Most with a yacht or some sort of water craft near by. It was a place of paradise for the rich and famous. We ended up at the Palace to catch the changing of the guards, but arrived a little too late, as the square in front of the palace was riddled with tourist, like ourselves wanting to get a glimpse of the action. It was a little disappointing to say the least, as I could not really see a thing. Nat on the other hand managed to sneak up between two people in front and got some shots between their legs. It was quite the art form. The palace itself was not that interesting of a building especially compared to those found in Paris and Bordeaux. We spent the rest of the afternoon venturing through the streets of the Monte Carlo, wandering to the famous casino that has put Monaco on the map. Charles III instituted the Grand Casino in 1856 to save himself from bankruptcy, and it was so successful as a money making venture that by 1870 he was able to abolish taxation for his people. Imagine that, a tax free country based on the revenues generated by cheating people. Why can’t we adopt something like this for Canada.
The casino was beautiful from an exterior point of view- a baroque building in design, the proportions elegant and the size grand and magnificent. We wanted to be apart of the excitement, but more importantly wanted to be apart of the action in the casino, so we proceeded to enter the casino to try our luck. We didn’t even make it through the door, as the cover charge to enter the establishment was too rich for our blood. It was good thing, we didn’t want to contribute to their economy anyway.
We spent the remainder of the afternoon exploring some of the scenes around the casino and was taken back by the beauty of the place. It was a nice visit, but one that we could have done without. That night we were to be on yet another overnight train – this time to Strasbourg. For Nat’s sake let’s hope that it will not be a repeat of the last train ride, maybe there will be some cute guys on board for her so Casper can get some rest.
1 comment:
hey that cove looks just like the one here in Bella Bella, except for all of the buildings and yatchs and people and...
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