Monday, June 22, 2009

Back Home!

We had a lovely weeks holiday in Nice and I am only sorry it is all over so soon! The weather was great all week - about 25c max - which was not too hot for walking around sight seeing. I am not so good at the relaxation part and did have Andrew traipsing all over the place and getting on and off buses to random places. For me that is relaxing though - I enjoy seeing new things and love to explore places I go on holiday. We did spend a little time at the pool - more so in the early evening just having a coffee and reading my book. It has to be at least 30c before I get in a swimming pool but Andrew does like a swim. I get really cold very quickly in the water and am not a very strong swimmer. I can only do the front crawl and it is very splishy splashy!!

View over Nice from hill where Castle used to be



Nice itself was a lovely place - very Italian feeling about it, as it is near the border (lots of pizza and pasta on the menus!) The old part of the town is beautiful - lots of tiny winding streets with interesting shops and cafes. I love stopping for a coffee and sitting watching people go by - and the French do proper coffee :-) The beach in Nice is pebbly so not great for sunbathing although it was very busy all the same. There is a long promenade based on the English style (designed when Nice was a destination for wealthy Brits) - it stretched for miles along the coast.


The little train at the promenade - takes you around Nice


Breakfast sitting outside the cafe (don't worry, half of that is mine!)



Cimiez district of Nice - this picture was in the gardens of a monastery

We also visited a few other places along the riveria as our hotel was near the bus station and it was a euro no matter where you seemed to be going! We spent a day in Monaco - looking at the castle and watched the changing of the guards (although I couldn't see anything because I am so small). We walked along the waterside looking at all the big yachts and visited the casino(just the inside hall - you have to wear shirt and tie to get into casino itself). Monaco was an insight into the very rich - posh cars, posh shops and very expensive. I much preferred the more laid back feel to Nice.

Monaco


View over Monaco from the castle


Other places we visited were Grasse - where they have all the perfume factories and Eze, which is a little village perched on a hill. It was a steep climb but amazing place - tiny streets with shops in little caves in the stone. At the top were exotic gardens and an amazing view!

View from exotic gardens in Eze



View of a villa (now a museum) in Cap Ferrat which belonged to Baroness Rothschild



I just can't believe how much easier it was for me to move about although everything on the Riveria seeming to be uphill! But I was not out of breath once! The heat also did not bother me at all where as in the past it would have made my breathing very difficult. Unfortunately I did have a lot of problems with my hip - but I think its coming from my back when I hurt it before the walk as opposed to part of my CF arthritis pain. I am going to ask my physio if someone could take a look at my back because I am not sure what to do next. I did have to take a lot of painkillers to keep it in check and also had heat packs on it (not much fun in hot weather haha) but maybe some exercises would help things ease up. Despite the hip though it was still easier to get around than before the transplant and it made the whole trip so much more enjoyable.

It's back to reality now though and back to work tomorrow. I hear we are forecast some good weather this week though so perhaps I can just pretend I am still in Nice.....


p.s Just Giving appear to have changed their website when I was away, so there are problems with the counter I had before and also intermittent problems loading my page. I will manually update the total at the right hand side of the blog though so you can keep an eye on it - heading towards the 20K now!!!!!

6 comments:

Holly said...

Great to hear you had such an amazing time!

The photos are fab and a great blog as always x

John Anne and Ross said...

Hi Jacqueline
We are so glad (and relieved!!) you both had such a great holiday. We just love Nice and the area and can't wait to go back hopefully in October! We never seem to get tired of it! Your photos are fab and pleased the weather was OK for you. If I win the lottery I might just buy a wee villa there!!!!! We are looking forward to our holiday next week. Only 3 more sleeps till I stop work for the hols. Enjoy being back at work!!!!
lol Anne John and Ross
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Kelly said...

Wow, how on earth did you manage to pack so much into a week?! Glad you had a good holiday. The pictures are awesome. You have a definite knack with the camera I reckon. I think you will be going back to work for a rest after all that racing around Nice etc last week!

I do have one question - why did you not just sit on Andrew's shoulders if being short meant you couldn't see the changing of the guard... Hehe!

xxx

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a wonderful holiday.

Anders x

Anonymous said...

Lovely pics! Looks stunning :-)

Audrey xx

Marjolein said...

Awww! I've been to Nice about 9 years ago with my sister and my parents.
This year I'm going again, with my sis and two friends. We rented an apartment in the city and I'm so looking forward to it.
Last time we went to Monaco and Antibes.
We're going to visit Grasse this year and we already signed up for making our own perfume! I'm hoping to go to Monaco again too or maybe Cannes.

I'm glad you had such a great time :-)

Love your pictures too!