En-route to Nice

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We could sleep in a little this morning, as we had an 8:34am train to catch to La Spezia. Travel day today - 3 trains in all. Karina ate cereal out of my Mets cup again, and I opted to grab something on the way to the train station. After showers and packing, we tackled the stairs again with our bags - exercise enough for the day! We also picked up another half-bottle of Cinque Terre wine - to open on our first anniversary!

Only a 10 minute trip to La Spezia, and about an hour wait for the train to Genova. I'd forgotten to buy breakfast in Riomaggiore, so I ducked into McDonalds - fortunately they offered ham and egg on English muffin rather than the disgusting American 'biscuit'. After weeks of European Continental breakfasts, it was great to have an egg - even a McDonalds egg!

It was a fast train to Genova - only an hour instead of 2 - which was pretty uneventful. Then about 90 mins wait in Genova for the train to Nice. Karina ran down to the harbour to buy a knock-off Prada handbag, and when she returned I went in search of a bookshop selling English books - unsuccessfully.

The trip to Nice started unpleasantly, when we arrived at our compartment to find an Italian lady sitting in our seats. When we politely pointed out that she was sitting in our seats, she told us point blank that she wanted to sit there, and told us to sit in another seat. Incredulous, we refused her demand and she got up, swearing at us in Italian for several minutes. It didn't seem to matter that we had *paid* to reserve those seats!

The remainder of the trip was uneventful in that respect. The scenery was qute nice though as we skirted the coast towards Nice. Plenty of large boats moored just off the beaches as we approached Monaco - and then I realised that I'd forgotten where I'd parked ours!

The hotel was easy to find, only a few hundred metres from the station. It looked reasonably nice, and despite the fact that it was literally wrapped around the elevator shaft, we couldn't really hear it. We dumped our bags and went out to explore Nice.

The area near our hotel isn't much to look at, mostly hotels and apartments around the station, then a few blocks of Chinese and other restaurants until we hit the main street that leads down to the beach. Here the scenery changes, with boutiques and all manner of shops lining the main street, and plenty of people about. As we neared the beach, the area opened up a bit with a few squares and gardens surrounded by rather expensive-looking hotels, including Hotel Boscolo! Behind them was the promenade along the beach.

The beach front stretched a few hundred metres in one direction, but kilometers in the other. It looked not unlike the Gold Coast - hotels and restaurants running the length of the beach front, and with the backdrop of the city sprawling up into the hills behind, it was a spectacular sight. The weather was fine but not hot, and it was getting towards dinner, so there were only a handful of people actually in the water. We amused ourselves for a while watching a group of Asian tourists who didn't seem to understand how the beach works, and in their quest to have their picture taken on the water's edge, ended up inadvertantly standing ankle-deep in water wearing long pants and shoes. And they still hadn't quite learnt!

Completely over pizza and pasta, we found a cheap Chinese restaurant. The food was OK, but not quite what we get at home. I notice they don't use the same English descriptions as back home, so it's difficult to work out what each dish actually is. There's no "mongolian" or "szechuan" for example. Just "spicy sauce". Still, a very welcome break from Italian.

A few quick emails at the internet cafe, and back to the hotel room for some KOQ & L&O before bed. Tomorrow the plan is to see Nice from Castel Hill, then head to Monaco!

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