Nice.....oh la la - very nice indeed

So here we were aboard on our night train from Roma to Nice. We were slightly excited as we were heading back to Francais land which meant we could practice more of our French speaking skills.

Of course not before long, we realized that the coach in the train we were assigned to (# 95) was missing in totality. Coaches 98,97,96 were there followed by a no number coach and then a coach 63 after that. Out of panic, we and a bunch of other coach 95ers got into coach 96 and the train started to move. We were standing in the aisles with all our luggage trying panicked hand gestures to explain our problem to an exclusively Italian speaking controller. Thank God for great train mates who were fluent in French, Italian and English. They figured out that we needed to be in the no numbered coach. We all dragged our luggage there and found all the compartments locked and no controller. Confusion reigned for a while. Then from one of the compartments of our coach emerged a controller. We rejoiced and rushed to him with questions. HE did not reply neither in English, French or Italian. That’s when we realized that he was stone drunk and had already made his bed and was ready to collapse. Thankfully he atleast opened up our compartments for us. Hari and I had sleepers in a compartment with four other people in a small compartment. There was no way we or our luggage were going to fit there. So we just took over another empty compartment and locked the doors and went to sleep. The trip was uneventful for the most part for the rest of the trip aside from our Italian/French/ English speaking friend having her luggage stolen in the middle of the night.

Anyway, on a more upbeat note, the train journey in the early hours of the morning as the sun broke was breathtakingly gorgeous!!!! We were hurtling down the Italian coast and then entering the French Riviera as we passed Monaco, Monte Carlo. A small piece of geography trivia courtesy of Hari here…Monaco is a principality of its own and not part of France although I am told they share the same postal service and banks. Monaco is very rich and home to the very famous Monaco Grand Prix. It is a completely tax free place. So rich celebrities who make loads of money and don’t want to pay taxes try to become citizens of Monaco. Some famous citizens include Boris Becker and Michael Schumacher.

Ok, moving on…We reached Nice which was gorgeous. It was a bit more crowded than we had expected but that didn’t seem to bother us. The first day, after checking into our hotel, we promptly headed out to the beach. After all, that’s what Hari and I (both being lovers of the sea) had come there for. We spent the entire afternoon there. We ventured into the water with some anticipation as it was winter but the water was quite nice. Slightly cool but certainly warmer than California beaches in July!

We lapped up the waves and the ocean spray. We made sure that we got each other adequately wet to the point where we were satisfied that we could not do more damage to each others clothes.

We then chilled out on the rocks in the sunlight trying to dry our pants. Hari promptly fell asleep on the rock. When he opened his eyes a half hour later, he was surrounded by a large tourist group (ahem…we wont mention any other details) who had come in a group that were photographing every inch of the water, sand and rocks. We then ambled back in town enjoying yet more of the beautiful Chirtmas lights and decorations.

I went and bought a much needed recharge for our cell phone SIM card, speaking throughout in French. I noticed that people were now squinting at me less and understanding me more when I spoke in French. That ought to be a good sign….I must be getting better..

<>The next day, we took a short train ride down to Monaco. Hari was very excited and was tripping over himself trying to stress the import of 'the tunnel' in Monaco to a sports illiterate like me:-) Poor guy. Such a sports fanatic. It must be hard for him to put up with someone like me. It was a lovely day to be in Monaco. It was cool with a bit of sun and lots of people all around. We hung around the main port area for a while. The water was perfectly clear and we could see the fishes below. There were quite a few fancy boats from around the world (Cayman islands, Virgin islands, Cape town, London, etc) that Hari savoured. We found a fun offer while we were strolling about. For € 35, Santa Claus offered to take anyone in his Ferrari 355 spyder for a ride on the Monaco Grand Prix circuit. I could see Hari's eyes light up and we decided that it would be a fitting early birthday gift for him. So he went and came back and anyone we meet (and I) have been hearing about that till date:-)

Before we left Monaco we also sneaked a visit to the famous casino and we saw some royalty and some famous designers (whose names I cant remember now - you will need to check with Hari) leaving in their fancy limousines. One large icecream later, we headed back to Nice.

The next day at Nice was slow and relaxing. We walked around a lot and also managed to get a compulsary dose of crepes (yummmmmmmmmmmm.....) before we left France. For the uninitiated, crepes are a form of French food. They are like dosas or thin pancakes stuffed typically with sweet stuff like sugar, icecream, fruit, nutella or chocolate sauces. Sometimes, you can also get what they call Savory crepes which are salty. Needless to stay, I stick with sweet crepes and hari sticks with salty crepes. That is generally how things go in our life. It may also be the secret behind a happy marriage now that I think about it.......since you dont have to share the things you really like in life;-)

We soon bid farewell to this lovely town and spent the entire rest of the day in trains (first from Nice to Paris and then on the Eurostar train from Paris to London). London is our last stop on the trip. We are both excited as well as pensive that this vacation will soon come to an end..

Before I forget, riding the Eurostar was fun. A 3 hour ride , 20 mins of which are through the 'chunnel' - the tunnel built under the English channel - gets you from Paris to Waterloo station in London.

Photos of France and England

http://www.ofoto.com/I.jsp?c=35mf8y.b9fllgsr&x=0&y=3i0j8e