It was bound to happen. The weather turned against us. Persistent rain had saturated us and some of our luggage as we made it to our apartment in Nice on Friday 1 February 2019. (We’re pretty well equipped with our waterproof backpack covers but they didn’t save our luggage.) The good news is we are here for 3 nights. This would give us a chance to dry out and catch up with washing duties. The bad news is that the rain didn’t make tourist trekking attractive. We did journey out with coats and umbrellas but it wasn’t comfortable.

We promenaded along Promenade Des Anglais (named after the English that came here and promenaded on that very same place early in the century) and saw a bit of the old town. Sixteen months ago there had been a terrorist attack on Nice promenade with many casualties and our thoughts went out to the families undoubtedly still hurting today. It’s funny but we actually preferred getting around in the snow and cold versus the rain. A cosy trendy bar with live music made it all the more bearable. It made me realise how much I’ve missed my live music fix. Ruthie felt the same. We enjoyed the French male/female duo doing an AC/DC song and when we applauded them performing in English, they replied “Merci”. Till then we had forgotten we were in France. They also had some Bee Gee’s numbers in their repertoire which they announced was for the Aussie’s. The duo were called MOFO, so FOMO met MOFO.

What a difference a day makes. A mild 14 degrees and we ventured out without coats for the first time in six weeks. My navigator lost all her google map landmarks so we may have got a little lost. Eventually, we were going down the beach promenade in the direction we hadn’t previously covered. Whilst it was nice to see a Mediterranean beach, I couldn’t see how walking or laying on all those pebbles could be comfortable. Apparently in summer a lot of portions of the beach become private and not cheap to attend to get your own square metre. Give me Cape anytime.

Our coffee stop was Le Negresco Hotel, established in 1913, which in the past has been the hotel of choice for the aristocracy and today for the who’s who of France. The doormen wear funny little uniforms and feathers in their hats and don’t look at you unless you’re wearing a recognised designer. That didn’t deter us, after all, we didn’t have our puffer jackets on today. It has a beautiful interior, full of rich timber and eclectic art. There is an art gallery on the 2nd floor. The coffee was served in fine china but it did cost AUD $12 each for that coffee. This pain was slightly offset by the little chocolate they served on the side. It all felt a bit pretentious but we are living it and breathing it.

The lifts to get up Castle Hill weren’t operational so up we climbed after we had already walked 10 k’s. The views at the different levels made the climb worthwhile. Along the way there was a man made waterfall and several plateau’s at which the French picnicked on their day of rest. At the top we had a Rosé and a Sucre Crêpe. Nice was looking beautiful.

Back down the bottom, we sat upstairs in a little Brasserie and watched the people and the sunset. A Ferry from Corsica was waiting to enter the port of Nice and a French couple we were sitting with said that French Island is 5 hours away. Back at the apartment Ruthie cooked up a tasty tuna salad for dinner. The end of another great day.