Nice, France, Europe

I got up this morning and headed out at about 9am. The American girls had already left at about 6:30am and the English girls were asleep, so I went out for the day on my own. I first went up to the castle on the hill in Nice to see the view in the morning. With the view facing west it is really nice in the morning with the sun shining on everything. When I finally reached the top of the stairs, and there were a lot of stairs, I found my next scavenger hunt picture from Jacquelien. She had sent a picture of a waterfall and it turns out it is the cascade up at the castle. I made sure to snap a few pictures of that and tried to get the same angle that she sent me. The lighting can sometimes make it look like it’s not the same place as in her picture.

After seeing the nice view and taking a relaxing stroll along the beach, I came back to the hostel to check the train times to get to Cannes. A few of them had been cancelled, but I still had a choice of a few different trains, so I got the one at 12:30pm. This train left from the Nice Ville station, and it was a madhouse! I didn’t realise just how mental this strike was making people, but it made me really glad that I have been travelling by bus instead of by train. This place was just crazy.

I got the train to Cannes and arrived there by 1pm. There is not a ton of stuff to see there, but it was a much nicer city to walk around than I was expecting. It reminded me of a mix of Nice and Monaco. There was a long stretch of beach like in Nice (but much sandier), and a big port filled with huge, fancy yachts like in Monaco. It appears that the Cote d’Azur is the rich kids play ground.

I started off with going up to the castle to get a view of Cannes and it was well worth the hike. I picked a good time to come as well because all the flowers are blooming in the city so it’s very colourful and alive. I didn’t bother to go inside the castle, I think I’ve seen enough old buildings and fortresses for a while. On my way back down to the city I had a search for my next scavenger hunt picture.

Unfortunately I missed the one in Monaco yesterday because I had to catch the last train back to Nice, so that’s the first one I missed. I wasn’t going to miss another one though, so I searched the streets of Nice to find a big sign that said “Ernest”. It turns out it is a famous chocolatier, and one of the best in France, so it was a great place for Jacquelien to send me. Unfortunately I got there after they closed, since Sunday they are only open until 12:30pm. I got the picture, which made me very happy, and then went to get something for lunch.

I found this burger joint called Steak and Shake and it was set up kind of like an old diner. I had a great BBQ bacon cheeseburger, and would be happy to go back there again if I’m ever in Cannes. I finished lunch and then had a walk along to port to make myself even more jealous of all these people and their sickening amounts of money. I was hoping that one of the billionaires was going to invite me onto his yacht just to give me a tour, but it didn’t happen. Maybe next time.

The port finishes at the back side of the famous theatre where the Cannes Film Festival takes place, so I had to get a picture of the stairs going to the front entrance. This is where you always see the movie stars coming out after viewing one of the new films being introduced at Cannes. I took a couple of pictures on their Walk of Fame, where some famous movie stars and directors put their hands in the cement on the sidewalk, and then headed to the beach.

It’s a much nicer beach than the one in Nice. This one actually has sand, not just rocks. With today being a Sunday, all the beautiful people were out so the beach was full of people enjoying the sun and the sand. I hung out there for about an hour and then caught my train back to Nice. I went down by the beach and grabbed a bite to eat and just enjoyed the scenery. I’ll be heading back to Marseille tomorrow morning, so this is the last time I’ll be by the beach for a few weeks anyway.

I’m back at the hostel and hung out with Anna and Louella for a bit. We also got a new Polish roommate, also named Anna, who seems very friendly. She has quite a few friends here in Nice, so she headed out to visit with them, so her stay was relatively short. English Anna seems really keen to travel the world and see as much as possible, so we’ve been talking about that a lot. She says she has picked up a few tips from me, and I love that. I always say, what is the point in travelling if you can’t pass on a few lessons that you’ve learned to other people who are looking to do something similar? The girls just rode their bikes for six days straight for charity, so they obviously have to motivation and determination to do what they have set out to do. I have no doubt that they’ll travel the world, and hopefully I’ll run into them again someday in another random country. But tomorrow we part ways, I’m going to Marseille and they go to Cannes.