1 Jan 08 - Nice Day 1

So, it was arrivederci Italia and Re-bonjour La France as we left Milan for Nice. It was to be a 5-hour journey which I spent mostly sleeping, chit-chatting and experimenting with Yunzhi's camera. Ahh when I save up enough, I resolve to get one of those and learn some real photography skills.


left: la gare de Nice!
right: some pavillion in the vicinity of our hostel.

Locating the hostel was a challenging task to say the least. We asked many locals who had no clue when finally we struck gold with this kindly gentleman who offered to run the address of the hotel in his car's GPS. Eventually, after close to an hour and a half since we left the train station, we found the hostel, a 10-minute uphill walk.

Other than its poor location, Villa Saint-Exupery was every bit the dream hostel. It had beautiful landscaping and a huge common room cum pub which had about 10 computer terminals equipped with internet access which guests can use for free. On top of that, the drinks were very reasonably priced. The dorms housed a tad too many people but what could we expect for the 16€ we paid per night?


above: us satisfied with our room :)


above: the common room-pub


left: the hostel's landscaping
right: a quiet street in the town area, which had scarcely a soul as most shops and restaurants close for the New Year. That's one think that is really different between the European and Asian culture. While us Asians with businesses would seize every money-making opportunity by working through the holiday period, the Europeans view holidays as they are supposed to be - a time to take a break!


left: one of the unique Nicois signs marking the names of the tramstops.
right: I await the impossible - one of the inspiring quotes that can be seen at each tram stop.


right: when hunger strikes, friends turn to foe hehe.



above: Our dinner of moules et frites (mussels and fries)! One of my all time favourite dishes :) There was at least one kilogram worth of mussels in that pot. Sinful but had to eat my fill before going back to Singapore!

To aid our digestion after the heavy meal, we took a short walk to the seaside, near the Promenade des Anglais (Walk of the English) and La Baie des Anges (The Bay of Angels). Since it was already nightfall, we could only make out the street lamps lining the parabolic sidewalk at la prom.

And that was the first day in Nice.