Nice is Nice

(Above: On the beach in Nice)

People say Nice is not so nice. I think Nice is like Perth - smaller town, nice weather even in November - (it was a bit chilly in the mornings, but by afternoon, it heated up to around 20C), nice scenery, some good restaurants, but overall..... it's more of a relaxing rather than an exciting town.

(Below: Me & C on the beach)

We scored ourselves a fantastic package which included three nights accommodation inclusive of breakfast, flights, airport transfers and a guided day tour to Monarco and for a humble price of

£210. Fine, we were booked into a hotel whose former interior decorator had a pink fetish (or was blind drunk when s/he order the bathroom fittings in bulk),

but the view from the balconey made up for it.

On our first night, we dined in the Old Town of Nice (as like Perth, nothing's really open on a Sunday evening aside from a few places,) at a restaurant called Le Safari where the owner/manager was overly attentive to us. What I mean by overly attentive is having him hang around our table talking to us throughout dinner, and giving us free food to sample as well as a complimentary champagne cocktail. I think his "I really like China," comment had something to do with it.... Unfortunately, his "I really like China" status also meant that he (surprisingly) knew some functional mandarin, so I couldn't talk in "code" to Cecilia. ("I think he has a thing for China girls," I said in a hoarse whisper. "Can we leave soon...?")

(Above: Old Town Nice)

Why I Really Love Nice
Thanks to our tour guide (who obviously had really good taste in food,) we were recommended to try a small little restaurant called "la Diva" (4 rue de l'Opera - 06300 Nice). OMG. The food there was to DIE for.

(Above: My grilled sea bass, sorbet and chickpea pastry vegetable stack)

It was like Jackson's fusion cuisine but with a French accent and BETTER. Even cuter was that the chef who incidentally owned the restaurant. He would make an appearance during the course of the meal to ask if you everything was to your liking. His plum and french custard tart was just so scrumptious that I really want to fly back to Nice just to eat it again. *sigh* So good was his food that I dragged C to the restaurant again the following night. C. was hiding her face behind the menu when the chef made his appearance laughing and saying something in French. (Probably said something to the extent of, "Oh, it's you again!")

Monaco

First stop was the picturesque Old Town where lies the church where Grace Kelly got married and is also buried - pardon the rhyming here.

(Below: The church of Monaco)

As you can see from the pictures to follow, Monaco is basically a principality for the rich.

(Above: I'd hate to be that school having to replace lost soccer balls into the sea.)

We lunched at L'Aurore (6 et 8, Rue Rincesse Marie-de-Lorraine) and also had Princess Caroline's youngest son also stop in for a bite, (he reminded me of Princess William - ick, so I quickly moved on :p) before heading up to Monte Carlo.

Monte Carlo
For those who are confused, Monte Carlo is in the Principality of Monaco. Sort of like what Dalkeith would be to the city of Perth. The two major attractions are:

The Hotel de Paris

and the Casino. (Obviously.)

I had intended on having a go at one of the black jack tables, however these don't open until much later in the afternoon/evening (we were there around 2pm). Probably a good thing seeing that the minimum bet in the more exclusive part of the casino is around the €50 mark. We did ask one of the staff how to operate one (and I should stress - very complicated looking) poker machine, but his English wasn't the best and we ended up with a erm, souvenir (see below) instead.

He must have thought that we were Japanese and would have liked that kind of crap. (C: "Do you think one of my work colleagues would like something like this to use as a pen holder?")

The guy looked so pleased at himself that we didn't have the heart to leave our plastic cups behind and instead, left this in our hotel room for the cleaners to chuck out (or to take this home to their children to use as stationery holders...).

Friends Met
Aside from two lovely middle aged ladies (who affectionately called themselves "Thelma and Louise",) we pick up another two handsome Frenchmen called Rothchild & Laurent-Perrier...

...and picked up another bottle of Moet each. We made the mistake of declining plastic shopping bags ("Don't bother with the pastic - our hotel's just around the corner anyway," I reasoned to C) and we ended up creating pandemonium on our way back. (Note: if you want French guys coming up to you, guys yelling at you from across the street and truck drivers yelling and honking their horns, just casually walk down the street armed with a champagne bottle in each hand....)

"Be My Pimp"
It's hard to believe, but what are the odds of stumbling across the same (so bad that its so good) ghetto 'ho version of "The Bachelor" while holidaying (first time in Chicago, second in the south of France!). Eh. Come to think of it, probably high seeing that the Americans have proliferated pretty much the entire world television market. Fine, it's not called "Be My Pimp" but it may as well be with the trailer trash ("Stay away from mah man, bitch") girls with peroxide hair and scary fake long claw like fingernails and prize small black man complete with gold fillings, ridiculous plastic clock bling, scepter and fluffy royal purple robe. I swear that the dude hasn't changed since 2006, but then maybe all black guys look the same when they don sunglasses and a fluffy purple robe :p) C. stumbled across the show while I was in the bathroom having a shower. The show was that hilarious that I could hear her howling with laughter over the sound of the running water...

Postscript: As it turns out, it is the same guy and he's actually fathered like 10 kids. That means he would have had to have sex at least 10 times. What's the chances of having 10 girls make the exact same mistake with him....? :O

10 Points for Closetblonde
France, being The Invader's home land is full of space invaders. I spotted on in Old Town Nice

And another in Saint Paul du Vence

which is a small pretty boutique art style village about 40 minutes away from Nice.