Saturday 4th July -7th, Nice France

When we arrive in Nice, it’s late in the afternoon and the weather is a balmy 30+ degrees. The area of Nice that we are staying in, could best be described as “edgy” given the interesting characters that we pass when we go out to dinner. Nice is a great mix of locals, tourists, restaurants and art and the city is abuzz with the heat of summer. We find a wonderful wine bar for dinner and indulge in some Nicoise specialties whilst we enjoy the local pianist play. As we walk home we come to realise that the Tour de France will be flying through the main street the next morning.

We wake up eager to find the ideal position to watch the race (which happens to have no shelter from the burning sun). We wait sometime and the caravan of sponsors comes through throwing out giveaways. The locals go crazy trying to grab whatever they can and it’s a fun spectacle. Then we wait some more and the caravan of team cars comes through. We continue waiting and the expectation begins to build. Suddenly, we hear someone say that they’re coming around the corner and within 5 seconds the breakaway group flies past. 30 seconds later we see the peloton make their way up the hill. In about 15 seconds it’s all over. It was a fun morning, but just quietly I don’t think we’ll be spending the next month following the tour around France!
In the afternoon we decide to have a dip in the Mediterranean. Since we’re in Nice we decide to indulge in a sun-bed and pay far too much for the privilege. It’s at this point that I realise that the inconvenience of having sand everywhere after being at the beach in Sydney isn’t such a high price to pay at all! But we thoroughly enjoy our decadent afternoon.

On our last day in Nice, we meet up with our friends Simon and Howard for a long lunch. We’ve been looking forward to seeing them and they have chosen a spectacular clifftop restaurant overlooking Cap de Ferat. After several bottles of wine, cocktails and a delicious meal we end up swimming in the Mediterranean! It is a long lunch indeed as it’s 8.30 by the time we get home and I am certainly worse for wear! It’s a fabulous day!