| The next expedition was France. I spent one week there, and this is how it went. | |
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I
arrived in Nice (via London Luton) at about 2 pm, nearly starving (Easyjet
don't serve meals on their flights). found the bus stop, and waited for
the bus into town. After watching a few drive up and leave (not the number
of the service I wanted), and getting fed up with waiting, I plucked up
courage to try out some high school French on a bus driver. Blowed if it
didn't work too! To be fair though, I was only asking if the bus went to
the central station, and I practised saying it under my breath for about
10 minutes before I actually said it. A big confidence boost anyway. After
arriving at the station it was only a short walk to the hotel I'd picked
out from my "Western Europe on a Shoestring" guidebook. I managed to negotiate
a room for three nights using only French (not necessarily good French,
but the concierge was impressed I could speak any at all I think).
The first photo is the view out my window, the following morning with my breakfast laid out. The hotel was pretty shabby, but in a great location (over a market in the old part of Nice). I spent the few days I had there walking around the town - mainly the old part, and visited a few museums (eg the Maison Massena), window shopped, sat in cafes and really just relaxed. To the east of the old town is a big hill with a ruined church and park on top, and a lot of nice paths leading up. It was a good spot to get some panoramic views and photos of the city. The third photo here is the Rue Jean Jaure, near my hotel, and the fourth is the Palais de Justice, also in the old town. The photos below are all taken from the hill above the old town.
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The final day I was spending in Nice I took a bus trip to Monaco (only 30 minutes drive or so). I was lucky with weather the whole time I was there, and had a nice day to wander around Monaco Ville, enjoy the waterfront, and walk up to the monte carlo casino. i had been struck in nice that it felt like walking around a movie set, and the feeling was even stronger here - it only lacked james bond pulling up to the casino in a classic Bentley. Monaco was a really fascinating place, I visited the aquarium there (which is very famous), and posted a whole lot of cards I'd written back in Nice, so that they'd have Monaco postage stamps. |
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The day after that I met up with Brian in Cannes (eventually...) where he was picking up his suit for the wedding. It was great to see him again, as well as some of his ex-flatmates from London whom I already knew (from left to right Isaac, Brian, Stefan, Sheilagh at the restaurant where we had lunch). It felt especially strange to be with English speaking people again. We spent a couple of hours cruising the shops, looking for a waistcoat for Brian (the rental place would only sell him one for 80 pounds - no rentals). Eventually found a "cheap" one for 60 quid (prices ranged to over 200 quid for a waistcoat!). I knew that cannes was known as a trendy spot for movie stars etc during the film festival, but still couldn't believe the prices. A really nice city though, but probably a bit expensive to stay there too long. |
