have now lead us back to France for the third time. This time we have taken on a perfumery after crossing the French border and two cities; Nice (Neece as it is pronounced) and Monaco, which is also it's own country. Our first stop once we arrived back in France was a small perfumery producing a large portion of France's exquisite perfumes. We took an on site tour and it was quite fascinating. We learned all about the art of creating the scents that we all love. Did you know that there are people out there employed to just sniff smells and create perfumes? They are called Noses and there are only 50 of them in the entire world. Some of the contraptions they use to produce perfumes and soaps, etc are pretty crazy looking.
Once we left the perfumery we headed to our hotel located right outside of Nice. Let me just tell you... After 10 days of teeny tiny rooms we checked into studio rooms giving us each our own DOUBLE beds, a microwave, refrigerator, and oodles of excess space. It is heaven! We also have a roof top pool and a pretty sweet view of the beach! Not too shabby, eh? This is the view from the cute window in our bathroom
We all went to a french restaurant last night together and tried various cuisines. It was delish! The walk to the restaurant was right through a little town right off the water and we were surround by yachts and beautiful scenery. On the way back to the hotel Amanda and I saw this cute sign and went to take a picture with it when we were greeted by a cute little furry friend. He reminded me of how badly I want a pup of my own!
Anyway, today we were escorted into Nice by our fearless leader Alan and our driver, Avia (his name is pronounced Iva, we call him "Iva the driva") around 9am and had roughly 6 hours to try and see all of Nice. Against some of my better judgement, I entered the shopping realm that the French Rivera is known for and happily embraced some retail therapy. Yes, yes... I somehow resisted in Barcelona but indulged in Nice which is bad but I got some very lovely things, including items for some themed parties we have coming up, and I had an absolute blast shopping so I am cutting myself some slack :)
Once I did enough damage on the retail front, Amanda, Leisha, and I made our way to the beach and relaxed for a few hours before we had to head back to our hotel to get ready. Here is a pic of Amanda and Leisha on the promenade.
The beaches in Nice were some of the cleanest and nicest beaches I have ever seen. Surprisingly, they were far less crowded with topless people as well. We have all agreed today... Nice is niiiiiice! lol! However, this was my first time on a pebble beach and although it is pleasant to be rid if sandy bathing wear, it is quite aggregating to try and walk and lay on pebbles so we ended up renting beach chairs, or lylies as Amanda and the Aussies call them, for 14 Euros! It was the most expensive suntan I have ever gotten but it was wonderfully relaxing!
Once we got back from Nice we got ready and embarked on our hour drive to Monaco to visit the royal palace (the prince of Monaco is getting married this weekend so it is a big to do here) and the Grand Monte Carlo Casino. The drive to Monaco was phenomenal. We stopped along the way to get some photos, just take a look!
Once we made it to Monaco, a torrential rain began and we were all immediately soaking wet. Please keep in mind that we are all dressed in our best to spend an evening amongst the rich and famous who surround Monaco. This was a group of my friends in the elevator on the way back down from the top and a few of us out in front of Dora.
After we dried off a bit we made it to the Grand Casino. It was interesting to see roulette tables, other table games, and virtual games in French. The minimum buy ins were in the 200 Euro range and it was 10 Euro just to get in the casino, so needless to say, I didn't play much. I lost about 15 Euro in the video roulette and gave up quickly but not before I got some cute pics, because after all, that's what this whole experience is about... Capturing wonderful memories!
First thing tomorrow morning we are off to Venice!!! I am so excited to finally get to Italy that I feel like a little kid on Christmas Eve and I can't sleep! We are arriving into Venice around 4pm tomorrow and then we are having some kind of surprise themed party and celebrating Leisha's birthday. I will catch up with you all again after Venice. I am not sure but I don't think we have wifi there so it may be a few days before I can get back in touch.
Here's the link to the photos from this segment of the trip... I'm not exactly sure why but they are all out of order in this album.
https://picasaweb.google.com/118224782848888880659/NiceMonaco?authkey=Gv1sRgCInjn7uslff99QE
Love,
Lindsay
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Nice, France and Monaco!
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