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Thursday 17th August 2006 - Nice

We checked out from the campsite and caught the train to Nice, intending to get a train to Paris as early as possible. Paris is a long way from Nice and we were expecting 10 hours or more on a train that day. However, when we made enquiries, we found that there was a sleeper train leaving for Paris Austerlitz at about 5:30 that afternoon. This sounded like a great idea... we could spend the day in Nice and then travel overnight to Paris *and* sleep in something which would probably be more comfortable than a tent! Bekky and Jack both liked the sound of this plan too. So that's what we decided to do.

We left our packs in left luggage and walked into Nice. We had a picnic lunch in one of Nice's squares, by a large fountain. From there we walked through the old town and eventually to the top of the large hill at the eastern end of the town, from which there are excellent views.

Most of the day was just spent relaxing and playing around. It's here that the now famous game "crown jewels" was accidently invented, to much hilarity. Don't ask... you had to be there.

Later on however, it started to rain, so we headed down the hill back into the old town looking for a sheltered spot to kill the remaining few hours before our train. Initially we found a very nice cafe and had coffees and milk shakes there. But inevitably... we ended up in a bar having a nice drink and playing cards together, much to the amusement/interest of the locals, who seemed intrigued to know what game we were playing. Sadly, even with Martin's legendary grasp of the french language and astonishingly authentic accent, we were unable to explain the game "hearts". Ah well, their loss!

Finally, we headed for Nice station, reclaimed our bags and caught the train. Bekky and Jack thought the couchettes were brilliant! There were 6 to each compartment and we shared with a couple of Californian's, Britney and Blaze (or something)!

A hitchhiker found on one of our tents as we prepared to leave the camp site

View from near the top of the hill over-looking Nice

Relaxing...

View from the other side of the hill, including the harbour

On the sleeper train to Paris in our chouchettes