Day 22 - Saturday 19 September 2015
Jazz had been a bit sick during the night, we think maybe something she ate was bad, so we both woke up a little tired. In the real world if someone had been up vomiting in the middle of the night you would not go to work the next day but in holiday world, Jazz pushed through and still wanted to go on the eBike tour we had booked.
An eBike is a cross between a normal bike and a motor bike, it has a small motor attached and gives you a boost when you use the peddles.
Our tour was at 10am so on the way to the meeting point we stopped to buy croissants and water so we weren't riding on empty stomachs. We also needed to get cash out to pay the tour guide.
We waited at the meeting point and there were lots of people there but they were all either waiting for a normal bike tour or a food tour. When the various tour leaders showed up we met ours, Kevin from the UK, and we ended up having a private tour with him as someone else who had booked didn't show up.
We walked back to the bike shop which was in the old town and Kevin gave us our bikes.
I hadn't ridden a bike in over 15 years since I was in primary school but I figured, like the saying goes, "it's like riding a bike" and you don't forget.
I got on the bike and I was feeling very shaky. I was also a bit shaken by the motor because it pushes the bike along whether you are on it or not.
Kevin assured me not to worry and said we could go as slow as I wanted it. We set off and I was still feeling pretty shaky but tried to press on and keep up.
We went around the harbour and he showed us some of the fancy yachts. He said Bill Gates had a boat that he parks in Nice often but it was too big to dock in the marina.
We started going up a hill and my bag had swung around and gotten in front of me. When I tried to swing it back around I lost control of the bike but because the motor was on, it kept going and jumped over the curb. I managed to scratch all down the back of my leg and it took off a layer of skin and left me with terrible bruises. I was a bit shaken but again pressed on, mostly out fear of further embarrassment.
On the tour we rode past Sean Connery's house and Elton John's house. Kevin also pointed out Madonna's party mansion and a few other very impressive houses.
We rode up a very steep hill, which wasn't too hard with the motor on the bike, and once we got to the top we could see three countries - France, Monaco & Italy. It was so beautiful. By far the most picturesque place we had been. The further we got up the hill the more breathtaking it got.
We then road down the other side of the hill and stopped at a little cafe on the beach to have some beer & bruschetta.
After a short trip we continued back over the hill and back to old town. The tour was great but I was very happy to give back the bike at the end.
After the tour we walked to the beach and stopped to wander through the flower market on the way. There were so many stalls of flowers, souvenirs & candied fruit.
We bought a few little souvenirs and continued on to the beach. We were both really hot from the bikes and wanted to go for a swim in the beautiful beach.
The beach was very long but there was a restaurant there called Opera Plage and they had beach lounges and umbrellas. We wanted to go there as there was no shade anywhere else. We had to pay €16 euros each just go get in! Drinks were also really expensive but it was worth it to have the bathroom, the lounge, the sun umbrella and something to cover stones on the beach you had to walk on. They were really painful on your feet.
So far we hadn't been that impressed with the beaches in Europe but that all changed in Nice. If it had sand rather than the painful stones it would have been perfect but it was pretty close anyway.
There was a couple sitting next to us that we started talking to and they were from Perth! They were on a 12 week holiday (I think) around Europe enjoying their long service leave. They were really nice and easy to chat to.
They watched our bags so we could go swimming together.
Once we went swimming we lay on our lounges for a while and then Jazz suggested that we go parasailing.
We got the couple to watch our things again and walked over to the spot where they were doing it. We had to wait about half an hour for our turn but it was worth it. It was really beautiful up there and not scary, mostly.
They slowed down and dipped us into the water twice which was really funny. And at the end we basically just dropped down really suddenly and crashed into the water. Jazz caught it all on her go pro and it's really funny to watch back.
After we got out of the water we went back and tanned for a bit to dry off and then headed back to the apartment just after 6pm.
We showered and put some washing on and then headed out for dinner.
Jazz really wanted some French onion soup, eating it was on our list of things to do whilst in France. A restaurant called Rina which was about 50 meters from our building had it on the menu so we stopped there and got a table right on the street.
We ordered some French champagne to start (as this was also on our to do list) and it cost €14 each for tiny glasses!
The waiter was really nice & attentive and we both enjoyed our food.
Because we were sitting right at the front facing the street it was great for people watching. We noticed lots of people where wearing all while so we made a game out of it and had to spot them before the other. Shoes didn't need to be white but if they were wearing a jacket or scarf over their white outfit it didn't count. We also made up the rule that men in all white got you two points and this kept things pretty competitive. It was very close throughout the whole of dinner but I won 12-8 mostly because I got a two pointer from a guy wearing a white dress that we saw just before we finished dinner. We think he must have been on a bachelor party or something.
After dinner we wanted to get some Gelato. Our host had told us about this place called Azzurro that was supposed to have the best Gelato around. It was in the old town about 1.2kms away so we walked there. There were heaps of flavours to choose from and they all looked delicious.
We were both pretty tired and needed to be up early so headed home to go to bed whilst eating our delicious ice cream.