la vie sur La cote d'azur

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Bonjour tout le monde. Here we are in beautiful Nice on la Cote d'Azur. Monday morning we boarded the train with our railpasses and headed south to Nice. We travelled on TGV via Avignon, Aix-en-Provence and then headed east through Marseille, Cannes, Antibes and finally arrived in Nice some 5.5 hours later. We had a great trip though. I started talking to a woman who was visiting her mother near Nice who soon realized we had never been in the region and on a train south in France for that matter that she started pointing out all the main attractions and geographical locations which was very nice of her. The other gentleman to my left was a truck driver who lives in France near Switzerland I think and had a very thick vosges accent. I didn't understand him much, just smiled and nodded. Later the other woman admitted that she didn't understand him much either.

Just south of Paris you really get to see the agricultural belt of central France with the white milking cows, corn fields and as you travel south more and more fruit trees-peaches, pears, and also olive and fig trees. As you head to the East along the Mediterranean, the coastline becomes mostly ocean and scattered terracotta roofs to rust and yellow coloured houses. It is beautiful. Reminds me a lot of southern Italy. Lots of Italian influences there. We arrived in Nice late afternoon and were picked up to go to our hostel, the villa St. Exupery, named after the author of Le Petit Prince. The hostel is ranked among the Top 5 in the world and was formerly a Camelite monastery. It is a happening place for travellers from all over Europe and the world for that matter. Our room mates are lovely Aussies who currently live in the UK. The dining hall is the former chapel of the monastery with an impressive stained glass window. We had a traditional nicoise dinner of diffent meats and veggies, sorry, not going into details this time Gladys, but I must say the paninis in France are to die for! We chatted over dinner with a few more aussies and then settled in to bed.

Today we decided to ventured into old Nice, which is quite a ways by bus from our hostel, but an interesting journey down hill. We wandered the old streets as I admired all the unique archictecture. I love seeing clean laundry hanging from balconies... so characteristic of being in the south where it is warm enough to do so. We then ventured to the Flower Market which consists of much more than just incredibly arranged flowers, but also fruits, veggies, spices, fish. Yummy.... smells all around. We even went to sit on the beach to feel the sun! Wish you could all have that right now too. I hear the weather at home isn't bad though.

Any way, after our panini lunch, this time I had a smoked ham with chevre and basil... and we headed to the gare routiere to catch a bus to St. Jean Cap Ferrat. It is a spit that is just east of Villefranche, about 25 minutes from Nice. We found the Paloma pebbled beach and went for a swim. The water was awesome! We picked up some pebbles, just missed a bus and had to admire the scenery of the mountains o'er head just a little longer... It was so nice. The views in the bus along the way were absolutely stunning! Photos are good...but won't do them justice. Tonight we had dinner again at the hostel and had home made pizza... good convenient and yummy.

Tomorrow we are heading to Eze, a medieval town and then on to Monaco, just to gawk at the rich and their cars.

Hope you are all doing well where you are. Wish you could see all of this for yourselves. It really is something la Cote D'Azur.

Thinking of you in the sun.

love,
Katy
xoxoxox

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Comments

[Meaghan B]

Ahhh... Nice...
Hi Katy and Jenn! Glad to hear Nice is as gorgeous as always - aren't the palm trees lining the main street (next to the sea... and the nude beach... don't remember the name, but that main drag is part of the World Cup circuit... so I've skated it... many... many... times over) incredible?! And veille Nice! Awesome!!! Terra-cotta everything! Can't wait to see pictures, thinking of you lots - have fun in Monaco!!! love M.

[Gladys]

Hey Katy! Hearing about your travels brings back good memories of that train route. I never really took the time to stop much in each spot, I was always on the way to somewhere else. I know...the old saying about life happens while blah, blah, blah. Well, way to live it, girl! That hostel sounds beautiful as does the rest of the country. Enjoy!