Sep 2008

Jeremy - From Italy we headed straight for Nice, a location we had looked forward to as our first stop in France and we were staying in a hostel that had been recommended to us by numerous people throughout our trip. As you may have guessed from that introduction we were a little disappointed with our experience here, mainly due to the hostel but also thanks to the overpowering smell of urine and sometimes excrement that got hold of our nostrils!

But it wasn't all bad Nice is located in the French Riviera and is the playground of the filthy rich and famous (yes I meant filthy famous) so we felt right at home of course! The old town has little French alleyways that lead on to the grand boulevard bordering the the beach. The beach was a feast of the flesh, with topless sunbathers (mainly foreigners), oiled freaky men in black g-strings and even the old and wrinkly getting about in the minimum required by law. We decided not to join them but found it an interesting sideshow.

While in the area we visited Cannes and Antibes. The first not much more than a gritty beach front and the site of the famous film festival, the later a sea side "village" with the largest yacht harbour in Europe (or something) and pubs lining the edge of the city walls, which was kind of cool.

We also made the trek to Monaco, to visit the condominium we had just purchased This place was just oozing money! We visited the famous James bond casino (just the main foyer and fancy toilets as it cost 10 euros to enter) and Emily had to drag me away from ogling the hot cars parked out the front. From there we made our way down to the harbour which was full of massive boats and yachts. We were impressed to see so many Aussie flags flying across the harbour and wondered how much tax they had dodged (and what kind of boat we would buy).

So all in all these towns were really interesting but the whole experience was really soured by the poor state of our accommodation. We shared our six bed dorm with a piano and had a dorm mate that brought undesirables for sleep overs - charming! I had ear plugs but unfortunately Emily wasn't as lucky..........................................

Our five star room

View of Nice

A local cooling off in a fountain

Nice beach

The rental car yard

Monaco harbour

Looking out from Antibes