Greetings Rafafans from Monte Carlo!! Finally, I've sussed the WiFi and here I am posting. A lot of my blog posts from here may contain "in-jokes" and the like as I'm using the same words to blog in our Rafateers forum, but I hope my reports here will give you a flavour and most of all ... I hope you enjoy.
Rafan and I both arrived here safely on Sunday and were greeted by the enthusiastic Bruno whose passion for this area knows no bounds ... so he gave us loads of tips of local stuff to do, supermarkets, boulangeries and the like, and after we'd briefly settled in, we had a very nice dinner with CathieB from VB.
Yesterday, we awoke to lovely sunshine and got ourselves ready for a touristy walk that Rafan had found on TripAdvisor in order to take in the sights of Nice. This post is probably going to sound a bit like a travelogue at the moment as I don't have much hilarity to bring you yet - except that Rafan tried to open a bottle of wine with a garlic press and as the lift is out to the apartment (we're on the SIXTH FLOOR!!), her full GOATyness in stair climbing is going to be LEGEND!
Anyhow, we left our apartment and headed down the avenue to Place Massena, which holds a massive, big fountain and is a beautifully done up pedestrian area. We then took a left to take us through the Old Town of Nice, where once you were told to stay away for fear of having your throat cut, but now its full of those little old back streets with reams of washing with chocolate box covered houses that us tourists love to see.
First stop was going through an antiques market. It was full of old junk that Denzy would have loved, but it was pretty good. We passed the beautiful, old Opera House, and Rafan and I are becoming stellar at following directions as we took every twist and turn correctly on our way.
We found ourselves in Place Garibaldi, where it was time for a little drink. Then the fun started.
I'd wanted to go up the hill to the castle at the top for the views, and because it had come heartily recommended by our lovely Bruno. However, I was more interested in the little tourist train to take you up there or t'lift, rather than hot footing it myself. But ... undeterred, we started to make the climb. The steps initially took us by the side of the hill where we could look down onto the port, and we could observe the building where we stayed last year. On and on we tromped, Rafan skipping a little as we went, me huffing and puffing a bit behind her. But we eventually got to the top and boy ... was it worth it.
Stunning, and I mean literally stunning views of the coastline and the whole of Nice down before us. We took many a photo and took in the views before heading hot foot on our way down. Whilst up there though ... did anyone realise I was on holiday with a plane spotter? Rafan has this fascination for planes, and as they make their descent into the airport, they do this turn around the bay of Nice before landing ... so plane after plane after plane was arriving, and she was agog.
I managed to drag her away, and we walked the inclines down and made our way to the Promenade des Anglais. The stones of the beach and the blue and white of the sun loungers and umbrellas were as prominent as ever. As were some aged sun bathers who really ought to have known better and put their tops on!! Then, out of nowhere Rafan declared ... "Roger's here!!" She still had her neck cricked upwards to watch the planes and one from SwissAir was passing with the red cross emblazoned on the back.
(Twas a joke ... he's not here ;))
We then finished our walk by taking some lunch in a local eatery. Rafan ordered this salmon fishcake thingy with salad, I ordered a sandwich that had to be changed. Rafan also literally ate everything off her plate ... and I mean everything! (except the lemon skins).
We then relaxed for a few hours in the apartment ... relaxed? Who am I kidding ... I was tearing my hair out with the t'internet connection. But as Rafan was using it on her phone, me-thinks it doesn't like the overload of two ladies after it at the same time.
We went out to dinner later at a restaurant which Bruno had recommended, and I pushed through the door and crashed in onto a private party until that was politely pointed out to me. We found somewhere else to eat which was nice, but I had a 4 am visit to the bathroom which is why I am this morning and up late!!
Anyhow ... keep reading as there's more to come ...
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