Exploring the Cote d'azur

---

We woke up in Villefranche with a view of the Med Sea clearly before us. We had to run a couple of quick errands like doing much needed laundry (which was an adventure) in itself and going to the Eurarail office in Nice to change our tickets to Roma. We explored Vieux Nice and walked the Promenade des anglais, which was essentially a boardwalk. What made it interesting is that it was paid for by the British who would come to the coast to vacation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Promenade_des_Anglais). Lunch was oceanside in Nice which was swimming (pun intended) with tourists from all over the world. Grilled vegetables and a mozzarella salad were on the menu for this meal and were fine. We remembered reading in our Rick Steves reference books that one should lower their palate expecations when visiting the French Riveria, which explained a lot. After lunch, we grabbed a couple of umbrellas and relaxed for a couple of hours before braving a dip in the Med Sea. The beaches was rocky so walking barefoot in or out of the water was not recommended. The water very cold and most of the beach goers would take a dip for a few minutes and resort to their chairs to sunbathe. After our beach excursion, we quickly showered and dressed to explore more of Nice. Fancy boutiques and a few chain stores covered most of Nice and it was clear that this is where the rich and famous come to play. Which made it all the less appealing to us so naturally we hopped on a train to Monaco, which is known for having the most concentration of welath in the world and is where the even more rich and more famous come to play. We walked around Monaco in the evening but were not especially interested in visiting Monte Carlo, the most famous casino in the world, so we had dinner in an older part of Monaco, ravioli and a margherita pizza, and made our way to the train station.

Most of the towns along the French Riveria have an Italian influence as they were once part of Italy. In 1860, Monaco lost 2/3 of its territory to France, so France suggested that the fishing village of Monaco build a casino to make up for losing so much of its territory and promised to connect it to the rest of the world by train. And so began the touristy, tax haven of Monaco. Monaco is indepent and run as part of France but a French civil servant blessed by the Prince of Monaco, currently Prince Albert, manages the city. Prince Albert is an Olympian and an environmentalist and has been committed to cleaning up its image. He is also the son of acctress Grace Kelly who married his father, which added to the attraction to Monaco, known as the "sunny place for shady people". 😊 We left Monaco in the night back to Villefranche.

---