The French Riviera (Nice and Monaco) - July 2012

We left Spain early and made our way back to France, this time towards the French Riviera. Our first stop was at a perfume factory called "Fragonard" just outside of Nice. We had a tour and were shown how perfume and soap is made. I bought some perfume and hair oil.

Our hotel in Nice was the best so far. It had two bedrooms, a kitchen and a living area...so much space. The best part was the rooftop pool which had amazing views. Another unusual thing was when I looked out the window there were women sunbaking topless in the neighbouring pool...we discovered the next day that it is quite normal for the French to sunbake topless. They dont like tan lines!

The next day we went and explored the town of Nice. Nice really is Nice! We walked up to the top of "The Old Chateau" which gave great views of the ocean. After that walked to the main area and went through 'new town' and 'old town' which included some cute flower markets in the older part. It was a hot day so hit the beach and went for a swim. The beaches were all pebble, and it was actually quite painful to get in and out. However the water was so clear with no sand and beautiful to swim in.

That night we headed to the tiny country of Monaco. The drive from Nice to Monaco (about 40 minutes) was stunning. We played a game on the bus where the tour leader put numbers on one of the wheels and when the bus stopped whoever had the number that lined up won 50 euro (we all put in 1 euro each). Lucky me who never wins anything, I won! Yippee! So I had my gambling money ready. We had dinner at a restaurant then headed to the Monte Carlo. This was so different to Vegas. Much more classic. I played some roulette and pokies. Came out even so happy with that. One of my friends amazingly won twice on the same number in Roulette and walked away about 600 euros up after only spending 20. A good night out.