2 nights in Nice!

So we arrived in Nice on a rainy afternoon, parked our car at our hotel and wandered down the main promenade...

Lehi had his first touch of the Mediterranean, and already felt more connected to the motherland!

Since the weather was a little dull, we jumped on a small white tram that took a drive around the streets of Nice, past the marina and up to the ruins of the old fortress to get a view across the whole coastline.

 

The next day, we took a morning drive around the coastline to Monaco and Monte Carlo... if you are ever planning to do the same, I'd recommend making it an afternoon road trip, as the streets were very quiet in the morning (and I imagine the crowds only start to come out when the casino opens at 2pm).

We did see a HUGE private yacht - the Lady Moura - and did some on the spot googling to find out more about it's billionaire owner and features!

Thankfully, as we headed back to Nice for the afternoon, the clouds began to burn off and we knew we'd be in for an afternoon of blue skies and lazing around on the pebbled beach...

Not bad huh!?

I also had my favourite meal in Nice at a restaurant on the beach - Neptunes - that is owned by the infamous Negresco Hotel.  If you are ever there, get the crustacean pasta salad - one of their specialties - you will not be disappointed!

That night, we had a great meal in the old streets of Nice and a final nutella crepe as it was time for us to move on from the French Riviera - the next day, we had a decent drive ahead of us to Florence, Italy!

Our accommodation in Nice was at Hotel Armenonville.  We chose it because it was only a few blocks back from the main strip and had secure car parking.  It is a beautiful old home set in very nice gardens, but seemed a little stale to us with the antique furniture, broken stair railing and strange cats sleeping all over the place... I don't think Lehi joking around that there could easily be a serial killer in the next bedroom helped my sleep... after that comment, it certainly had a little bit of a haunted hotel vibe!  None of the reviews on Trip Advisor draw that conclusion though, so maybe we were just at a funny stage of our trip and were craving something a little more modern!