Genoa-Monte Carlo - Nice

Saturday 17 August

Genoa-Monte Carlo - Nice

We left Genoa a little reluctantly, the hotel had put on a generous 'gf' breakfast for James and the kids, and a good selection of meats, cheeses, croissants, cereals, etc, we got our bags and went downstairs to wait while James and David went to retrieve the car from its secure parking lot. And we were on our way to Monaco to count the Mazarati and Ferraris! 

We were there in a couple of hours, spectacular views overlooking Monaco, the harbour glistening in the sunshine, the terracotta coloured buildings climbing  up the hillside, just fabulous.  On parking alert once again, James gave us a tour around the city including part of the race circuit which was very exciting, while we kept seeing plenty of spaces in parking buildings but all of them had height restrictions, and of course we did have a bike on our roof.  

Eventually we found one right on the waterfront in such a good spot.  We bought some lunch and sat at the water's edge to eat it.

After lunch we decided to walk up to the Casino, usually you walk up to a monastery, but things are different in Monaco!  The walk up is lovely, overlooking the harbour full of huge yachts.

 

These yachts are playthings for billionaires, they need to employ a crew to run them and we saw one being polished and scrubbed, decked out in white lilies and wondered what it would be like to get married on board one of these with friends and rellies and have the reception while cruisin'.  Wow

The casino was over the top opulent and there must have been something going on as it was wall to wall RR's, Bently's, and other huge chauffeur driven cars gathering around one of the hotels that seem to circle the Casino.

 Outside the Casino was a red Ferrari, Jasper LOVES all these fast cars and he stood by this one to have his photo taken, we did try and stress to him that gambling at the casino does not mean you will be able to buy one.  

Mind you James did buy him a pretty cool one which had all the flashing lights and made the right engine sound! 

 

I did notice that a little yellow car was being given a ticket by the not so diligent Monaco Police, and I wondered if it had been a yellow RR whether the same thing would have happened? There were so many Ferraris,  Lamborginis and Mazarati's that we lost count!  

We walked back down again passed huge hotels with parking only for chauffeur driven cars, passed shops for the rich and famous and back onto the quay for a closer look at the boats. There is only so much opulence one can take so we did our 'fridge magnet' shopping and we were soon on our way to Nice.

Again, thanks to Ken, we arrived at another 'boutique' hotel and had delightful rooms, big on style but not so big on practicality.  Like it was around 30deg and there was no fridge - but there was good air conditioning so they can be forgiven for not having a jug and tea/coffee, cups, etc - or can they?  Really in need of a good cuppa by this time!

 David and I had booked another night in Nice, it seemed a shame to waste the opportunity of an extra day, so we needed to get to the railway station to book our trip back to Toulouse on Monday.  The family needed to be back Sunday night so it was a long trip for them.  Meanwhile Rachel had done a quick shop and came back with some beers, so while David and I fought our way through the throngs in the railway station, which was totally without a frontage as they were obviously building a new one, they cooled off in the hotel garden sipping beer and shandy!  

David and I had never experienced anything like the crush of people at the railway station and not speaking French made it quite a challenge.  There are these machines to make it quicker for everyone, or there's a long snaking queue if you need to speak to someone, there were only 3 booths open.  I checked out the machines, but thought better of it as I am sure they would have gobbled up my card and sent us off into the desert to join the Foreign Legion.  So 40 mins later (no exaggeration) we got to see a nice young lady who spoke good English and 5 mins later were clutching our tickets for Toulouse.  

When we got back to our hotel James and Rachel had our cold beers ready, wonderful, the first one went down without touching the sides!  So feeling more refreshed we decided to follow the guidebook's advice and throw away the map, the only way to enjoy Nice was to follow your instincts and walk up and down the little streets.  

So with James leading the way, and me bringing up the rear off we went.  Europe is so old and shares so much history that the cities have formed in a similar manner, there's the old sector with interesting narrow streets and cafes spilling out onto the road, tall buildings now apartment blocks so that the residents come out at night to play.  

Then there is a newer part with the commercial sector and shops and apartment stores.  We stayed in the old part and loved the busyness, the crowds and the assorted little shops, souvenirs, shoes, clothing, all mixed in with restaurants almost table to table on the footpath.  

We wandered into the piazza with the fountain (of course) and there was a health drink for women promotion, so Rach and I were in luck,  and they must have liked the look of James because he got one too!  By this time we were all hungry and we spotted a cafe called the 'Hippopotamus', which is a restaurant chain in France. David had chosen to stay behind for a rest, so James gave him a call and he joined us for dinner.

We went back via Rue Massena with all the little shops and restaurants, and I am blown away by all the small children and babies being paraded around at that time of night. It was as if everyone had spent the afternoon making themselves look beautiful and given the children a sleep and then as soon as it was dark,  out they came walking up and down, chatting to friends and choosing a restaurant for Saturday dinner?  

There was a restaurant called 'Le Maori' which seemed quite popular, the menu was in French of course, but I'm pretty sure that the words Puha, hangi and Kai were not mentioned.