From Arenzano we travelled back to Genoa, where we had to say goodbye to our little Lancia as we were scheduled to catch the train to Ventimille, near the boarder of France. On boarding we realised that we were going to be in for an interesting ride. The carriages, which paid homage to 70's train travel, were full up with people who were not ticket holders and just sat anywhere they could get away with it. Our cabin of 6 saw us sharing our 2 hour ride with two hungover dance festival goers who clearly were coming down from the excesses of festival fun. They did not stir or open their eyes until the end of the trip. The other gentleman in the cabin was in Rossco's seat. When he was politely asked to move he moved to my seat. When he was asked to move from my seat he grabbed his hat and disappeared...We were then joined by another man who did not have a ticket either, and kept checking to see if the ticket inspector was coming. It was a long 2 hours. There was air-conditioning and some fantastic coastline along the way which made it all OK.

Once we got to Ventimille we then had to catch another train to Nice. Our fun times were not over as we literally squashed into the train with our bags and thousands of other people. We clung on for dear life for a very long 40 minutes: this sort of squash makes Melbourne peak hour seem like a luxurious travel option. We were unable to freely breathe and were in the pits with other people pushing, shoving and standing on our feet to get passed us. Rossco and I both at times lost our balance and fell into others on the train. I don't think that I would opt to take that train again!

When we arrived in Nice it was HOT! It was only in the mid 30s but we were not expecting the wall of high humidity that hit us. On arriving at our hotel drenched (a 15 minute walk with luggage from the station in the afternoon heat) we were amazed to find that we had been upgraded to the Apartment Suite with 2 bathrooms, living room, huge bedroom and balcony on absolute beachfront on the strip. The view of the Riviera was fantastic from every window and we felt so lucky to have been upgraded to this...Wow! The hotel was originally built in 1878 is one of the original hotels built on La Promenade Anglais along the Bay of Angels. It has been lovingly preserved with formal drawing rooms and lounges with original antique furniture and frescos lining the ceilings. The rooms are all beautifully refurbished in a traditional manner that evokes the past. A beautiful place to stay on the Riviera.

We enjoyed a little walk along the promenade in the afternoon, and I did a little shopping whilst Rossco tried the local brew at a street-side restaurant to help him escape the heat. We found a little grocer where we picked up a few essentials for our planned post-dinner evening on our balcony; local wine, cheese, salami, olives and strawberries. The strawberries were the freshest punnet with the biggest and juiciest strawberries I have ever tasted, and every strawberry was immaculate, not a single one was squashed or brown! In the evening we dined at the hotel restaurant, outdoors overlooking the Bay of Angels. We later escaped to our balcony and watched the promenade for hours enjoying our local produce and wine. How spoilt we are!