I LOVE NICE!
What a beautiful place.
Perfect sunny weather....up and walking to the beach at 8am with Adrenne, lady from NZ.
We went back to that same market square we were in last night....for breakfast.
The market was all set up again...but this time, not gifts, but fruit and veg and flowers.
Looked magnificent.

Then down to the beach for a swim.
We couldn't get over the beach being rounded river rocks instead of sand.
Had so much fun.
Surprisingly, it was easy to walk on so long as you had thongs on ... But barefoot, it was very tricky. The rocks, because they are so smooth and rounded, roll under your feet.
So we lay out our towels (borrowed from the hotel)....looked at each other....and lay down.
Surprisingly...very comfortable.
So we lay chatting and taking photos.... And people watching.
Hey, people just get up here, grab their towel and walk off.
They don't have to shake any sand out!
Looks so strange.
But, on the other hand they don't frighten the occasional pigeon nestled on the rocks.
Then into the water .
Now that was a challenge in itself.
So barefooted.... Feet rolling from side to side as you edge closer to the waters' edge.
Then, once the rocks are wet, they are slippery....and moving even more under your feet as each wave hits....(very small waves)
In the end, I just sat down and let the ebb and flow of the water slowly lift me until it was deep enough to swim.
I had a huge case of the giggles...and if I thought that was funny...should have sen me trying to get out!
Very, very hard to get in and out without falling over.
Water was beautiful....

Then on the bus at 1.30pm for a tour of Nice, visit to the perfumery and dinner out.
Nice has a river running through it to the sea...but they have covered it in the 19th century to create more land....beautiful gardens on top of it and several large buildings.
Lots of different plants throughout Nice.
Early on the rich people all bought gardeners with them...and these gardeners experimented with different plants to see what would grow.
As it turned out, everything grew....hence the variety.
Nice has 300 days of sunshine a year...and they have plenty of water as well.
And the beach!
And The Promenade !
Next up into the mountains to St Paul...an old walled town....very old.
There were frequent pirate attacks on the shore line of Nice so St Paul was safer up in the hills.
It was a Mecca for artists in early 1900s...
There was a large house owned by the family De Rue....now artists would stay there and when they left, would pay for their stay by giving the home owner a painting.
This actually turned out well fot the home owner...Picasso stayed there amongst a whole list that I cannot remember..
The descendants of this home owner are very, very wealthy.
Phyll, do you paint?
St Paul is now a huge tourist attraction...and the town is FULL of narrow streets with amazing art shops. Just everywhere you look...one there is history...and then amazing art everywhere. I loved it. Took heaps of photos...would have loved 2 or 3 days there.

Then, onto dinner at a tiny French restaurant (I had spaghetti.....got my countries mixed up?....they didn't have snails or frog's legs so perhaps not that French at all....I did have Rosé, white wine and red wine though....
...high in the hills with wonderful views back to St Paul's
Very, very funny night....
The bus trip back was hysterical....the flowing wine had created some spectacular singers...so a tribute was sung to the artists who call Nice home....
Elton John...Crocodile Rock...my personal favourite!...I think the volume of this one helped!
U2
Tina Turner

Funny, funny night.
And very early start tomorrow.
Off to Monaco and Pisa.