June 2, 2022

WE LOVE NICE! Yesterday, we took a 6 hour train through the French countryside from Paris to Nice. When we finally arrived, we stopped by the tourism office to pick up our French Riviera passes before walking down the promenade to our hotel. The hot sun beat down on us as we lugged our bags along the walkway between the beach and the buildings, but we knew that we were going to love being in Nice. 

After checking into the hotel, we did some laundry before heading back to the beach. We wandered around looking at different restaurants before finding a good spot to sit by the water. We enjoyed our view for awhile before choosing a restaurant for dinner. We really wanted to eat on the beach, so we did. Isabel ordered salmon tartar and Stephanie ordered Pad Thai, both of which we really enjoyed. While we were eating, we spoke to a couple who were seated at the next table over and learned that the man owns the company that provides all the milk to the University of Delaware and his coworker’s son started the creamery! Sometimes it really is a small world. They were very nice and were very excited to hear about our trip and share some suggestions. After dinner, we walked along the beach some more and looked at the rocks before heading back to the hotel for the night. 

This morning, our first destination (after breakfast) was a boat trip around the point to see Ville-Franche and some of the promenade from the water. We learned that Ville-France has some of the most expensive land in the world and houses a number of celebrities including Bono, Tina Turner, the king of Egypt, and more. The views were amazing and the fun facts about the owners of the homes was very interesting. 

After the boat ride, we found a small local restaurant that boasted famous mussels, so of course we had to try. We ordered a smoked salmon appetizer and mussels that were cooked with lemon and parsley. The salmon was probably the best quality salmon either of us have ever had, it was so fresh and we loved every bite. Then, the mussels came and they were just as fresh and just as delicious. It made us wish we could stay in Nice and eat seafood forever. 

After lunch, we headed to a snorkeling trip where we got our gear and hopped on a small dingy which took us over to a bay to swim and snorkel. Unfortunately, we had to leave our phones in a locker so there are no pictures of us in our wetsuits, but we had a great time and saw a lot of fish. 

After snorkeling, we decided we wanted to go back to the hotel to rest for a minute and hang up the wet bathing suits, so we headed to the tram and made our way back. After dropping out stuff, we headed back out to find a wine store that was offering tastings with our passes. We tried some Prosecco which was amazing, and then bought a bottle of rosé to go with dinner. Dinner was the next task and we ended up settling for a pizza place near the water that let us do carry out so we could eat on the beach. It was a great end to a very fun (and tiring) day, and we were both just for our showers by the time we made it back to the hotel. There is so much to do and see here, we just hope we can squeeze a lot in tomorrow!