Spent time in Nice over Easter... My original plan was to stay 2 nights in Nice, chill, then off to Bordeaux on Saturday night. I went to the train station to arrange my ticket, I said to the woman "Ticket Saturday to Bordeaux?", she just looked at me giggled and shook her head NO! What a... Disappointment. Trapped in Nice til Monday evening; on the plus side, had time to see Monaco. Which is breathtaking by the way! I now understand why there are defibrillators on nearly every street corner... My heart was skipping beats at every turns... So beautiful!
(one of the many defibrillators stationed around Monaco)
(inside the mall... Good lord!)
(parked outside the Monte Carlo casino... Tourists were posing with it... Weird?)
(the casino! Pretty!!)
(at the Port of Hercules)
(Monaco oceanographic museum, patron=the Monaco royal family)
(the dock where I ate my lunch!)
(main room as you enter the oceanographic museum... Statue of Albert I, flounder of the museum... Oops I mean founder!)
(the lagoon had a turtle in it! Yay!!)
(view of the harbour, facing the casino, from the ramp up to the palace)
Yes, Monaco made the delay to Bordeaux totally worth it. I walked the whole day, starting from the train station to the casino, downhill and around the bay, back up to the palace and oceanographic museum, and up to the palace. I stopped at the cathedral, and saw the tomb of previous royals and the resting place of princess Grace (Kelly). Everything in Monaco is beautiful, and nothing is cheap... So I bought a patch for my bag, and went to the grocery store to pick up lunch at a reasonable price. It was 9 euro for a joint ticket to visit both the prince's palace and tge oceanographic centre... Not bad!
Back to Nice; the old town was cute, but really touristy. Food and trinkets were completely over-priced... Bummer. What is cool is that the beach is composed entirely of smooth rocks and pebbles; meaning free back massage. And of course it's on the Mediterranean, which is a double win!
(trying to tan my legs a bit before the Camino... Result: legs still pale, but my face is one big freckle!)
The hostel where I stayed was really well situated; close enough to the train station for a quick escape, and 10-15 minute walk from the sea (which is turquoise! Amazing!). Lucky again, i had some really great room mates throughout my stay in Nice... 4 american girl, 3 brazilian guys, a polish guy, even a cutie from Quebec! Not all at once, roomies rotated nearly every night.
Getting to old town is such a nice jaunt, you pass all the important stuff... H&M, Virgin Megastore, Gallerie Lafayette! So distracting, but I promise I only looked ;-) after you pass all the stores, you arrive at Place Massena which is decorated with 7 men perched at the top of tall metal posts! Random.., but really cool at night.
(place Massena at night! Cool eh?)
(split an order of white wine mussels with a friend from the hostel, Ninna)
(Ninna from Norway! Passing through place Massena on our way to the pebble beach)
Nice is a neat place to visit, but I'm relieved to be spending s few days in Bordeaux with Laurene. I know this city (we are acquainted, definitely still need a mal to get around) and feel comfortable walking around. No pressure to see certain sights or churches, saw them a few years ago. Relief!
Event on Facebook by the way... Check it out by searching: Hiking the Camino de Santiago
I'm meeting Tasha and Tatyana tomorrow evening in St Jean Pied de Port! It's here! Time to walk... Oh and look what I found on the tourist office here in Bordeaux:
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Location:Rue Sainte-Catherine,Bordeaux,France
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