Nice, France

We got up early this morning and spent the best part of an hour at the train station trying to buy a ticket to Rome. When we found out that we wouldn’t be able to join the next leg of the Eurobus to Avignon until 14 days from now, we decided we’d try somewhere else. Italy it is. For F$246/AU$82 we successfully booked a seat on tomorrow night’s train leaving at 8.35 pm. That will get us into Rome at 6.45 am Wednesday morning. Transportation and accommodation covered in one ticket.

After making the booking, we bought a ticket to spend the day in Monaco. With trains running every 20 minutes, and the trip only taking half an hour, we were there before we knew it. We did a quick walk-through Monte Carlo, past the harbor, and through the tunnel I’d seen from the Formula One Grand Prix, to the beach. We spent the best part of three hours lying on the pebbled beach and swimming in the water.

Afterwards we walked back to the harbor, after a quick photo stop outside the Monte Carlo Casino, and had lunch at a cafe, seated outside of course.

Monte Carlo Casino, Monaco

We then went to the station and caught the train back to the Nice.

Back at the hostel, we changed and grabbed some food and drinks and the four of us headed to Cannes. Cannes is half an hour in the opposite direction to Monaco, and then only a short walk to the beach. We went there because the tourist office had told us of a fireworks competition. We arrived at nine pm and picked our spot on the beach for the festivities to start at ten pm. The competition was over, but this was the closing ceremony, and the display was put on by the city of Cannes. The 45-minute spectacular was set to music. From “Rock Around The Clock” to “In The Mood” to “Saturday Night Fever” to “Isn’t She Lovely”, and many more.

Troy, Beck, Me & Roberta, Cannes, France

We finished off our drinks and nibblies before heading back to the station to catch the last train back to Nice.

We arrived back to an empty room at two am and crashed. It has been a big day mixing it with the rich and famous, but we handled it like we deserved to be there.