So today was an early start, up at 7am, that's 6am in England, out the hotel via the French National Pastry Launching champion 2009/2010 otherwise known as "Petit Dejeuener" and onto the Paris Metro bound for Le Gare Lyon.

At the station I stagger across the concourse to the Billeterie and have, what in my mind was, a full blown conversation in French in order to purchase my reservation for the TGV to Nice-Ville. Whether any of it made sense I don't know or particularly care, however it resulted in the correct ticket for the correct train, which was Nice.

Now, if you have never travelled from the top of France to the very bottom corner then I implore you to get on a TGV and do it. The scenery is immense, the speed can only be described as "tear-arsing" and it appears to be a hotbed of French talent... Couple all that with a good listen to The Black Keys new album El Camino and wow; Well needed, cliched, pretentious, downtime. Bliss.

Now it's time to change from City Break Si to Dora the Explorer...

Nice. Nice is, well, interesting. Got off the train and found my way down to the Rue Jean Medecin, which is a bit like Market Street, Manchester. It's all Zara, H&M, Esprit etc. Just off this road, behind Galleries Lafayette, I found a hotel I recognised from a bit of research on Hotels.com; Hotel De Verdun. Literally 30 yards from the centre of Nice. And the best part? 50E per night. It is cheaper to fly out to Nice and stay here for two nights than it is to go to Windermere in the Lakes. And it's warmer too.

After checking in and dropping my bags in my room, (realising I'm in the penthouse with a private balcony, chur-ching) I took a wander down to the Seafront. Wow, Blackpool hasn't got anything on this. Miles of beach and blue sea and 19 degrees. Yep, 19 degrees. In December. I do have to keep telling myself it's Christmas next week. Then I took myself off to the Port De Nice, drooled over some yachts (difficult to spell) and headed back for a shower and change.

This evening was a quiet one. Couple of beers and dinner in a cafe, now back at the hotel ready for some shut-eye for the big one in the morning... Monaco!! Very very excited doesn't cover it.

Anyway, thank you for reading. Hope you're all not getting bored...

Bonsoir!

Si x