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Published: April 4th 2007
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Streets Of Nice
Bustling with slowed down action 22c, Fine
It’s amazing how you can check in your luggage on a small Caribbean island like.. say.. St Lucia and it makes it all the way to Nice, France isn’t it? I waited in anticipation at the baggage carousel in Nice and watched everyone pick up their luggage. I waited and waited until the carousel was empty and got a sinking feeling in my stomach before Iberia confirmed the worst - they’d lost my worldly possessions and no idea where they were. What an awesome start to my arrival in Europe and the first thing I wanted to deal with in my jetlag haze! I’d just sat in my own filth for three cross country flights from St Lucia to San Juan to Madrid to Nice and now I had NOTHING (‘nothing’ in this case refers to the clothes on my back, laptop and camera). Iberia sent me away with a toothbrush and told me I could spend 50 euros a day.
I was a little bitter during my short time in Nice, partly because I spent half my time calling Spain and trying to relay my desperate situation. If you’re looking for a grumpy blog entry
Cote D'azur
The nice Nice beach! ha
Temp was only in the low twenties but the sunshine and dark sand made it feel warmer... still, no one is swimming in the ocean filled with sob stories than you’ll find it here (I’ll try and keep the depressive boring info to a miniumum!). Fifty euros (about $A 80) may sound like a lot to spend per day, but it’s not when you have to buy clothes for two seasons - extreme cold of Iceland in 3 days time and the temperate Mediterranean coast of Nice. I apologise publicly for constantly calling Marg and saying the same thing “my bag isn’t here yet.. my bag isn’t here yet”.. despite the fact I smelt funny and carried around ALL my possessions, I did have lots of fun in Nice. Everyone on the French end of Iberia were very helpful and friendly, which set the tone for everyone I met in Nice.
My typically French hotel was located right in the centre of Nice, close to the beach and the old town. It was slammed in between Versace and Chanel, right in the centre of the old pedestrian mall in Nice. I’m sure if I was a chick I would have been in some kind of fashion heaven, but I’m not! (thank god). Nice reminded me of Paris Las Vegas, where Marg and I were
Roulette Francais
The casinos in Monaco are much bigger and grander.. but I couldn't complain about winning 100 euros here!!
French roulette is like normal roulette except the table is bigger and there are 3 dudes looking after all the action (ie- a lot of people employed to do nothing) engaged - only this was the real deal! I didn’t have the motivation to concentrate speaking French, I just did it and hoped for the best. Surprisingly I was understood very well (and vice-versa), probably because the accents sounded similar to French tapes I’d learned off ages and ages ago. The stiff ‘Frenchness’ I’d feared in France just didn’t exist in Nice and it was probably the best place I could have recovered from losing all my gear. I only had three days but they were spent (in between buying clothes and calling airlines) strolling the old town and hanging out near the beach. Even though it wasn’t that warm it was sunny enough to attract enough sunbathers, even if no one dared venture into the cold Mediterranean Sea. There were loads of rollerblades, joggers, chess players and people relaxing during their lunch break. All surrounded on the boardwalk by venders selling everything from ice creams to tacky Monaco statues.
I was jetlagged like I’ve never been jetlagged before and wished like hell I had more motivation to travel to Cannes or Monaco. But in the end I decided to just concentrate on Nice during my short stay. There
Lots of history
Statues celebrating the life of French leaders born in the 1700's... back when Australia wasn't even discovered!! is not so much to see in Nice, but more to experience and enjoy. Anyone hoping to snap pictures of tourist attractions or landmarks would be sorely disappointed. Nice is all about the beach, culture and chilling out - suited me fine! I enjoyed cheap crepes and café au laits for breakfast and pigged out on massive French pizzas for dinner - the best I’ve ever tasted! It sucked doing it all solo but I wasn’t alone being ‘alone’ (if that makes any sense) because you always see other people eating by themselves. People watching is great in Nice and there’s always something to look at too. The casinos are world famous in Monaco but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a lack of stylish and glitzy gambling places in Nice (all with free entry as opposed to Monaco where they slug you 10 euros for walking in the door). I hit the Palais De La Mediterranee Casino and decided to have some fun with 50 euros. I’d never played French Roulette before but decided to give it ago. A few hours later I walked out about 100 euros in front and very happy!! Everyone seems more dressed up at the
Sur La Plage
Beach side dining... Nice!(how many times can I get away with saying that?!) casino in France and it has some kind of elegance that’s lacking (even in places like Las Vegas). I must have looked a sight wearing my tattered three day old clothes and shelling out all my euros on red/black. Marg taught me her winning ways so I guess that means I have to buy her something!!! Haha
I wandered aimlessly looking in shops at all the items I had in backpack, which was ‘somewhere’ and still lost after 3 days. I met three cool people from Minnesota in the US at the hotel and we hung out for the afternoon and evening. I’m very used to making random friends and almost regret having met people at all - just as you get to know them you leave or they leave. I’m just so glad I have something important back home and permanent (and no… I’m not talking about my car!). Anyway… It was fun hanging out and exploring Nice at night. We grabbed a few drinks at a local French hangout and were immediately welcoming by the bartender, who shouted us a few flaming B52’s - a drink that’s on fire and you down with a straw. Very nice
Randoms
Another night and another set of random friends to hang out with... traveling sucks like that, just as you get to know people you leave or they leave - nothing is permanent except what's at home. and cool it had some kind of ‘danger’ element! We were invited to play a friendly game of poker but decided to just enjoy the surroundings instead.. besides we’d get more free drinks sitting at the bar!! The ad-hoc get together continued in the lobby of the hotel, before the typical traveller goodbyes and well wishes.
I left Nice without any baggage and wondered where on earth my backpack ended up. It could have been a lot worse but the surroundings in Nice were nice (hahaha). My short stay was filled with lots of ‘housekeeping’ - I’d bore you with more details, but the details are exactly that - BORING. I’m sure next time I return with Marg things will be a lot different and we’ll have time to check out Monaco. As much as I hate Iberia for losing my stuff, I gotta say their service staff in Nice were awesome and the flight from Spain was literally first class. All the food was individually served on a table cloth with fine china and all.. even ‘real’ metal knives!
I joined a plane load of whinging poms (I’m sure they’re not ALL whinging - this was just
Candyman
You can buy loads of stuff really cheap off beach side vendors.. including lollies! my experience this time), they all seemed to complain about something in Nice including “we had to change that sodden’ pound into that euro”. Ohh the perils of overseas travel!! The flight to London took us over the French alps which were AWESOME, the view was amazing. I bought at jacket at Heathrow and prepared for my arrival into Iceland, a destination I’d always been intrigued by. My short stopover in Copenhagen turned into a long stop over when I missed my connecting flight due to our plane sitting on the ground for 60mins. I strolled the shops of Copenhagen airport and was amazed by the liberal amounts of ‘adult material’ being sold everywhere. But I was even more amazed to see a shop stocking ‘Australiana’ material… what the hell?!?! I’ll be back in Denmark soon, in the meantime I have an Icelandair flight to Keflavik International to board - complete with my $150 ‘change fee’ (what a rip off) and a midnight departure.
More soon from the land of Ice - Iceland.
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The ex Morb
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I now Christen thee Morbid Matt
MUAHAHAHAHAHA!!! And you think I have sad stories to share? Have you spoken to the Kinkster? She's off to Vietnam for a month to work in an orphanage....now it's her turn to keep a blog!!