Before we departed we still had time at the train station, so we headed to the McD for some lunch. The Fillet O Fish is definitely bigger than back home.
Look at the size variation of the large, medium and small cups!
I left Hot sunny Spain with one last glance out the window of the afternoon train. This country has shared with me some very memorable moments and I got to meet some of it's passionate and friendly people. For me, the Spanish heart and core is in the Flamenco. It isn't only art, it is also life.
Back to my narration of our journey out of Spain, the trip took us nearly 12 hours. Here is why.
We took the train from Barcelona to Figueres, where we transferred trains to Nimes, France. This ticket does not take us to the final destination as the Spanish trains can only travel as far as Nimes.
From Nimes we had to rush into the station to buy further tickets to Nice.
Turns out there are no direct trains to Nice from
Nimes, it was another train to Marseille where there was a stop over for an hour then the last one train ride from there to Nice.
When we got to Marseille a big surprise awaited us, our next train has been delayed for two hours! What can we do but go find some dinner, our best option was McDonalds again! Look at Dominique, he is bored to death with waiting!
This time around I did not want burgers so I tried the Chicken Box that is available. It has nuggets, chicken pieces and chicken nibbles.
While we were waiting for our train to arrive at McD, an elderly man walked in pushing a wheelchair. His luggage was on the chair while he tries to push and steady himself with a walking stick. He wanted to sit at the table next to us but was having difficulty so I helped a bit by moving chairs and helping him adjust his wheelchair.
The old man was very grateful and rested there.
He sat there for 15 mins, I was looking to see whether his family was with him, but it appeared he was alone.
He got up eventually and left, as I watch him slowly walk away I felt sad. I thought of my grandma back home, she would never have been left to travel alone like that. Unfortunately she is a minority in our youth focused world.
It's not easy when one gets older, they do need some extra support and I strongly believe it is the family's job to give this support. They are older and wiser, but also so much more frail than us young bodied members. Please look after these beloved while you can, life can be so short, do not have any regrets.
That night we took the train at 9.30pm to finally be on our last leg to Nice. By the time we arrived it was 12.30am.
Luckily the guesthouse we were staying in was only a few minutes walk from the train station.
We got to the door at just before 1am. Bridgette our hostess was already asleep, with guilt I ran her up on the phone to ask her to let us in.
She was so kind to let us in almost as soon as she can and showed us to our rooms and the facilities to her home before bidding us goodnight.
It was nearly 2pm before we settled down and was ready to sleep.
The next morning we woke up to a beautiful day in Nice. Nice is part of the French riviera which is a beautiful costal region in Southern France. It is only a few minutes away from Monaco, which is where the famous Monte Carlo is situated.
Our hostess owns a cat and a dog. Here is her cute little dog!
Her boyfriends cat actually stayed the night in our room too. I think she is very attached to this chair.
Our beautiful room.
We took a walk to the beach front, stopping for lunch at a French cafe just one street before.
This is the town of Nice.
I had this yummy fig salad. It is dressed with olive oil and honey, the bread is spread with cream cheese. There are some accompanying strawberries that complimented the salad very well. It was a bit like a sweet treat. Must try making this at home.
We also took a stroll in the antiques market that is open every Monday. There were definitely a great variety of antiques on sale but extremely expensive.
Here is the beach, look at the colour of the water! Nothing like that in New Zealand. I think most of the beaches are pebble beaches along the French Riviera.
Beach volleyball with manmade sandy beach.
Dominique took his shoes off to experience the pebbles, he said the rocks are hot!
This was the section where parachutes takes off.
Casino of Nice.
The weather is much more moderate than in Spain. In the middle of the afternoon the temperature was only 28oC. On the beach with the wind it wasn't too bad at all!
We took a side trip to McD for one final McFlurry Magnum. I have become quite a devote follower but must now say farewell. In Italy we will have gelatos, no more McFlurries.
We then decided to take a walk around the souvenir shops and malls for some French shopping experience.
We each brought a summer hat!
This was the lights outside the mall in the evening.
I was quite taken aback when everything started to close around 7pm, I forgot we are no longer in Spain where opening hours and evening meals is much later.
That night we decided to have some cheaper food. we found a nice Chinese Vietnamese food place which is much more affordable than restaurants by the beach.
The fried rice was really good!
An early night in tonight as we will be traveling again early tomorrow morning into Italy!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Location:Rue Rouget de l'Isle,Nice,France
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