Nice Day 3

My final post on my last trip. This is taking such a long time as I'm in the middle of my electives.

We went to the Old Town for our breakfast.

Pastries in European countries are still so much nicer looking and delicious compared to those in Malaysia

We went up Château hill as there were a few spots up there where we could get a panaroma view of Nice.

I like this view.

2nd most beautiful beach in Europe

Really nice waterfall. Got drenched from the water droplets. I'm exaggerating here.

I'm not sure if it's real or artificial.

Finally, we decided to make our way to the beach before we head back to the airport. At that point, I was barely keeping myself awake. Feeling really tired and I still have to worry about packing and moving my things into storage.

On our way, we saw this weird looking sea creature, scientific name Buaya on display and a tourist busy taking a photograph of it.

I was surprised that there were no sand at the beach. It was covered with tons and tons of flat pebbles! Along the way, I guess some people missed the sand and decided to import it from elsewhere.

Pebbles everywhere and it was crazy to see so many people sunbathing on top of these pebbles at noon time.

Not the usual sand and water but pebbles and water.

We made our way back to the old town for lunch.

And had battered seafood again as they were really delicious.

Finally, my story of Nice and Monaco ends here. Next time, I'll be blogging on Malaysia and mainly the many types of food it offers. I just hope that I have time to do this. Hospital attachments here are just crazy. From 8am till earliest 5pm but I usually end around 6pm. Tiring. Now I miss UK's hospital time.

Day Trip To Monaco - Day 2

I guess I don't have that many stories to blog that's why all my entries cover the tiniest details. So, here goes.

Hunting for breakfast:

You just know that these pastries will taste delicious from the way they look.

We ended up eating croissants. If you have the chance, do try the croissants here. Malaysian croissants can never beat these.

We were going to take a train to Monaco that morning, but when we arrived at the train station, we had to wait till about 1.30pm for the next train. Since breakfast wasn't that filling, we decided to hunt for lunch:

All these Chinese restaurants were tempting us but we ended up in:

Finally, after about 40 minutes of train ride, we arrived in Monaco. From the moment I stepped onto Monaco soil, I felt the difference. The world rich people live in is really posh.

From train stations

To red zebra crossings

Monaco is just so beautiful. It is a country by the sea and I think each citizen owns a boat there. Basically, I can use 3 words to describe Monaco's specialties: Ships, F1 and Casino.

Halfway up the hill. Cannot remember what was the name. Hehehe
Reached the top
We visited the palace, Maritime museum (just from the outside), etc. before making our way to the casino.

Groupie

Ships:

I want to own one!!!!! There were some which have 3 decks.

Really nice view. Put some of the palm leaves into the picture to give you an idea of where I was while snapping this photo.

Groupie again

This is how you picture a poor living amongst the riches

Made in George Town, Penang?

F1:

Is it possible to drive your city car on an F1 track? Yes! Only in Monaco. I was wondering why were the roads looking a bit narrower than usual. It's actually the F1 track.

The track even goes through a few buildings and passes the car parks within the buildings.

Casino:

Groupie number 3

The biggest Casino in Monaco. 10 Euros to enter. Free if you're lucky enough to win it back.

We saw a huge group of people and camera crew gathered near the Casino waiting for someone to appear. The funniest thing was, when we went up to ask who were the group of spectators waiting for, they told us that they didn't know. Hehehe. So, do you recognise the lady in blue?

Finally, the guys needed their dose of Eurocup.

Refreshments for our tea break at a small pub in Monaco:

Finally, we made our way back to Nice and it was time for the 2nd dose of football. So, we had a Mexican dinner.

I ordered their special beef burger. Not bad. Mexican style. I think that place was called Woody's or something like that.

On our way back, we passed by Massena square again.

Just noticed the funny lighted figures on top of poles

Fountain

We had a major problem when we got back to our hotel. We couldn't open the main door even after trying and trying for 15 minutes.

The keys that they gave us:
So, that concluded my 2nd day. Next day was the continuation of our tour around Nice.

Nice Day 1

Okay, for those who doesn't want to be home sick, this entry is safe and Malaysian food-free.

I went to Nice and Monaco for 3 days from the 10th till the 12th of June. I can use 3 words to describe the trip to Nice: Frying, Food and Football.

Day 1:

I had to catch a bus to airport at 5am for my flight at 6.50am. Reached Nice around 10.30am because the clock moves forward an hour in European countries. We were homeless for half a day cause we didn't book any hotels.

Hakuna Matata. Eat ice cream first.

What to do? Luckily the weather is hot enough to be spent outdoors.

Finally, we came across this really good deal, thanks to E. I think it came up to 20 euros a night.

Happy that we managed to get a roof over our heads and soft mattresses for our backs for 2 nights.

As a promotion, they even threw in a cat as our pet for 2 nights.

Off we went exploring the area.

I wonder do the fountains cool the place down a bit. It was so hot that we were seriously fried under the sun.

They walked to the left...

And walked to the right. I just stood there taking photos while waiting for them to make up their minds.

Most happening place where all the excitement, shops, food and people were - Old town.

Flowers at Flower Market which will turn into a night market and restaurants at night. There were wines, spices, preserved fruits, flowers, etc.

This particular shop sold a lot of cookies and chocolates. So, I decided to buy 5 pieces of cookies for the 5 of us to taste. The free sample of chocolate on the bottom right was really delicious.

Our system of cookies tasting was, each take a bite, then rotate anti-clockwise. Verdict: Looks delicious but doesn't taste as delicious as it looks. Last person had to finish whatever is left, so, if you're lucky, you'll get the smallest and tastiest piece.

Nice's version of Subway

We saw some interesting things on sale as well:

The last time I saw this was 10 years back in Sandakan. You get to measure the length of chain that you want and the shop keeper will add on the clasps for you.

Maybe that's the side effects from using it - Rape all.

We saw a shop selling Middle Eastern food as well.

A decided to buy 4 doughnut for us to share. 2 of each type.

The verdict:

One tasted like lime stone (batu kapur) and another one was seriously too sweet. We tried our best to pose as if they were really delicious, but reality is reality.

So delicious that even the lemon was worth eating

Best food we came across - the deep fried anchovies (ikan bilis). They're totally different from the Malaysian type as they were so juicy and soft. I think they fried them while they're fresh as opposed to the dried type in Malaysia.

Soon, we could feel that the guys were getting restless. Reason: they need their 1st dose of football for the day.

So, here we were, watching the 1st match of Eurocup of the day. They quieted the girls by buying us drinks.

We continued our sight-seeing when the match ended.

Palace of Justice

Soon, it was dinner time. We ate at one of the Restaurant offering a 3 course meal for 15 euros.

There were so many combinations to choose from.

However, the best combination went to mine:

My meal consisted of a free glass of alcohol (it tasted more like fruit juice), fried calamari rings, salmon with rice and for desserts, I had apple pie.

View of Flower market at night.

Then, it was time for the 2nd match. So, our last stop was at a cafe before retiring for the day.

The atmosphere was really intense.

The next day, we were off to Monaco. Get ready to be spoilt by loads of really beautiful sceneries.