Today we got the TGV from Paris to Nice, which took most of the day. We arrived in our first ‘hot’ city – 30+ degrees. We had a walk around the cafe streets before baguette and brie (and beer, maybe the first lagers of the trip) on the beach for dinner. Nice has a great feel, I really like it here. I can’t think of anywhere in Australia that I have been that compares. It is built up, with lots of cafes and bars, but there are no huge skyscrapers. There are some really beautiful old hotels on the main beach strip.

July 29 – Day 17

We went to Monaco for the morning on the bus, which cost 1 euro – maybe the cheapest thing we have paid for in Europe so far :). It was meant to be a quick trip, but took about an hour. We ended up getting to Monaco at about midday. In Monaco, we got on ‘Le Petit Train’, because it was so hot, and got a good overview of The Principality. We had some drinks and a bit of a wander, but it was too expensive (and hot) to do much else. When we got back to Nice we spent a while on the beach swimming and relaxing, which was a welcome change from our usual pace. We then went out to a really nice dinner on the beach, another walk through the streets, and back to the hotel.

July 30 – Day 18

Today I was in bed from 11am for 24 hours. The pharmacist said it was heatstroke. It was nasty. I haven’t written much about Nice, but I really enjoyed it (when I wasn’t sick). There are a few things I was reccommended to see that we missed out on which is annoying.