nice nice

From the moment we handed in the car keys, Nice wasn't so bad! We resumed our lives as carless backpackers and slowly got that 'nothing really matters' attitude working again!

And how could we not - Nice was all about sun and pebbly beaches. It would be more fair to call them stone beaches, as only small portions of the area had pebble sized rocks - these things were the size of baseballs.

We called into the Matisse and then the Chagall museum. It was quite a walk from the town center up the hill, in summer heat too! During such walk I experienced a sudden loss of traction in one foot followed by an infuriating annoyance at the french for not picking up after their dogs. But, we got there. 

For chagall, it was a short exhibition but amazing works to see.

The food wasn't too cheap, being such a tourist filled destination. We did seek out for some Nice specialties - sardine beignet, eggplant beignet, and some other thing that tasted like vaguely like spinach and feta.

Most nights however we were cheap and decided to skip the tourist traps and cook our own goodies.

Nearby we climbed the short height of steps to the top of the Colline du Chateau (Castle Hill), providing a great view of the Promenade des Anglais (main drag along the beach) and the rest of Nice.

There was also a lot of ocean to look at!

There was a lovely green park at the top were we basically spent an hour sleeping.

No backlight in this photo!

Nearby there was Monument Aux Morts, a large war memorial to feel small at.

We spent a good portion of every day relaxing on the pebble beaches. 

Hmmm... trying to get rid of those t-shirt tan lines! Yea Grace is making me include this photo! But the water was really good, if a little cold on some days. At first, the very crowded public beaches were a little annoying, especially when you're sitting on a beach in france surrounded by (very loud) random australians. But once you get over it, it's good - you could make a habit out of it, coming here every day!

We had the best weather while we were there - it only rained on our way to the airport. Overall, it was really really NICE. (grace: groannnn!) We spent most of the time simply relaxing and soaking up the sun.
(sorry topless person)