Nice is Nice

For the second leg of my parent's trip to France, I solo travelled to Nice, France to join them along the French Rivera. As I expected, Nice is nice!!

Planning:

Due to work commitments, I was not sure where I would be so we had to buy a pretty late ticket to France. In the end, I decided to fly into Montpelier and fly out of Nice on Sunday night. Yes, I would be flying back on the notorious Nice to Luton flight where in September 2017, we were delayed 3+ hours!

To experience nearly all of the London airports, I picked a convenient flight from London Gatwick at 7pm, arriving in Montpelier at 9pm. To get to London Gatwick, I took the Gatwick Express from the Victoria station. Similar to the Stansted Express, this train takes about 45 minutes and drops off at Terminal 1 at Gatwick. Unlike the Stansted Express, this train is every 15 minutes, has seats, and air conditioning!

Fixed Costs:

• Flight: £200
• Family Time: Priceless!!

[divider class="" ]Moseying to Montpelier

Getting to London Victoria station for the Gatwick Express was really easy! Thanks to my client in Holborn, it was a simple Tube stop away and I hopped on the train. I even grabbed a seat and enjoyed the new scenery crossing south London! With my railcard, tickets are really cheap at £11 and I bought mine in advance to save even more.

Compared to Luton and Stansted, Gatwick is really nice. There are signs everywhere directing you to the correct terminal for Easyjet customers (aka me!) and it wasn't as "panicked" as the other airports. Security was extremely fast and efficient as well!

I bought some cheap food and waited in the terminal for my flight. There is a Priority Pass restaurant at Gatwick which allows you to spend about £25, but it didn’t show on my app! Once I board the flight, it was an easy two hours to Montpelier!

The airport is extremely tiny as expected and I grabbed a taxi out front. The driver spoke decent English and he gave me a history tour of the city! He also told me the best bars, how to get to the beach, and about his plans that evening! I should have joined him!

Montpelier is a very pedistrian city so only certain cars, such as taxis, are allowed to drive in the old town. When I was dropped off, it looked like an abandoned alley… Thankfully, my dad stepped out at just the right moment and I was able to find the hole in the wall AirBnB!

Nice is NICE

Today, we had a long drive from Montpellier to Nice, through vineyards, lavender fields, and sunflowers!

A Montpellier Morning

Due to the long day ahead, we were up early and most importantly on the hunt for a French coffee, croissant, and baked goods. It appears my dad has gotten addicted, as expected, to all three! I was surprised at the tiny and narrow the streets. It was similar to stumbling upon a treasure chest once we found a boulangerie!

For the drive, unlike the previous Normandy drives, there were not any cow pastures or farmlands. Instead, it was filled with fields of crops, sunflowers, and vineyards! Other than talking and catching up with my parents, the drive was uneventful and surprisingly long.

Crazy Cannes

To break the trip, we stopped at the famous village of Cannes to see the sights and sounds. First, we wanted to see what made this city so cool and important. Second, we wanted to eat lunch!

Safe to say our first impression was being underwhelmed at these sights.. As we walked along the beach and marina, it was really pretty. There were mega-yachts and cute houses, but nothing spectacular. Moreover, the International Film Museum wasn't that great to look at! We saw the red carpet, but it was much smaller than TV!

For lunch, we ate a cute tavern on the marina, which I suppose were a dime a dozen! We ordered a baked camembert for an appetiser and I confirmed that I have also gotten my parents addicted to this treat! For my main, I ordered a literal bucket of mussels in a creamy butter sauce.

Overall, Cannes isn't crazy. Perhaps it is due to the "shoulder" season, but we were happy to say we have been there and moved on!

Onto Nice

Once we arrived in Nice, the draw of the blue Mediterrian sea was too alluring. However, the parking situation was not alluring. We were holding out for a great parking spot next to the condo building, but it was completely full so we had to keep circling and looking for a parking garage. In the end, we parked about 5-8 blocks away!

Our condo is incredibly nice!! The guy rents out his second bedroom complete with a full kitchen, large living room, and decent bathroom. Not to mention the amazing view of the sea!! We were simply stunned at the views!

Exploring the Old Town

Since we knew today would likely be my only day to explore Nice, we ventured to Old Town. To my parent's dismay, we walked to the Old Town from the condo. My dad wanted to take a taxi or bus, while I wanted to soak in the sun and sounds of the sea! I think my dad was happy we went with the longer more scenic route!

As we wandered Old Town, we noticed a cool overlook on top of the hill. Obviously, being so adventous, we decided to trek this hill! For the most part, it was shaded, but there were points were I regretted doing this in the French summer sun. Especially, with the possibility of not having AC later on!

Despite the sweat, the views on top of the hilly are amazing. We saw the sun setting on the city and could see for miles. Also at the top is a neat waterfall that helped cool us off! The pictures will do it more justice!

Le Evening

To cap our Saturday, I found a trendy hipster restaurant in the heart of Old Town. It was called Le Garcons - meaning the Sons - very fitting for my parents! They had a cool deal where you ordered a two course meal for 25 euros and could choose between app and a main or main and dessert. For my app, I ordered this interesting salad and bacon wrapped asparagus. As one can see below, the stalks were the size of my arm! For my main, I ordered this really tasty pork tenderloin tomato sauce.

My grand finale was not at the restaurant; rather, I had ice cream next door! Supposedly, it is the oldest ice cream parlour in Nice with 50+ flavours. It was very good as we walked back to the condo and right by Florida Beach!

[divider class="" ]Mon-a-WOW!

With my comfy real mattress, we woke up to a very pleasant morning in Nice! Our host made us a typical French breakfast of croissant, juice, and yogurt. Perfect for a light day of activities! We decided we would head to Monaco immediately!

From Nice, the drive to Monaco is really easy via highway or the scenic route. It is about less than an hour either way! Parking is really easy in Monaco as well as the main tourist areas have multiple storey parking garages fitting 1000+ cars.

Mighty Monaco

We decided to park at the famous Monte Casino with all the very fancy, expensive shops. Monaco City is situated in a valley between the casino and palace. Since we started at the Casino, we opted to tour the Casino and all the fancy décor. It is on par with Dubai and Las Vegas!

After the casino, we decided to walk to the palace and hoped to see the changing of the guards. The City is still set up for the formula one race that happened in May. Unknown to us, various versions occurred all May and Monaccoians are too tired to take it down in early June!

After a quick hot walk to the palace, we managed to make it to the palace in time! My main thought was why does Monaco have a guard?? Who are they guarding against!? We later learned that while France will protect them, if Monaco does not produce an heir, the kingdom will revert back to France! They do have something to protect I guess!

After the changing of the guard and quick photo session, we wandered the Old Town. The views were spectacular and the streets were full of charm! Using the tried and true TripAdvisor method, we found an Italian restaurant hidden away in an alley with a Trip Advisor sign. We ended up splitting a very big caprese salad with a large pizza. So filling for 3 people!

Cary Grant Afternoon

For the afternoon, we walked back to the casino through the F1 track. That was a major mistake… tarmac is very hot in the middle of the afternoon! We were initially walking with ice cream on our minds, but that quickly turned to AC!

Once we got to the ice cream parlour, we immediately just went to the car for AC. We really did not want to stay in the sun any longer. Thus, we made our move and decided to go to our next stop.

Similar to Cary Gary in the famous movie, To Catch a Thief, we drove along the French Riviera coastline in our little car. Our scenic route would take us right along the movie shots which is really cool for one of my favourite movies. The villages were extremely picturesque and post card perfect.

The Girl Card

Mom used one of her (many) girl cards and wanted to visit a perfumeriery.. For a guy, this is as interesting as it sounds… It was very cool to know how they processed their very "organic" soaps and perfumes. It takes literally tons of roses, lavender, other flowers to produce a litre of perfume. That was impressive! As one can imagine, the factory was very smelly!

Other than that, we ended up at the gift card with discounted prices! This was until we arrived at the Nice Airport later and learned they were not discounted at all… Either way, it makes for great birthday, souvenir, Christmas presents!

Le Nice Evening

After our drive to Nice, we went for an early dinner as in theory my flight would be at 8pm. We picked a low key pizzeria that had good reviews on TripAdvisor (duh!). We again split a full pizza because I really wasn't that hungry. This is sadly what happens after 2 weekends in France! During dinner, I received a depressing text notifying me that the flight had been delayed by 1.5 hours…

Since the flight was still, in theory, now at 10pm, we walked back to the condo. I was very sad to be leaving this medisterrean paradise! While I don't seem to have much luck in terms of Nice flights, I do have great luck with the food, activities, and people!

Our real host, Thaigo, came home for the first time! He brought out a home made charcuterie board and we were able to chat with him for an hour or so. He is very fascinating as he is originally from Brazil, but has lived in France for 10 years. His condo is on AirBnB for 10 months out of the year mainly because he travels for about 4 months. Now that is a deal for him. The relaxing conversation, Lamosuci wine, and chacturereie board made my delay more bearable.

The Delay

As the flight had finally left Luton, I headed to the airport and said goodbye to my parents. It was really sad - especially knowing the flight could be cancelled! I waited until the last moment but didn’t want the airport to close security before I had a chance to get into the building. The Uber was really expensive for the one mile drive - it was 25 euros!!

I kind of napped and lounged in the very empty airport. Learning my lesson from last time, I had my water, snacks, and did not go through passport control until they forced me! By the time I reached Luton at 3am, my flight was 2 hours and 50 minutes late…

More depressing is I was 10 minutes away from getting a 250 euro refund from EasyJet!

Thankfully, as I watched the English sunrise (joking), I arrived home after a long uber ride home… Just in time to go to work!!

[divider class="" ]The UnChartered 13:

Nice is exceptionally nice and a lovely place to visit! We were even able to squeeze in a trip to Monaco! From the food to the beaches, Nice is a must-go destination.