The sea is a good place to think of the future.

It's been another fun couple of days here in the French Riviera. Lots of shopping, food, wandering, and great views of the Mediterranean.

Yesterday morning, Becca T and I walked downtown to have a cappuccino and people-watch. We did some shopping (new clothes for me!), had some lunch in the square, and then went to Vieux Nice for some amazing gelato.

Here's a typical street in Vieux Nice:


The gelato place that we went to had 86 flavours to choose from, including some that are very interesting. I stuck to flavours that I knew would be tasty, because I don't believe in taking risks when it comes to gelato.


After gelato, we rented bikes and biked along the Promenade des Anglais. Becca then had to do some work stuff, so I did some a lot more biking.


In the evening, Becca cooked some very yummy chicken curry and an amazing Colombian pear dish that she learned from a friend here. We drank a bunch of wine and watched La Vie En Rose which is an amazing film about the French singer Edith Piaf. See it if you haven't.

I was on my own today, so I planned to take the bus that goes from Nice to Monaco and beyond. It's a great deal. You can hop on and hop off at any point for only 1 Euro. The end of the line is a town called Menton, so I decided to take it all the way out there first. The views of the sea along this bus route are amazing, and the ride is a bit crazy as the bus speeds along narrow windy seaside roads, often with a huge rock wall on one side.

I hopped off in Menton, and thought, hmmmm what do I want to do? I was hungry, so I decided to have an amazing lunch at a seaside cafe. There were cafes all along the promenade in Menton, and the actual restaurant was across a busy-ish road from the seating area. The waiter had to cross the street to bring you your food which I found hilarious. I had an amazing pizza, since I was only 5 miles from Italy, and a large glass of wine.

Here's the view from my cafe:

I really enjoyed walking around Vieux Menton. Maybe that was 'cuz of the wine? It's quiet compared to Nice, and I stopped for some pistachio gelato as I wandered. Then, it was time to hop on the bus and drive back to Monaco for me to explore a brand new country.

The Monte Carlo part of Monaco is super ritzy, and I saw enough of it from the bus to know I didn't need to stop. Becca went to the casino when she first arrived here, and says that it's actually super sketch. I'm not a casino person at all. I hopped off in the old part of Monaco, and climbed a bajillion steps to get to the palace. Can you see the steps in the picture below? That climb totally cancelled out my gelato.

Here's a picture of me with Monaco in the background. A random cool guy offered to take the picture for me out of the blue. According to Becca T, all the cool ppl around here are German, and when this dude opened his mouth, he supported her hypothesis. He took a bunch of shots too, which made me laugh.

Apparently Monaco has a really low crime-rate because there are cameras installed on the streets and police everywhere. They were installed by the previous Prince Albert, so that he could catch anyone talking smack about him. Anyway, it just gives you a weird feeling, but it is a beautiful place.

Today I could see Italy from Menton, but tomorrow Becca T and I are going to take the train to a small village on the border. I'm excited! And then Saturday's my last full day here. This trip has been so fun and super relaxing. I'm not looking forward to returning to the real world, but I'm not even going to think about that.

Happy Friday everyone!