In the late 19th century, Alfred Nobel was chased out of Paris for selling his latest smokeless munitions creation to the Italians (after the French declined the offer.) He toured around a little before settling in San Remo almost at the end of the Italian riviera. His house, perched over the sea, became his final home before he passed away a few years later. In that time he developed the seeds of what would go on to be rayon and other leather and rubber substitutes.

You can imagine how excited Fid was to learn all about dynamite and the guy that invented it. Boo told us she has been learning about test tubes at school so found it just as exciting. The local area embraced Nobel and have done a decent job of restoring his house to a good representation of how he would have left it, and commemorating his work and legacy in a Museum. The beginning of the museum sets the scene of scientific development in the second half of the 19th century, would have been an exciting era to be a gentleman of means.
Trip Advisor says skip San Remo, that's too harsh, it's a beautiful spot worth a stop even if just for Villa Nobel.
 
Somehow the kids decided to hold their breath in any tunnel less than about 1.5k. Cutting through the Alpes at the end of the Riviera dei Fiori and through into Côte d'Azu meant plenty of opportunity for that and a refreshingly quiet car ride! Soon enough though, we were in France and more importantly - Nice, and nice it is.

Our hotel is a few blocks back from the Baie des Anges and the Prominade des Anglais.The colour of this beach couldn't be more inviting, even with the pebbles underfoot. We had intended to head for Monte Carlo tomorrow, but with another 30c day on the way, we're thinking it's beach club day again. We kept heading along towards the old town. Strolling though some little streets had lunch in a quaint boulangerie, boo ordered her first Orangina and told us all how much she missed it. "Imagine you first tasted Franziskaner in Munich Daddy, then you didn't have it for a whole year, then you go back to Munich and boom there it is, how would you feel?" More importantly though Fid - that kids that staunchly only consumes about 3 different things, was so tempted by the idea of a vanilla macaroon he tried the tiniest crumb, but liked it so much he tried to snatch it back.

The kids and I sat in a bar while Gab fell in love with a million things in a vintage store for every french brand I;ve heard of. Eventually satisfied she returned and we headed further along to a big open area I've forgotten the name of. There are fantastic pack lands for the kids and a great long water fountain in the pathway that goes off every half an hour. The kids were saturated, but very pleased with themselves.

We hopped on a train cart tour of the old town and up to castle hill, Nice is the 5th largest city in France and has has continuous settlement for over 3000 years (or was it 4?) initially be the Greeks but soon after by the Romans, they've left their mark here. The barbarians arrived followed by the Franks - and soon enough Nice settled in a ping-pong match between what are now Italian and French interests. With that history and being so close to Italy there is a strong Italian influence to everything, hungry for France as we were, we still ended up with Pizza for dinner.