Back to Nice - Last honeymoon post

Our departure from Italy went a lot smoother and faster than our arrival in Italy. After a long but relaxing six hours on trains we arrived at Nice's train station and walked 2 blocks to our hotel. After spoiling ourselves on our honeymoon, Lee-Anne was not a big fan of our 2 star hotel located a loud, drab neighborhood.

On the last full day of our honeymoon we successfully completed everything we wanted to do. First we navigated our way through a huge crowd of French train workers who were on strike for the day (glad we took the train the day before) as we made our way to a spectacular Russian orthodox Church. Next we took the economical city bus to the last site we wanted to see, the Matisse Museum. Both of us were mesmerized by Matisse's mastery of colors in his works.

The rest of the day was spent just how Lee-Anne wanted...strolling the many shops in Nice's city center. For dinner, we went back to the fantastic restaurant we visited on our first night in Nice. We cherished our last dinner and evening of our honeymoon with a bottle of Margaux grand cru wine.

Overall we really enjoyed our honeymoon. Of course it had its ups and downs. Our honeymoon wasn't always relaxing. Trying to see so many sites and traveling to so many locations was exhausting at time. The language barrier also proved frustrating at times. However, despite some difficulties our adventurous spirits loved exploring new places and cultures. The French and Italian Riviera's are truly beautiful places full of amazing art, architecture, and history. The riviera's extremely scenic with beautiful waters along lush, green mountainous land. All of the food we had was fresh and delicious. Overall our highlights were St. Tropez, Italy (Santa Margherita & Cinque Terra) and Nice. We have to say, we liked Italy a little better. The Italians we met were extremely friendly, welcoming, and seemed happy to speak english with us.

Blissfully,
Lee-Anne and Russ

Sexy Italia

On our first full day in Italy, Russ found an energy drink named “Sexy Italia” and it quickly became our slogan for our short time in Italy. After dropping off our rental car in Nice, we took a series of slow moving trains meet up with our friends Natalie and Michael in Santa Margherita Ligure. This was the first of our 4 night/5 day stay in Italy. We arrived later than expected (10:30pm) and immediately set out to fill our empty stomachs with delicious Italian cuisine. As we walked out of the restaurant, we noticed Michael and Natalie walking 5 meters away down the sidewalk. Wow! Meeting up was easy…then we headed out for a drink.


We started the next day with a trip to the nearby town of Portofino. Portofino is a small wealthy town. There is a harbor full of boats (ranging from huge yatchs to tiny two person boats) and gorgeous mansions perch above on the lush, green hillsides. Afterwards our early afternoon excursion we headed back to Santa Margherita’s centre for some food, drinks, and to watch world cup soccer. Italy was playing New Zealand so we wanted to sit amongst the locals and cheer for the local team. After months, maybe even years, of anticipation, Lee-Anne finally got to do some shopping in Italy. Lee-Anne finally had the chance to try on real Italian leather boots, and grope at finally tailored handbags, both that became valued possessions.

That evening we enjoyed our best meal in Italy (and one of our top meals ever!) at a small authentic, non-touristy restaurant that our hotel’s concierge recommended. Also, after our meal, one of the owners had a puppy that Natalie and I fell in love with. On our walk home we ran into the uber-friendly, Argentinean (and extremely handsome – think a young Antonio Banderes) waiter at the bar where we watched the soccer game. We had a long philosophical and political conversation with him and then decided to have a drink there. Another perfect day.

After taking advantage of the beach and rooftop sundeck of our hotel in Santa Margherita, the four of us ventured on to Vernazza, one of the towns in Cinque Terra. The scenic, yet much longer than expected drive, to Vernazza was a tad challenging. First, we had difficulty finding Cinque Terra. After an hour navigating the windy, mountainous roads to Cinque Terra we noticed the one road into Vernazza was closed due to a rockslide from the storm we have unwillingly have been chasing. We had to drive to a nearby town and lug all of our baggage (no wonder why it’s called lug-gage) in by train. Of course we took the wrong train, had to back track back to where we needed to go.

Cinque Terre is one of the reasons why Lee-Anne has always wanted to travel to Italy, and it did not disappoint her. Vineyards, olive trees, and luscious gardens cover the terraced mountains maintained by the same sturdy families that have lived there for centuries. Our full day there started by going to the bakery and getting breakfast to eat on our semi-private rugged terrace over looking the Mediterranean. Natalie’s knee and foot were in pain from the travel the day before so we took our time getting to the first of the five villages that make up Cinque (“five” in Italian) Terre. Russ and Lee-Anne split up from Natalie and Michael and went off to scamper up the top of the town of Riomaggiore to take scenic photos. We walked between the towns stopping for more delicious sea-side pasta and seafood (where Lee-Anne fell in love with Anchovies marinated in lemon). The last of the hikes was a bit more of a hike than a walk. Sore feet called for a bottle of excellent Italian wine (Brunello di Montalcino) with friends on our terrace before we shared one last dinner with Natalie and Michael. After dinner, Michael and Russ couldn't resist the urge to join a handful of people playing soccer on the small Vernazza beach.

ST. TROPEZ!!

“ST. TROPEZ!!”
Lee-Anne had to admit to Russ that he was right. Lee-Anne loves St. Tropez. We were originally going to stay there for 3 nights, but to Lee-Anne’s protest, Russ changed it to 2 nights, allowing another day in Antibes. What a mistake! After reading the Lonely Planet travel guide’s description of St. Tropez, Lee-Anne was not excited to spend her honeymoon fighting hoards of wealthy tourists stepping off their million-dollar yachts. The Lonely Planet made this small fishing village into a Miami beach nightclub at WMC (Winter Music Conference). Alas, arriving in St. Tropez we quickly discovered the Lonely Planet travel guide was wrong on dismissing this beautiful, chic, charming, and albeit expensive village. In St. Tropez Russ and Lee-Anne experienced: the best hotel so far, an amazing state-of the art club, beautiful soft fluffy sand beaches, and excellent food and wine. In the two evenings we spent there we enjoyed walking around the quaint town while window shopping in cute boutiques and big name-brand designer shops, and gawking at the biggest yachts you could imagine.

The most decadent day of our honeymoon was Friday in St. Tropez. Where we spent most of the day on the beach drinking wine on our comfortable beach chairs. We treated ourselves (and thanks to friends contributions on honeyfund) received our first couple’s massage in a fancy hotel spa. This luxurious treat followed by a delicious dinner of oysters, prawn risotto for Lee-Anne and a cod and vegetable soup for Russ, and yes more wine. ☺ We dressed the best two traveling hipsters can on their honeymoon and hit the hottest and most exclusive club in the French Riveria. We showed up at the perfect time and with a nod from the doorman he opened up the roped off entrance and we waltzed right in. While admission was free, the club got their money. It did not seem to matter what drinks we ordered, be it expensive chamagne, vodka, shots, or water, each set of two drinks were 52 Euros. The music (mostly electronica) was very danceable and accessible to the wide variety of well dressed club goers.

When it rains, it pours.

After waking with much anticipation to spend a couple days relaxing on a boat, we opened the curtains to check out the weather. Oh crap! The wind was howling and huge waves were crashing upon the shore. We noticed all the boats in the harbor were gone. We logged onto the internet to check the weather and we noticed the next two days were filled with rain and thunderstorms. We used google translator to help communicate our situation to the guys at the front desk and had them call our sailboat guides and cancel our trip.

Now what? We have no plans. We have no hotel for the next 2 nights. We need to return our rental car. Time to think fast…our solution was to drive several hours to the highly recommended city of Avignon. We booked a room online and checked out. We visited the sea-side Picasso museum where we could see 2-3 meter waves crashing along the nearby rocks; a storm was brewing outside. Unfortunately, we couldn’t locate the europcar shop in Antibes to extend our car rental. After much frustration, we were unable to extend car reservation over the phone so we had to drive several hours out of our way to Toulon and sort out our car situation at the Europcar office where we were returning the car.

We finally arrived at our hotel after 6 hours of driving and navigating our way through stormy Provence. Lee-Anne did all the driving since Russ can’t drive a stick. (This is going to change in the next few months)


Our day in Avignon was magical! The walled old town was beautiful and featured the Palace of the Popes. This is where popes started residing in 1303 for about 100 years while Italy and Rome where unstable. We toured the Palace, an old bridge across the Rhone River, and the old town. Highlights included: finding a shop of cyber designed clothes, going to a museum, and conversing with a traveler from Malaysia named Sam over a delicious 3-course meal.


Our next destination is the hip, chic old-fishing village of Saint Tropez. On our way we stopped for lunch in Aix-en-Provence.

Antibes

The main reason we choose to come to Antibes was for some relaxing time on a sandy beach. Lee-Anne’s step-mother, Gloria, recommended Hotel Josse which is located across the street from a lovely little beach. Sadly, our first day in Antibes was cloudy and grey so we checked the forecast and decided to hit the beach on Monday and explore more of Provence on Lee-Anne’s birthday. We went to one of the oldest perfumeries in the world in Grasse. The perfumery started there originally to cover up the smell of the tanneries but continues to thrive today due to the abundance of aromatic native plants. We took the tour of the factory and received a little history lesson about all the ingredients used in perfume and how it is made. Of course we bought some pleasant smelling goodies too.


The Provence region has a lot to offer and all its sights are surprisingly close. After the perfumery we still had time left in the day so we decided to drive to the Gorges du Loup, an area a friend recommended who said it was the most romantic place she had ever visited. It was breathtaking. Tight, curvy roads and hairpin turns led us up and down the steep Gorge; passing cars was a little nerve racking since nobody stays on their side of the road. Our friend Donna was right, the Gorge is romantic, it is a beautiful backdrop for Russ’s and my love. We stopped many times and gasped at the beauty and observed how happy we are. Along the way we came across Gourdon, a medieval hilltop town, were we frantically took photos of the view and the cobblestone houses with blue shutters.


Finally our first beach day! Russ and I took advantage of a couple honeyfund gifts and rented beach chairs and ordered a bottle of rose wine severed to us while we soaked up the morning sun. Oh the decadence! These honeyfund gifts are spoiling us. ☺ Reading and resting playing in the water was just what we needed. In the afternoon, clouds rolled in and Lee-Anne got chilly so we stumbled our way back to the hotel. A nap later, we ventured out for a delicious dinner in the old town. Tomorrow the Picasso Museum then off to relaxing Iles de Porquerolles where we’ll be spending a couples on a sailboat.

Our honeymoon-Nice and the French Riveria

We love Nice. Our trip started off beautifully with the news that we’ve been upgraded to the huge, top floor, 433 Euro per night junior suite. On our first evening in Nice, we ventured off to find a delicious French cuisine restaurant that our concierge recommended. Our first dinner out was a bit awkward due to the language barrier however that didn’t dampen the bubbles in the champagne or freshness of the sensuous food (& the orgasmic coffee).

Our first full day in Nice started slow with a croissant in my nightgown sitting on our balcony brought to me by my husband. We fell back asleep then got up and made our way down to the touristy Rue Massena for lunch. We decided to explore the “old town” and found many European squares complete with performance artists, boutiques, cathedrals, baroque outcroppings and famous French houses with colored shutters (that I grew to love in Vietnam, however more decrepit). I (Lee-Anne) was drawn to a little designer French boutique with unique clothes; I ended up a new Italian style outfit. The smell of fresh food called us to dinner and wine. We enjoyed a salad and the traditional Moules aux Frites (fresh mussels in a cream sauce) while sitting outside next to a church in a little square. We walked off some of our dinner by exploring a little deeper. I finally had my first real taste of gelato (ginger and mint), Russ had vanilla meragine. Yum! Walking back to our hotel I realized the reggae artist Lee “Scratch” Perry was playing in the beautiful gardens outside our hotel, but alas we were too tired to try and get a closer listen. Instead I just danced outside our balcony to a couple of tunes and called it a night.



Our second full day in Nice we took a scenic tour bus that took us around the sights of Nice. We exited the bus at the Chagall museum. It was amazing to see so many beautiful pieces of his work in one place. Each brush stroke, the color used, the symbology and every ounce of canvas are laden with meaning. Later, we hiked up to the top of this fort that looks out over the Mediterranean Sea and Promenade des Anglais. It was a warm day and we were quite tired after that, to recuperate we hung out in our junior suite and order room service (I know life is rough). That night we had reservations for a restaurant named Luna Rossa. Honestly, the best food I think I’ve ever had. I had fish with egg noodles, artichokes, and truffles. The food was accompanied with fabulous bottle of 2005 Saint Emillion grand cru—delicious.



The third day started with an early morning walking tour of Nice, which we regret due to lack of sleep and redundancy from the bus tour. The next phase of our honeymoon started when we picked up a rental car to drive along the scenic corniches and to explore more of the French Riviera. We stopped in a medieval hilltop town called Eze that had a botanical garden filled with succulents and cactus. It seemed like we photographed every inch of the town. We got back in our little euro-car and drove to Monaco and Monte Carlo. MONEY MONEY MONEY. Old rich money, oozes from the marble pours of this city and country. We had a look around and took photos of the old casino, the waterfront, as we walked past luxury cars (Porsche & Rolls Royce) and stores (Gucci and Prada). In Monaco we went to an amazing cactus and succulent garden that was owned by the famous Princess Grace Kelly, and Mr. Rainier. I was in succulent heaven. There were so many species that I had never seen, and most were a size I could only dream of. We drove and admired the sea all the way to Antibes (about hour and 1/ 2 drive). Finally we arrived at our quaint little hotel room in the beachside town.