From the moment we stepped off the bus, we felt like we were in a holiday spot for the rich and famous. The palm trees lining the beach, the beautiful old hotels and the fancy people dressed up to the nines for lunch on a Wednesday made it feel that way. But that vibe made it so fun just to wander the streets and people watch - I also saw some of the worlds smallest chihuahuas in handbags in Nice. The Nice Jazz Festival was also on while we were there, so there were big stages set up and always something going on in the street.
Things we've loved about Nice:
- Despite it being very expensive for just about everything, we found two little restaurants with Tim and Meg that did three course set menus for €20. So on the nights where Jake had a babysitter we just had long dinners with more food then we would ever need. We made sure we tried the Nicoise Salad - when in Nice!
- Having a few good old home cooked meals at Tim and Megs accommodation. Never thought I'd get so excited over chicken and salad.
- Catching the little tourist train to the top of the hill for a guided tour of Nice with the best views.
- Swimming in the blue Cote D'Azure and lying on the pebble beach
- Ordering a drink in the gardens of the Negresco Hotel, an Art Nouveau hotel built in 1912. This isn't the kind of place you spend the evening at (Meg's Cosmopolitan cost €18!) but it's an iconic place that you have to visit.
- Visiting the famous gelateria which has over 70 flavours. I got mojito gelato and Brian got a beer flavoured one! Even I couldn't believe they managed to make it taste like beer and taste good! Other flavours they had included cactus, tomato and basil, lavender and thyme.
- Our day trip to Cannes. It is really beautiful there, you can tell a lot of work goes into making the city look amazing. The film festival is in May, but it's definitely a hotspot for the rich all year round. The boats in the main harbour were ridiculous. They would've cost tens of millions, they were bigger than houses and had lots of private staff all scrubbing them down and carrying supplies on. I would have loved to have gone on board for a snoop around, just to see what it's like in there. It really did feel like Beyonce was just going to appear on the deck at any moment. We walked to the Palais d'Festivals where the Film Festival is held, as a red carpet is laid out all year round. Meg and I joined the other posers for a few photos.
- Our day trip to Monaco. The second smallest country in the world after Vatican City, Monaco is only 1.25sq kilometres in size. It is ridiculously expensive though - a square metre of real estate is currently about $60,000. We saw a tiny apartment advertised in an agents window for $2.9million. So everyone who lives in Monaco (7,600 official residents) is absolutely loaded. You know who they are when you're walking down the street - because they're driving the Maserati past you. We were told that to apply for citizenship costs $1million, and that doesn't even guarantee approval. Both Brad Pitt and Elton John have been denied, and you don't get your million dollars back either. Monte Carlo itself is incredible. Built into the cliffs the houses, shops and restaurants all look down onto the harbour,and when it's lit up at night it's so cool. We visited Grace Kelly's grave, and her memorial gardens at the top of the cliff, as well as the Royal Palace and Cathedral.
- We headed into Monaco one night while Jake was with the babysitter, so we could hit up the Monte Carlo Casino. While we were getting ready I discovered Rihanna was playing at the casino that night as well. Oh my God. Tickets were sold out and we didn't spot her, but we were in the same building as her! Meg asked the staff at the casino if they knew where she was, unsurprisingly they gave us no details. The casino itself is a work of art, I wish we were allowed to take photos but its a functioning casino and that's against the rules. We didn't place any bets, as the initial buy in price is a lot higher than good old Burswoods $2.50 roulette wheel! We took plenty of photos outside the casino, especially as the boys were drooling over the cars parked out the front. I've never seen so many Ferraris! the highlight of Tims night was spotting a Bugatti Beyron, which he googled and sells for about $2.5million and is the worlds fastest car. Then we had dinner and went dancing down at the clubs on the waterfront where some of the bottles of champagne were €600. The life of a high roller!
Thank you to everyone for your support, updates from home and gifts of vegemite.
Onto the next part of our adventure - London, we're on our way!
Love,
Kobi & Brian
The view from the top of Nice
Fancy and unaffordable Cannes shopping
Cannes beach
A night out in Monaco
Monaco
Monaco streets
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