Nice is Nice

We left Florence on July 29th, 2009 for Nice. The train trip was 8 hours long along the Mediterranean. I hadn't expected the view to be so beautiful. The Sea was a turquoise colour and the many vacationers seemed to be enjoying themselves swimming at what appeared to be random spots along the way. I wanted to jump off the train and join them but that would have probably made for a really messy time.

Rowan survived the train trip and after paying a ridiculous amount of money for a 10 minute cab ride, we settled in to our gorgeous modern flat. We were pleasantly surprised by the number of stairs up to the apartment (instead of the gruelling 66 we had to scale in Florence, we had about half that in Nice which makes a BIG difference when you are lugging a baby and all of that baby's stuff up with you each time you go out). We also were impressed by the welcome basket complete with coffee, milk, a Rose wine and a few other treats. We had to eat and so we headed towards the beach which was a 5 minute walk in the Old City from where we stayed. Rowan loved his pasta. He also loved sticking his hands in and out of his glass of water. He managed to make a mess of the ground, but the birds took care of that for us. We didn't stay out late because we wanted to get the monster to sleep which was difficult but not impossible even in the 35 degree heat (and no AC in the flat). It wasn't until midnight or so that I realized that our location in the Old city came at a price-- Nice is nice, but it doesn't sleep. The noise outside the window didn't stop until 5am and it was that way every single night. Needless to say, we were not impressed that the flat owners hadn't warned us off the noise problem even when they knew we were traveling with an infant. We considered complaining, but in true Canadian fashion we didn't. Instead we decided not to rave about the condo in the travel log book. Yeah-- *that* will show them!

The noise didn't put a damper on our time in Nice because we didn't let it. Yes, Rowan had an awful time sleeping (and so did we) but we managed quite well once we had 2 fans on full blast in the bedroom and we accepted the fact that he would most likely just end up in bed with us at some point during the night. It was crowded but I avoided getting a foot in the face (unlike Florence where I thought Rowan popped an eye ball-- I saw stars. Actually, it was more like an explosion.). We went to the beach twice, had many enjoyable meals of more pasta and pizza, ate Gelatto every day and walked and walked. It was a relaxing place to be and relatively kid friendly. We really didn't see too much because Nice is mostly just a beach town, but it was nice to just spend time with the boys.

We took a side trip to the Aquarium in Monaco. Really, it was a side trip to Monaco (total cost: 4 Euros). What's the difference? Well, if we hadn't gotten off the bus at the wrong place we would only have seen the port and the Aquarium which is all we wanted to do. Instead, we walked the entire length of the city. It was HOT and we were all very wet by the time we made it to the highest point in what is a really mountainous coast line but the aquarium was lovely and it turned out to be a very good day. We even caught the bus back without issue. Barely, but we did it.

I liked Nice for the beach. I think Florence as a whole though was a much more interesting place. And, I would take the 66 stairs over the lack of AC and the noise any day.