The Cote D'Azur

Our road trip ended in the south of France, with some beautiful cities along the French Riviera.  Our first (and unplanned) stop- Cannes.

Cannes is absolutely gorgeous!  I can definitely see why they host the famous film festival there, and why celebrities come from all over the world for it.  The water and the beaches are postcard picturesque, and the town certainly has an air of wealth about it.  Well-kept boardwalks, High end designer shops, and outdoor restaurants with views of the water line the streets.  We did see some leather-skinned locals, and those that have had a few too many facelifts & Botox injections, but I'm sure that comes with the territory there.  Oh well, on to Nice.

The boardwalk in Cannes

In Nice we said goodbye to our trusty rental car, a VW Golf that served us well.  It was a fun road trip, but we were happy to give up the car and be back in the mode of public transportation.  For the most part, we found Nice to be quite crowded and hectic.  A beautiful city near bright blue water with numerous streets for shopping and eating, but there were people everywhere! When did we become so adverse to crowds?
One day we decided to take a bus to Monaco, mainly because you 'must' do that when you're in Nice.  In hindsight we probably should have done a little research first, but of course we decided to just wing it. We hopped on a 1 euro bus for Monaco, and began the most nauseating ride of our lives. Kimmie, if you're reading this, I wished I had an empty bag of chips with me just in case. It doesn't help that these buses are so crowded and they don't pump any air into them at all.  The way back was every bit the cluster (blank), but in a completely different way.  Now that I've gotten the complaining out of the way, the views in Monaco are truly spectacular. We didn't go to the casino because we were told you need 80 euros just to get in, and the minimum bets are outrageous, but we did see some lovely gardens, incredible yachts, and a very cool aquarium.

The drive from Nice to Monaco

A delightful surprise at the end of this hectic journey was the most incredible Italian festival that we stumbled upon after getting back from Monaco.  Mass was in hog heaven! (literally). I've never seen so much cheese and cured meats in my entire life.  We were instantly happy again.

Italian market in Nice