Nice

Finally a comfortable bed and a good nights sleep! I never knew it would be hard to find a nice pillow and I have been seriously tempted to buy one of my own and drag it across Europe. They dont seem to have your typical rectangle pillow here but instead it is a big square pillow that one would normally add for decoration onto your bed. Or there is a long skinny pillow that goes right across the bed so technically you share one pillow, both are usually rock solid and leave your neck slightly wonky the next day. The houses here also have certainly bonus of a wind down barrier outside that blocks all the light, I can't help but think how amazing this would be on night shift as you wouldn't even know it was daylight outside! Winding up the wood shutter it was yet another sunny day getting up to about 23 degrees. We had a relaxed morning heading out of the apartment at about 1030am to walk down the Promenade des Anglais. Below us was the ocean and a very uncomfortable looking beach that was just all stones, but alas beautiful. The promenade stretched all the way down to the ports making it a 5.2km morning stroll. It was surprisingly warm and we were looking at the water longingly as many people were out on the beach already, but that was our plan for the afternoon. About half the way down the promenade we both decided we needed to use the bathroom and set about finding one on our travels. Port Lympia was chocka block of many large super yachts making Lew very antsy to get designing and make some money since he has all the ideas but no workshop to create them in. At exactly midday I looked over my shoulder and noticed this big puff of smoke in the sky. Next thing there was an incredibly large bang over the old town and we had no idea what was going on. No one around us even battered an eyelid and they certainly weren't running as if there was a terroist attack or something going on. I mentioned to Lew that it was exactly midday and then he remembered that he had read about this but thought you could just go see the cannon that use to explode at midday not that it still happens! We parked up for a bit to research what exactly this was and it turns out that that a Scottish Lord Thomas Coventry-More started this tradition in 1861. Lord Thomas and his wife would holiday in Nice during the Scottish winter and she would often be out for a morning stroll gossiping with other British ladies with a tendency to be late back to prepare her husband lunch. With Lord Thomas being a military man that was fond of punctuality he was not amused by this tardiness and wanted to eat lunch at a very specific time (and clearly couldnt fend for himself!). He decided to put a proposition to the Nice City Council about having a midday cannon to remind his wife to come home. From that day until Lord Thomas and his wife stopped coming to Nice and footing the bill for the cannon it blasted at exactly midday. Once the cannon had stopped it had become such a tradition in Nice that the City Council passed a law to make the blast offical in 1876. Even today it is not an automated cannon but a manually set off firework in the same place as the original cannon. Rumor has it that the same man has been setting it off for the past 20 years and has only missed it once due to a traffic jam and is also known to set it off an hour early on April Fools day!

Once we had confirmed we wern't in the middle of a potential terroist attack we continued out search for a bathroom. We came across the toilet that Lew had seen on the map but it was in the port and only had a key entry obviously just for use of the moored boats. He spotted another one in a park not so far away and we walked to that only to find that it was closed. Super frustrated Lew just took a leak on the side of the building and I was very jealous on having female plumbing (as my late Grandad Taylor used to call it) instead of male at this point of time. There was an oval hedge that I was very tempted to use since it would cover everything it needed to but there was a family in the park and I didnt think it was very lady like! Walking back we wanted to head into old town or the area of Vieille Ville it is called to find some lunch and check out the famous side streets. I was still looking for potential shrubbery to use at this point but they strategically plant only one bush at a time so it really wasn't an option. The architecture of the buildings is far more Italian than it is French and the buildings are painted a lot more vibrant colours with a bit of added flair than the usual French ones. On the way Lew spotted another toilet on the map and we walked to it to find that this was also closed!! I did swear a little under my breath at the French at this point but reminded myself of the 12 hour shifts I worked where it was so busy you held on for 4-5 hours at a time so I knew I wouldn't burst. Plus I had scanned multiple patients bladders using ultrasound when they were in retention after having a urinary catheter removed only to find over a litre in there! Once again technically I shouldn't be within bladder bursting range just yet haha. French hot dogs were on the menu for lunch from a place called 5th Avenue who claimed they were bringing a "French Touch" to the American fast food. We actually chose to eat out in the hope of using the toilet at the restaurant but theres was in fact broken too...they did let us wash our hands in their sink though. The food was reasonably priced at about €15 ($24.80 NZD) but was only enough to partially fill Lews giant sinkhole of a stomach.

Continuing through old town we came across the famous streets filled with restaurants, markets and shops with their beautiful coloured building wedged in together allowing the sunlight to stream through in small columns. We thought we probably ate at the wrong place observing the line halfway down the block of this particular pizza place that was obviously the pick of the bunch. We had noticed that most of the food is actually Italian as opposed to the usual French Cuisine but Lew said he is really hanging out for a good Napolese pizza as soon as we cross the France/Italy border tomorrow. Whilst we blindly navigated the streets in awe what we were seeing we came across the Cathédrale Sainte-Réparate and Église Saint-Jacques-le-Majeur de Nice both of which are beautiuful old churches. One of the more beautfiul areas is around the Fontaine du Soleil (Fountain of the Sun) which boasted these large pink buildings with the fountain in the center and very upbeat white and black checkered cobblestones. The tram nearby goes along its tracks in which grass has been planted around it making it look a lot more pleasant than just concrete and tracks. 

Once seeing all this it was still hot we wanted to get down to the beach for a swim. There were bikes you could rent all down the promenade and all you had to do was call up and give them your card details. From there you could log into the machines by calling the number it gave you and it verified who you are before allowing you access to the bikes. If you use it for only half an hour it is free or only €1.50 ($2.50 NZD) for an entire day. BNZ initially blocked my card which I wasn't happy with since I was basically crossing my legs on the sidewalk desperate to get back to the apartment toilet! Luckily Lew had two cards on him and we were off in no time taking us only 10 minutes to reach the apartment.

Gathering up our beach equipment (Lew wanted to bring multiple towels to try and pad out the rock beach a little more) we walked the 5 minutes down to the water. I read my kindle whilst Lew researched some dental tool dad wanted Lew to design for him to make his life at work a little easier. Lew eventually went in for a swim but by this stage it was a little windy and the sun was getting lower in the sky so I gave it a miss. Leaving the beach at 5.30pm we went via the supermarket buying ingredients to make tacos for dinner. Tomorrow we are driving to Camogli in Italy via Monaco and anything else that tickles our fancy around the coast line.