Nice/Monaco

My apologies for the lateness in this post. I have been rather busy if you didn't notice from previous posts. For my final weekend in France, Cathy, Dawn and I went to Nice, France with a side day trip to Monaco. We left on Saturday, May 9 and stayed overnight. Cathy had already been to Nice which was rather convenient since she already had an idea of what we should see and where we should go. The train ride to Nice was nothing short of breathtaking. There were some really incredible views in the 4 hour train ride. We had a great time playing Mille Borne (card game) on the train and eating endless jellybeans. After arriving, we went to check into our hotel only to learn that we were too early. So we left our bags at the hotel for the time being and headed straight over to the beach for some sightseeing. Our hotel was really conveniently located near the beach. This is the Nice beach view from above:
Much of the beach is rock, not sand. This was actually a conscious choice of the city. With the rock, the water is much clearer as you can probably tell even by this picture. After walking along the boardwalk, we walked up this huge hill which gave us the view of Nice that you see in the above picture. There were some amazing panoramic views from this vantage point. We could also see the Nice harbor and the ruins of a 13th century cathedral.

After climbing the high hill, we headed over to the flower market which was sweet smelling and beautiful. After this little walk, we headed back to the hotel to finally check in and decide on dinner. We went to what we thought would be a promising restaurant with a nice 10 Euro menu deal. 3 courses for 10 Euros seemed to be a really good deal. While the food was ok, it certainly wasn't amazing. Dawn's main course was a disappointing fish which was semi-cold and very bland. Cathy had lasagna and I had steak and fries. The dessert, tiramisu, was pretty good and Dawn's pineapple seemed fresh. Oh well, for that price on the Promenade des Anglais (the main street with the boardwalk along the waterfront), we were still really lucky.

Before dinner, Cathy and I stopped at a local grocery store to get a couple snacks and I saw this:
That's right my friends. Wine in Juice box form. I knew it existed and now you all have proof.

Anyway, after dinner, Cathy and I left Dawn to relax in the hotel room while we went exploring to try and see the Cathedrale Russe (Russian cathedral). Unfortunately, the gates were all closed and locked up tight for the evening. That didn't stop us from walking the entire perimeter trying to get in for a better view. We saw someone in the grounds taking a jog so we were sure we could get in. Unfortunately, after about an hour of trying to get in and walking all the way around the gates, we were unsuccessful. It was fun anyway though. :)

Our hotel, which I would highly recommend for anyone, was really clean and spacious for a 3 person room. We even had a kitchenette which was rather surprising. Having a fridge in our room was really helpful and convenient.

After paying a whole 1 Euro, the next day, we checked out of the hotel and headed to Monaco. That's right. The 30-45 minute bus ride from Nice to Monaco is 1 whole Euro and includes beautiful sights along the way of the shoreline. Monaco (the 2nd smallest country in the world...Vatican City is the smallest) was pretty cute. We had a cafe when we first arrived and then began the ascent into the Prince's Palace area which is up a huge hill that overlooks the Monaco landscape. We got to see the changing of the guard with a small ceremony. It's a very touristic place so it got pretty crowded while we were in the palace area. We decided to take a little tourist train that took us all over Monaco and Monte Carlo. Monte Carlo was preparing for the Grand Prix (which was a couple weeks after we were there) so we got to see some of the racetracks. Of course, we saw the famous Monte Carlo casino but didn't go in due to a lack of time. After our tourist train, we went into the Monaco Cathedral also known as St. Nicolas Cathedral and saw Grace Kelly's tomb (among others). We took the train (instead of the bus) back from Monaco to Nice. The views were pretty great coming along a different way though we did have to pay 1.70 Euros so you know, I guess the bus is a better deal. :) Though traveling to another country for less than 2 Euros is pretty great in my book. The train ride home to Montpellier was very long but entertaining as we played more Mille Bornes and Uno. We made noise on the train which is always frowned upon in France but we had a blast, and that was what really matters.

I had an amazing time and am so happy that I was able to fit this last trip in before I left France for my next big adventure. Thus, I leave you with this funny sign. Good thing they tell you how close the freaking defibrillator is.


Here's a link to all the photos if you are interested:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jkimpfbeck/NiceAndMonaco#