Back from the Riviera

And, unfortunately, my fabulous vacation to the coast of southern France has come to its conclusion. Danielle and I got back on Monday morning, but had 5 really great days in the sun and heat. And best of all we returned to Chartres and found similar weather! This week we had Monday off for Pentecost (working in a not totally secular society has its advantages) and tomorrow, Thursday, there's yet another strike so I only have to teach 1 of my 6 scheduled classes. No complaints here! But I'm sure you're all much more interested in my trip, so here you go:
Danielle and I took a night train to Nice on Tuesday after work and arrived on Wednesday. Since we were both a little tired we decided to stay in Nice and look around. I'd been to Nice in 2005 on my backpacking trip, but that was in December. It's much more crowded and enjoyable in May. We walked through the flower and produce market and were taken in by the strawberries. So we bought some...... and then we walked down to the Promenade des Anglais and the beach...
... to eat our stawberries! They were so juicy and delicious!
Afterwards we climbed up Castle Hill to enjoy the views. We found out it was nice and warm in the park up there so we sat down to read our books. It inevitably turned into a nap, but that was ok too.
Later we went to see the Russian Orthodox cathedral in Nice. In the 1800s there was quite the Russian population in Nice and most of them were very wealthy, so they built themselves a very elaborate place of worship. It was pretty cool on the inside, though I wasn't allowed to take photos.
Thursday was a national holiday, so everyone had the same idea we did... head for the beach!! We hit up the beach at Antibes, about an hour south west along the coast from Nice. The weather was perfect, but the water too cold, so we sat and read and I slathered on sunscreen every hour when my alarm went off. I really didn't want to get burnt, and I managed not to! :) Danielle just kept all her clothes on to protect herself.
The beach was pretty packed, and yes, there were lots of topless sunbathers. Though most of them were under the age of 10. Doesn't really matter then, does it? Saves on the cost of a bathing suit I suppose.
Friday we took another bus to Menton. It's the last city in France before the Italian border along the coast. It's claim to faim is two-fold. It holds the Citrus Festival in February and it has, on average, 316 days of sun per year. The sun and tropical climate mean that the plant life in Menton is amazing! We didn't make it out to the Jardin Exotique, but just walking around town was enough. Here's some accurately-named Bird of Paradise flowers.
And even the town was fairly picture-perfect. We wandered around town, along the harbor wall and the beach and had a really great lunch. A very relaxed day.
Saturday we went to Eze le Village. It's not exactly along the coast. It's up in the hills behind Nice and has a fantastic view of the coastline.
The village is tiny, but there's another Jardin Exotique at the very top of the hill. So we climbed up, weaving through tiny streets and ducking under passageways, and found ourselves in a strange cactus garden with great views. And again it was sunny. Apparently going up meant we were a lot closer to the sun. Despite sunscreen and frequent reapplications the tops of my shoulders did get burnt that day. Not too badly though.
The coast and the cacti.
There were some really interesting benches near a waterworks and we convinced someone to take our photo as we burned.
Our hostel wasn't exactly in Nice. It was a 20 minute tram ride and 30 minute walk away, but the views out of the window in our room were nice. I don't think I'd recommend the hostel though. If you want to "party" and "meet" people go for it though.
Hee hee. Even on vacation we're huge dorks. Champion is a grocery store in France. I think Danielle does a very nice impression of their mascot, don't you?
On Sunday we had another night train to catch at 9pm but we spent the day doing something we definitely can't do back here in Chartres: we sat on the beach. This time we went to Cap d'Ail, just before Monaco to a very secluded beach called Plage Mala. It was really beautiful. Because it's harder to get to it wasn't nearly as crowded and there was no traffic noise either. Very relaxing. I was even brave enough to go into the water! I ran in, stayed in for about 5 seconds and ran out to warm myself up again in the sun. And that was our vacation. More info on boring day to day life soon!