…Yes, Gina, they really do go topless.

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The train to Nice was quite an experience. I felt as if I were 15 years old again and at a really, really big slumber party. Our entire group (all 57 of us) had one whole car to ourselves ~~ which means we also shared one bathroom.

Each sleeping compartment held six people. I shared with Michelle, Heather, Rosemary, Nate, and Amber. The beds were tiny and we weren’t able to sit up in them. Luckily, we were traveling at night so sleeping wasn’t a problem. We were told that the train would have air conditioning…what they didn’t tell us is that by “air conditioning” they meant: open the window and stick your head out. It turned out not to be so bad.

We unboarded in Nice (this was more difficult for some of the group…they were almost on their way back to Paris). We had breakfast at a little restaurant that opened especially for us. Paoula’s (our tour guide) bag was stolen. We didn’t see much of Nice, mostly just drove down the main drag, so to speak, which ran along the coast of the Mediterranean. The sea was the most brilliant shade of blue.

We were on a tight schedule, so we headed on to Eze next, stopping at this fabulous, old bridge and bus park. 10 minutes later we pulled into Fragonard, a perfume factory. We took a tour…learned how the scents were produced, packaged, and we did some shopping. I bought the Miranda and the Buon Nuit.

From Nice we traveled to the Principality of Monaco. It was gorgeous and my favorite part of the trip thus far. We toured the Cathedral del Monaco where Grace Kelly’s tomb is and saw the Palace. We lunched at an outdoor cafe. I had the Chicken Paysanne (pizza with chicken, peppers, onions). The company was fantastic: Linda, Victor, Paul, Christy, Lynn, and Heather. It was a fabulous afternoon.

We returned to Nice around 5:30 pm…and Paoula led us to the city center for a few minutes of shopping and sight seeing. Heather and I headed to the beach to take another look at the Mediterranean Sea. Tom and Phillip followed us and Christy (my see-ster) and her husband Paul joined us.

The beach was really rocky…I wanted to take pictures of the beach but when I noticed that the women really do go topless….I didn’t want anyone to think I was taking pics of the naked women…so I refrained.

It was on to Cannes from there…and by the time we arrived at Hotel Rachel, we were pretty tired and running late for dinner. No time for the pool 🙁 I did laundry after dinner and Tom and Philip came to the room and hung out for awhile. The view from our room was pretty cool and the moon was rising over a hill as I fell asleep.

Sadly, that’s all we saw of Nice and Cannes. No famous faces or flashy cars. No films to see and no clubs to dance the night away in… but it was beautiful to see.

In the morning we boarded the bus for a five-hour ride to Italy. (minus 1 universal adapter/converter as I left Michelle’s set plugged into the wall…oops.) I still owe her one 🙁