Blogs from Nice, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France, Europe - page 53

Today was one of those days where you just roll with the punches. Our guide on the bus coming in warned us to take the 10:30am train out of Riomaggiore into La Spezia to make sure we make the 12:00 bus pickup. All 17 of us were extremely responsible and got there by 10:15am. You've gotta love Italian scheduling though. The 10:30 train was first delayed by 20 minutes, then 30 minutes, then cancelled. The 11:00am train was then delayed by 30 minutes, 45 mintues, and finally 50 minutes. We actually started calling Busabout to tell them that everyone who was supposed to get on at La Spezia was stuck at the train station. The irony is that the bus apparently had a few stragglers in Pisa (surprise, surprise), and ended up being 40 mintues late, ... read more

Hello Everybody, Hope all is well with you all! Today, about 7:30a, we sailed into the port at Villefranche, France. From Mom: This area is the French Riviera, also known as the Cote d'Azure (Blue Coast). Monte Carlo is the most beautiful region I have ever seen. As I'm typing this for Michael, it is 9:21p, the sun is setting (it sets late here) and the lights are twinkling on the cliffs, no words for it! First we went to Nice and spent a little while there. It was pretty in Nice and we did some shopping there. I was bored because if we're not buying toys, I don't care for shopping. It was very early when we got to Nice and most of the kids shops were still closed:( After Nice, we drove to Monte ... read more

hi everyone, this is going to be really quick coz very busy. having a great time on contiki. lots of great people. got lots of friends now. been to paris and beaujolais wine region. now in nice. very nice!!! went to mote carlo last night - their prince died. but was still good. will write more when i have more time. off to italy tomorrow. love you all xxoo... read more

Quite a few of the group were having a lay-in this morning, but I was one of the ones who walked to Biot station, where we were to pick up the train to Nice. It was 3 euros to Nice, so Paul got us all our tickets. There were delays on the trains this morning, so we had a bit of a wait and a good chat, but it came along in the end. It was about a 20-minute journey to Nice Ville station. Nice is the largest resort on the Mediterranean coast, and the fifth biggest city in France. However, it has the second busiest airport, only behind Paris. It was founded by the Greeks, and colonized by the Romans. It has long been a big attraction, due to its warm winter climate and its ... read more

After having spent way too much time on a train (literally too long time after having taken the wrong turn and traveled halfways through France in the wrong direction), and having found a nice little hotel, I feel a strong urge to socialize. The little hotel in Nice is nice. Probably not honored with a bunch of stars in any hotel guide. But it's clean, safe, affordable, and there are quite a few fellow budget travelers. My socializing takes the form of sitting outside on the lawn furniture, writing post cards, surrounded by other young vagabonds. But I feel a need to speak, with anyone about anything. Preferably in English. The Americans present are arrogant, and have seemingly no interest whatsoever to speak with anyone who is not American. The group of Aussies show the same ... read more