Nice - and it was.

Here begins the recap of our vacation to various locations in the south of France.

Today we begin with Nice. (pronounced like "Niece").

After an 11-hour overnight train ride from Metz, we were in Nice. We walked to our hotel and checked in. We were a little early to check in but this ended up being to our benefit. We were planning on leaving our bags in the hotel lobby area while we began site seeing but just as we were about to leave the lady at the hotel gave us a key so we could take our things up to a room. We thought that this would be a temporary room but it turns out that they gave it to us for the duration of our stay. Why does this matter? Well, they gave us a room with 3 beds! 1 double and 2 twin! If you have ever been in a hotel room in France you will understand that this is a very large room. Most French hotel rooms are very small.

After we washed up a bit we headed out to our first site seeing destination. La Turbie.

Here, there is a monument and small museum. Before we went it we walked around a little because we heard a very strange noise. It sounded like a billion gigantic bumble bees swarming around. At the edge of a sharp cliff, we realized we were looking down on Monaco. Then it made sense... the Monaco Grand Prix was going on and we were hearing the noise from the race cars echoing off of all the cliffs and buildings and the water. At first it was hard to pinpoint where the cars were actually driving but eventually we got a glimpse of a tiny speck moving really fast along a road. I'm not a big racing fan but it was neat to see.

Then we went to the monument, which is currently very destroyed, as are most pieces of history in Europe. It is called Trophée des Alpes...or the Trophy of Augustus. erected between 25 -14 BC in honor of Emperor Augustus, who subdued the Gaulish tribes. Although it isn't much to look at now the museum had a replica of what it looked like when it was first built. There was hardly anyone here because it isn't a typical tourist attraction, but when you have the help of Rick Steves you can find anything! :o)

Since there were so few people there we got a guided tour up the monument (it has been slightly renovated thanks to some rich Americans who fell in love with it many years ago...so now it has stairs to the top and a few columns so that you can get an idea of what it was like long ago.) It was also getting a little rainy and windy so we didn't linger long.

After our time there we headed to find some lunch. We ate a a restaurant (also recommended by Rick Steves) that overlooked part of the Mediterranean. We spoke with our waiter and he told us that about 10 days prior to our visit Rick Steves had actually been there...and he sat at the table that was right next to us. Darn, just missed him. It would have been funny though to bump into the guy whose travel advice we were following as we were following it.

After lunch we did some walking around just to see the area - because the monument was actually the only thing really exciting in the town. But, we did find some animals. There were two cats...this red one was the most friendly. It was rubbing all over my legs. ...I've been seriously cat deprived, I loved it. Then we found some goats. Haha, yep, goats. They were standing on the edge of a cliff...like mountain goats...BUT we are pretty sure they are milk goats because they smelled just like goat cheese! It was weird! The goat cheese (chèvre) that I buy at the store smelled just like these guys - seriously. There were a couple little ones too and they were cute.

Then we left La Turbie (via bus) and went back to Nice. We spent a lot of time walking around Nice by the water and looking at the really huge hotels that line the shores. It is just like the popular beach destinations in the US with some 'surf' shops, restaurants beach-side, and other beachy things, but the water was beautiful and we didn't get sick of looking at it.

One day, when we were heading the beach to get a little sun I walked into a fence that had been set up because they have been doing a lot of construction. It hurt pretty bad and bled a lot but the most interesting part is... Right after I cut myself we looked for a place where I could clean it out (aka place with public restrooms). The closest place we found was a McDonald's. :o) We walked in and noticed that all the tables and chairs were stacked up like it was closed. Well...it was. They were about to have some repairmen work on the water line or something. But, after they saw my arm, they were quick to help out. One of the ladies that was there got some hydrogen peroxide-like stuff and some gauze and a band aide from their first aid kit. I didn't think about it at the time, but they could have just told us to go to the nearest Pharmacy. Lesson: (if American) when in need in a foreign country seek out a Micky D's! haha.

After all that David bought me a strawberry ice cream cone :o) and we headed to the beach. Honestly, it was a little too late for a beach trip. The sun was setting quickly now and it was getting a bit chilly so we didn't stay long. Eventually we left, found some Chinese take-out for dinner and ate back in our hotel room with chopsticks.

The last night we spent in Nice we went to another Rick Steves recommended restaurant. Here we ordered a Menu (this doesn't mean the booklet you get to see your meal options), in France a Menu is a 'coursed' meal - in this case 3 courses (appetizer, main, and dessert). David followed a Rick Steves recommendation for his appetizer and this is what he got! The largest pile of sausages and pate we've ever seen served. At first he was a little nervous, thinking that he was supposed to eat the whole thing, but he asked the waitress and she told him to just take what he wanted and leave the rest. We think they just pass it around to whoever orders this stuff until it's gone. It was definitely a memory making moment though. I got a salad. For our next course David had duck and I had veal (I know, I said I'd never do it). Then for dessert David had ice cream and I had chocolate "cake." ..in France cakes aren't the same as they are in the US...not fluffy, more dense.

While in Nice we also did some people watching at the beach, tried some bread from an award winning bakery, and went into their most famous hotel - Hotel Negresco. It was a very nice first destination for our trip.