Day 10 - Pants Wonderings

So Mark wore his "Transformer" pants (as he likes to call them) a few times on our excursions. They were perfect because it would be chilly in the morning but broiling hot in the afternoon. Each time he ripped off his pant legs during an excursion he was met with "ooh, ahh" from the co-excursioners like these people completely skipped over the era when these pants were actually in fashion. If you spent the 90s under a rock as well, Mark is here to oblige you.

Ooooh. Ahhhh. Transformer pants. Does this amaze you as well?

Day 11 - Back to Paris

Long ride back to Paris on the high speed train today as we said goodbye to the Cote d'Azure and headed back north for our flight home. As soon as we started nearing Paris the beautiful sunshine went away and grey clouds rolled in. Is it ever sunny in this city?

We checked in at the Citizen M hotel near Charles de Gaulle airport and wow this is a cool modern hotel. Everything from mood lighting to TV and movies and temperature controls are done by an in room iPad control centre. Mark went to take a shower and I treated him to an impromptu disco light show in the bathroom.

The only disappointing aspect of this room is the lack of glassware with which to drink our last bottle of French wine with tonight. Plastic ikea cups does not scream high class.

Day 10 - Beach Day

Finally a free day with nothing specific planned. It was our last full day in Nice and appeared to be a nice morning (pun intended) so we headed down to check out the beach just a block away. The beach in the French Riviera is nothing like we're used to in the Caribbean. It's very rocky, steep, and (at least today) rough waves. Mark loves that sort of thing so he had a blast but I was happy to stay in my sun lounger.

You can't really tell from the picture, but the beach drops off at a sharp 45 degree angle into the sea against which those waves are crashing. It levels off a bit from there but after watching a few people scrabble up those rocks in a very undignified manner, on all fours in bikinis and speedos, slipping back down the hill and then flopping up to the top, I decided to stay in my chair.

It was a beautiful morning and everything was going great until about 2pm when a windstorm straight out of Wizard of Oz kicked up and blew everything over. Umbrellas went flying, glasses of overpriced wine and beer smashing to the rocks. We picked up and called it a day.

By the way they have the best name for pop - Pschitt! It was a fizzy lemonade. Tasty drink and highly entertaining marketing.

For dinner we went to a great little family run cafe where the service and food was phenomenal. It was called Terre des Anges. The server was so polite and accommodating. Brought us tapenade and brownie that we didn't even order, just on the house. Loved it.

Tonight we pack, and it's back on the train to Paris in the morning.

Merci Nice! It's been nice :)

  

Day 9 - San Remo, Ventimiglia, Menton

Three countries in 3 days, today we took a tour to SanRemo Italy. Our tour guide today wasn't any Oscar winning actor but kinda looked like Gary Busey if you squint really hard. It was meant to be a shopping tour but we really didn't buy much. With the exception of a few respectable businesses, everything seemed a bit shady.

While having lunch at a cafe we were approached by the same con man 5 times. Don't be a con man if you have such a short term memory that you approach the same person, sitting in the same seat, every 5 minutes with the same ploy. This was the "let me put a string on your finger" trick. But he was also holding a very sharp sewing needle. No idea exactly what he was trying to execute but approaching a tourist with a sharp needle does not give said tourist the warm and fuzzies. He would then show me his sewing kit from 1931. I'm not sure how, but that was supposed to impress me.


That's him in the striped shirt top left. My expression clearly says 'please don't come over here again or I'll stab you with my fork.'

What does give us the fuzzies is all the fuzzies! Aww Europeans love their pooches as much as we do. They're everywhere. Especially Yorkies!! We've seen Yorkies in every country and even had one riding in the seat behind us on the train from Paris. We miss our fuzz butts very very much.


On the lunch menu we saw that they had creme caramel and tried to order that. Alas they had run out. Pity, we have a running gag of eating creme caramel from every city/country we visit. We already got it in Paris and Nice. Some of the best we've had was in the Dominican Republic where they had it on every menu in every restaurant, every day, but called it something different so we'd always try to guess and bet on what dish was the creme caramel.


We had the lasagne, passable but nothing extraordinary. The bruschetta however was amazing. (And yes we couldn't contain ourselves and scarfed a piece before the pic)

Inside a public restroom on my travels through SanRemo I came across the most helpful graffiti I've seen in a long time. Not only did people take the time to correct spelling and grammar, but they also translated into 6 other languages.



After SanRemo we stopped in Ventimiglia who didn't have a market that day but we got to take a little stroll around anyway.




Then it was back to France where we stopped in Menton and a few other stops along the way to pop out for photos.









This is a building on the high corniche that was featured in the movie "To Catch a Thief". I haven't seen it, but maybe I just will check that out when I get home.






Back in Nice I had a lovely Niçoise salad for dinner and now I'm going to have to buy myself some anchovies when I get home and make that myself. Fishy salad ftw!




Cheers to another great adventure day! Tomorrow is a quiet day of strolling and shopping then it's back on the train to Paris for the trip home.

Day 8 - Monaco and Eze

I booked this trip really thinking that Eze was a little dinky stop thrown in to make the day longer but holy medieval marvels batman that place was awesome and far outshone the fake glitz of Monaco.

Our day began when two time academy award winning actor Christoph Waltz from Azur Tours (at least that's who he looked like) picked us up at 9 at our hotel and took us for some incredible vista shots from the high corniche road, high above the Mediterranean. It was spectacular.

We even drove by Sir Elton John's house. Can I just quit my life and become Elton John's gardener? His gardener lives in his own posh home on the estate and Elton visits like 2 days a year. That dude's got it figured out.

Elton John's Nice digs:

We then stopped at a parfumerie called Fragonard where they gave a tour on how perfume is made and then tempted me with all their wares. I succumbed. Cause, you know, I need more perfume *cough* ;) 

So then it was off to Eze, and wow what a gorgeous medieval town perched on the tippy top of a rock that place is. 

Here's where it's located:

And in town:

The shops and restaurants were all in these little hobbit holes carved out of the rock, still rough chiseled plain rock walls from hundreds of years ago. The pathways were sometime at a steep incline of almost 45 degrees - and porters were navigating all that with loads of luggage for guests staying up at one of the little hotels in town. That kid better have got a huge tip.

We then headed for Monaco and did the Grand Prix circuit in a minivan. Christoph even revved the engine at the start line and challenged a Fiat. I just kept thinking, this is just like in video games! I've run this circuit before! Not in a minivan going 60 kph mind you but still.

We got to Monaco, donned the shades and a pouty snotty look, and browsed around town.

Too many tourists. Absolutely overrun. And this isn't even high season. 

Tiny country, only a few km wide. Besides vistas, designer shopping and gambling, there's not much else to see/do here.

We did meet the worlds largest seagull though. Gosh he was big, like 2x the size of a normal Canadian seagull.

I'm sure he's just full of pride for pooping on Lamborghinis instead of boring Fords.

Day 7 - Food Safety Wonderings

  

In today's episode of things you may (definitely will) regret later: buying sushi from a vending machine in an extremely hot train station for dinner. 

 Pass.

Day 7 - French Alps, Knights Templar and seriously lax safety standards

What would a trip to France be without a teeny peek at the alps? I had prebooked tickets for today on Les Chemins de Fer de Provence, a round trip from Nice up into the mountains on an old steam train. 

We passed through many small villages along the way and when we got to the medieval town of Entreveaux we were welcomed by Knights Templar and a serving wench belting out tunes like they were on Broadway and not a lonely little rail line in the mountains.

It was all very quaint. Once we got to Annot we had a few hours to wander before our trip back so we grabbed a bite and wandered the town. The medievalness of it all was outstanding!

I felt like I was in a Monty Python movie! (You silly English pig-dogs!)

It was a gorgeous warm day and everyone on the train made it back alive as far as I can tell. Luckily. Very luckily. Good lord we were lucky because things could have gone sideways in a big way so many times. How? Well, for starters, a guy Fell. Off. The. Damn. Train. Yes you read that right. Buddy wanted a choice shot of the train side and thought leaning all 200 lbs of himself against a dinky swing chain between train cars would be an awesome way of getting said shot. Oy. We saw this happen out the back door between the cars with a train worker standing right there beside him (!!!!). So what's the right course of action do you ask? Peek calmly around the corner to find out if dude just got crushed by the train then close the door! "Nothing to see here!" *head smack* Luckily Skippy was ok and just dusty from his fall since we weren't going very fast and coming into a station. But Jesus, they didn't even raise an alarm or anything, like people fall off the damn train everyday.

Or get decapitated. All the windows on the train open fully. Some passengers used this as an opportunity to stick their full upper torsos out the side of the train at full steam. Going through many tight dark tunnels in the mountain. You do the math.

Or generally get crushed to death while crossing the rail in front of a moving train, or die of asphyxiation as we went through a particularly long tunnel in a coal powered steam train with all the windows open (see window comment above). Our faces were covered in soot when we came out the other end.

So yay! We all survived! And the risk manager part of me is horrified.

Super cool medievalness though!

Day 6 - It's nice in Nice!

Oh hello Nice! Did you know your sister Paris is offering up nothing but rain? So happy to see you have some sunshine for us. It's summer here!

The train ride south was very comfortable (Via could take some tips on seat size!). The high speed train is so smooth and quiet. Europe really has train travel figured out. Their directional signs could use some work though.

But now that we're here: OMG PALM TREES I LOVE YOU

Day 5 - McDo and Gypsies

Two key observations today...1. McDonalds is way cooler in Europe and 2. Gypsies appear to be organized homeless people.

In an effort to save a few euros today we popped in to a local McDonald's for a meal. Complete confusion ensued. They have self serve kiosks where you order and pay for your food, then take your ticket to the counter for pick up. Not sure this really saves any time, but the kiosks are available in so many languages so I guess it may ultimately help with language barriers? 

Then there was the issue of everything on the menu being different from us aside from the standard Big Mac. But who wants a boring Big Mac when there's other weird stuff to explore?!? I ended up with some baconator type burger and mark had an onion ring burger. Both decently good for a McDo-type meal but when oh when will we get these wedge fries they have in North America please? And a real McCafe complete with macarons, pies (real pies!) and pastries! That's what we're missing. 

Every time we walk down the street there's been begging gypsies. Better that than pick pocketing gypsies I suppose. But they seem strangely organized - territorial, relieving each other on shifts, and getting the whole family involved. Mark is fascinated by them but I told him to get out of the window and stop watching them before they put a curse on him.

Day 5 - The Louvre

Last full day in Paris for us so we spent the morning at the Louvre. We got there shortly after opening so there was just a short line and not crowded. Within a few hours the crowds were insane. I was getting really annoyed with pushy tour groups. We got to see the highlights though so we're happy. By the time we left you couldn't even get close to the Mona Lisa so it's good we beat the rush. 

Day 4 - Fancy French Dinner

I really dislike reading posts about what other people had for dinner so I'll keep this really short and to the point - I found a nearby restaurant that scored great reviews on tripadvisor as well as local gastro blogs for having amazing food at a good price point. It was called Pario in the 15e Arrondissement. The Chef combines French cuisine with a Brazilian touch (hence the "rio" in the name). I had a carre de veau with frites and Mark had a lobster dish with potatoes and caviar. They were both melt in your mouth delicious. I couldn't believe how tender the beef was. Highly recommend.

Day 4 - Laundry Wonderings

So it's been raining every day we've been here, but very on and off so we've been lucky in avoiding the rain showers for the most part - except yesterday. It absolutely POURED BUCKETS when we were checking out of our first hotel and moving to the next hotel just 2 blocks away. Because they were so close we figured we'd just walk it. Didn't count on the downpour and getting soaked to the core despite having umbrellas. Even the luggage got soaked through. So today while we have free time it's laundry day. I feel like a real Parisienne now lol. 

We've found everyone to be very helpful and friendly too (with the exception of a few surly cashiers) - many people offering directions without being asked when we'd find ourselves lost on a street corner. This is a very livable city, full of history and character and interesting people. Oh and food. Very very delicious food 😋

Day 4 - Eiffel Tower

Mark really really wanted to see the top of the Eiffel Tower so up we went today. Lines were pretty short, we were there not long after opening, so we went straight up to the tippy top of the tower.

So much nicer and more impressive than the ugly cn tower.

One more thing knocked off the bucket list :)

Day 3 - Newspaper Wonderings

Funny how the French are so laid back about some things - such as allowing dogs inside the cafes and smoking everywhere - but don't you dare run away with our newspaper. If you want to read it you're welcome to but we've attached it to a very large stick so you ain't going anywhere with it buddy.

Day 3 - Catacombs

Not for the claustrophobic - we went 6 storeys below the streets of Paris to see the catacombs - a Boneyard of mixed up bones of over 6 million Parisiennes. Bones from cemeteries all over the city were transferred here when the bodies started contaminating the groundwater. They just dumped them down here originally, then decided to stack up the front ones at least somewhat nicely.

Isn't that welcoming?

These bones are heaped metres deep.

There was room after room just heaped with bones. Some even arranged in cute patterns.

See the heart?

After the 2 km journey underground with low drippy ceilings, the part that freaked me out most was not the creepy smiling skulls, but the hairpin tight 6 storey stone spiral staircase to the surface. Although to their credit the smiling skulls were pretty creepy too.