A NICE place to start exploring France

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Today we left Italy. This was probably a good thing for our waistlines as we had overindulged in pizza, pasta, risotto and foccacia and of course a daily serve (at least) of gelato! We also now have a taste for espresso! Our first stop in France was Nice in the French Riviera. We still find it strange that travelling to another country here is called domestic travel and you don’t have to show your passport! We won’t have many stamps!

Unfortunately the cold weather stayed with us but after spending the morning on the train we enjoyed walking the length of the promenade beside Nice’s beach. We were amongst lots of joggers and roller bladders but there wasn’t a soul on the beach! We enjoyed a late dinner in the old part of town and tried pissaladiere (a yummy tart like thing with anchovies and olives) and of course Lysh’s first drink in France had to be champers!

We decided to use Nice as a base to explore Monaco and Cannes, and we are glad that we did as the sun came out on day 2 and 3! (check other blogs for Monaco and Cannes)

After a great day exploring Monaco we headed back to Nice and hiked up to Parc du Chateau which is a wonderful park overlooking the city, harbour and beachfront. For tea we decided it was time for some French cuisine! We started with cheesy French onions soup and escargot and followed it with a huge nicoise salad. We were a bit apprehensive about the escargot and the using the instruments to get them out but they were delicious and we didn’t flick any of them out across the table (like the scene in pretty woman..)! We think the garlicky butter helped them go down! A couple of them did have a strange crunch though... Lysh decided we’d been adventurous enough and would go for the frogs legs another time!

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