For our 10-year wedding anniversary on May 24, we planned a trip to Nice, France in March, booking flights and a hotel. 3 days before we left, we got a message that the hotel we booked had water damage and that they wanted to relocate us to a hotel really far away. So, after dropping off Selina, Kiran and Charlie, about 10 hours before our flight left, we luckily booked another hotel (so much for booking ahead of time!!).
Friday, May 24
After a quick night's rest, we woke up at 5:45 AM, left Frej to go to school himself and we were on our way... We flew Norwegian Air and arrived into Nice around 10:30 AM. We took the bus 98 from the airport to our hotel, dropped off our stuff and wandered down to Girabaldi square. We had a great lunch, enjoying the freedom of being on our own, sitting in sunny 18°C weather. We walked through the old town with narrow walking streets packed with tourists and lots of small restaurants and shops. The houses had green shutters and small balconies used for plants and for drying clothes. Then we walked to the Promenade des Anglais and took a quick rest on the beach that is made entirely of smooth, palm-sized rocks (and no sand).
To regain a bit of energy, we aimed to find a small coffee place, but mostly only found restaurants selling seafood and eventually found a small Thai shop, where Sofie had her first bubble tea and Cherian had a small cup of French coffee. We headed up the Castle Hill near the old town to see the breathtaking view of Nice and its surroundings. After checking in at the hotel, we got ready for dinner and went down to the Le Port to eat at an Italian vegetarian restaurant (Zucca Magica) that was decorated with pumpkins all over. After a nice meal and a pichet of the house wine, we mozied into the old town and got a drink listening to an awesome band at a small jazz bar.
Saturday, May 25
The traffic in Nice made us feel like we were in India... First, there were lots of scooters and then the unspoken traffic rules seemed to be that you just push your way through intersections, drive your scooter on sidewalks, double park when you need to, or park over crosswalks at the intersections. (But then again, everything else is disorderly coming from Copenhagen)...
But Nice also has a great city bike system where you register your credit card and mobile number, find a bike station, place a phone call and then you can take the bike from one stand and return it to a different stand in the city. So, we decided to brave the traffic chaos and rent city bikes. We biked up the hill to see the Matisse Museum (Selina insisted that we went there) and learned about Henri Matisse.
After the museum, seeing the rain clouds moving south from the north, we biked down to the shopping area, got a quick baguette to eat, and began a bike ride towards Monaco, which is just 13 km from Nice. Due to the hills, we didn't get very far, and as it started to rain, we stopped at a fancy (500 EUR per night) hotel with a good view overlooking the bay of Villafranche-sur-Mer. It was perfect timing as it started to pour, and we enjoyed our frothy cappuccino and hot chocolate (and free WiFi). After the rain passed, we headed down into the cute little town that was a lot
more quiet than Nice and dipped our feet in the cold water on its sandy beach.
We biked back with a strong tailwind, and we were back in Nice in no time. For dinner, we went to a vegan restaurant (Le Speakeasy) that was run by a older American lady. It was like walking into your grandma's messy dining room with only 3 tables (10 people could be seated). The food was kind of more like home cooking, so all-in-all a very unique experience, and very atypical to most Nice restaurants.
After dinner, we went out for drinks in the old city again but then figured out that the city bikes were not such a good deal as we thought. We thought it was one euro for the day, so we kept them for 10 hours, since they also had a combination lock that we could use. But, it turned out that it was 1 EUR just to have access to the bike system for the day, but then you have to pay by hour, where only the first 30 minutes are for free. So, we were charged 21 EUR each for the bikes for the day... So, then, we figured out how to just go from stand to stand within the 30 minutes and that is plenty of time to get from place to place in Nice.
Sunday, May 26
Since we had seen most of Nice, we decided to check off another country off the list, so we took a 20 min train ride to Monaco. But, it turned out that it was the day the Formula 1 Grand Prix was going on, so the train was very crowded. And when we got there, the streets were packed with police and souvenir stands. Tickets to get a seat on the grandstands were 500 Euros, but there were also streets where you could pay to just get a decent view. So, a romantic stroll through Monaco turned out to be crowded and loud trip with race-car noise and helicopters flying around all day.
Despite the crowd, we hiked up to the old fort/village where Prince Albert II lives (palace tours were closed though because of the race). Then we walked along the coast on the top of the cliff surrounded by lots of plants and cacti, enjoying the view over the sea and the bustling port. We eventually got a glimpse of the race.
We wanted to find the Exotic Gardens and the signs led us to a bus that took us there. It was a very nice tropical garden also with lots of cacti. There was also a cave where we climbed down 300 steps to check out the stalagmites and stalactites.
We went back to Nice and had socca for lunch - a Nice specialty - a chickpea pancake. Then we enjoyed the last bit of sunshine for the day on the beach in warm 20 C weather. Then we picked up our luggage at the hotel and took the bus to the airport for a flight at 20.40.
It was such a great second honeymoon (10 year anniversary weekend)!!
What an amazing feeling to spend some time just as a couple and to spontaneously enjoy the day (vs. having to deal with the daily grind)...
Big thanks to Selma´s family, Emma´s family, Kim´s family, Capella and Camilla for making this special weekend possible!!
Friday, May 24
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| Old town, Nice |
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| View of Promenade des Anglais from Castle Hill |
Saturday, May 25
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| Renting city bikes |
 |
| Matisse - "Horse, Rider and Clown 1947" |
After the museum, seeing the rain clouds moving south from the north, we biked down to the shopping area, got a quick baguette to eat, and began a bike ride towards Monaco, which is just 13 km from Nice. Due to the hills, we didn't get very far, and as it started to rain, we stopped at a fancy (500 EUR per night) hotel with a good view overlooking the bay of Villafranche-sur-Mer. It was perfect timing as it started to pour, and we enjoyed our frothy cappuccino and hot chocolate (and free WiFi). After the rain passed, we headed down into the cute little town that was a lot
 |
| View of Villafrance-sur-Mer |
We biked back with a strong tailwind, and we were back in Nice in no time. For dinner, we went to a vegan restaurant (Le Speakeasy) that was run by a older American lady. It was like walking into your grandma's messy dining room with only 3 tables (10 people could be seated). The food was kind of more like home cooking, so all-in-all a very unique experience, and very atypical to most Nice restaurants.
After dinner, we went out for drinks in the old city again but then figured out that the city bikes were not such a good deal as we thought. We thought it was one euro for the day, so we kept them for 10 hours, since they also had a combination lock that we could use. But, it turned out that it was 1 EUR just to have access to the bike system for the day, but then you have to pay by hour, where only the first 30 minutes are for free. So, we were charged 21 EUR each for the bikes for the day... So, then, we figured out how to just go from stand to stand within the 30 minutes and that is plenty of time to get from place to place in Nice.
Sunday, May 26
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| Can you see the little red racer car? (we hardly could) |
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| Observatory Cave, Monaco |
We wanted to find the Exotic Gardens and the signs led us to a bus that took us there. It was a very nice tropical garden also with lots of cacti. There was also a cave where we climbed down 300 steps to check out the stalagmites and stalactites.
 |
| Socca with parmesan, mushrooms & salad |
It was such a great second honeymoon (10 year anniversary weekend)!!
What an amazing feeling to spend some time just as a couple and to spontaneously enjoy the day (vs. having to deal with the daily grind)...
Big thanks to Selma´s family, Emma´s family, Kim´s family, Capella and Camilla for making this special weekend possible!!
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