We arrived in Nice, France about an hour late and it was our first late flight of the trip! Our host, Kadri, patiently waited for us to arrive at our Airbnb and we fell in love with the cute apartment we were renting a room in. It had an awesome terrace that went around the entire place and being on the 7th floor we had a great view. We spent 2 of our 3 nights there dining al fresco out on the terrace.
After Kadri showed us around the apartment and town we had a late lunch and then proceeded to explore Nice. We walked through a cute little public water park and then trekked up Castle Hill for the amazing views. In addition to great views, the park also has an old cemetery, archeology site, waterfall, restaurant, and children’s playground. While I rested on a bench Andrew went to get us water and got to see a proposal – he took photos for them with the beaches and Nice in the background. Afterward we strolled back to our apartment along the beach.
The next day we took a day trip to Monaco, which was only about a 30-minute train ride from Nice. We hiked up the hill where the Palace is and took in the wonderful views of Monaco. On the way we saw one extraordinary car right after another racing by us. After wandering through the small streets on the palace hill we got a chance to see the changing of the guard at the palace, which is extremely modern looking compared to the others we’ve seen on this trip. Next we grabbed lunch next to the cathedral – the waiters were quite silly at the place we went – constantly making jokes and commenting to people as they walked by. One waiter even tried to get on camera singing as a reporter walked by.
After lunch we went to Prince Albert’s car collection. They are very careful to explain that it is not a car museum but a private collection so they don’t have very many plaques explaining information about the various cars. The collection actually isn’t limited to cars –there are carriages, one jet boat, and then cars from the 1920s on. Andrew’s favorite cars were the Lamborghini Countach (a childhood favorite) and the Formula 1 cars. My favorites were one with wicker seats and an old glamorous Bentley. Our next destination was to walk along the track where the Monaco Grand Prix is raced. The grand stands were still up since the race had just been held the month before.
Our last stop in Monaco was of course to see the Monte Carlo Casino. Although Andrew was wearing a polo shirt and I was wearing a dress, we didn’t think we were dressed up enough to go inside the casino. So Andrew had to settle for a picture of himself outside holding an ice cream cone instead of playing poker à la James Bond! I sense a Grand Prix/Monte Carlo Casino guys trip in the future!
On our last day in Nice we really just relaxed. In the morning I went for a 4 mile run on the beach boardwalk and then we laid out on the stony beach and took our first dip in the Mediterranean. The water was really cold but it felt so good in the sweltering heat. In the evening we went to an early dinner with Kadri, who is from Estonia, and is house sitting for her sister and her boyfriend. And being the awesome person she is she offered to hike up Castle Hill with us to get pictures of us at sunset so a BIG thank you to her! Apparently we were up there too long because they locked the gate so we had to go around the long way and exit on the backside but we were in the company of lots of other people and were rewarded for all our walking with a Nutella crepe!
Clapp Radical Sabbatical 