Refreshed, we pulled into France quite early in the morning. Our first stop was Cannes and Nice. We wanted to get off the boat now that we were fully recharged so we took a bus through Cannes and up to Nice. What a drive.
If I had a million dollars, I would probably blow it all in Cannes. The stores were amazing, the views were great. And of course, we saw the main drag where the Cannes Film Festival takes place every year.
Our bus weaved through little neighborhoods and slithered through winding streets to get to Nice. We saw Elton John’s pad during the drive. Everyone seemed to ‘ooh and ahh’ about that. Surprising despite the abundance of history and culture that surrounded us.
After the 30 minute drive we arrived in Nice and got to get out and take a few hours to bum around the square and shop, eat and mingle with the locals. The first order of business was trying to find a restroom. Wasn’t that easy. I kept going down to the parking garages. It took me about 20 minutes to figure out ‘toilettes des publiques!”.
Thanks, college. I blame my FREN 1004 instructor who came to class (what seemed to be) drunk everyday. I blame, you mademoiselle.
We dined at a neat, little cafe in Nice and had pizza and wine and hopped back on the bus to head to the Mountain of Eze. We winded up…way up, streets that seemed to be a mile in the sky. We finally made it to a little castle-like structure on the top of the mountain and the views were amazing.
This little town of about 3,000 sits atop a mountain and is covered in botanical gardens containing cactus of all things. It was beautiful. I was surprised to learn that Walt Disney spent a good deal of time there.
We stayed in Eze for about an hour and jumped back on the bus. Like most excursions this week, the ride home was quiet as the tourists were fried.
But all in all, Nice was definitely nice and we had a blast seeing Cannes and Eze. And trying to speak a little French? Not impressive…but a great challenge. Au Revoir!
