Today was a sleep in day. Tavis and Addison went to the bakery to get breakfast while I had a shower and Ari and Ayva slept. We didn’t get out of the apartment until 11:00! We took the tram to the train station and literally crammed on the train that took us to Monaco.
The train was so busy that I didn’t think anyone would fit on. Apparently, I was wrong. People just pushed their way onto the train, squishing everyone together. We were holding onto each other to make sure everyone made it. Then more people came after us. The problem is that many people got on and did not move through the cars to make room for anyone else. I was sandwiched between 3 people. It was extremely hot and everyone had sweat dripping off them. It felt discussing, especially for short people like me who were shoved up into other people’s armpits. When we arrived in Monaco, we were so happy to get out and breath again.
We found a seat and recovered for a few minutes at the Monaco train station. We also discovered they had free wifi so we enjoyed that. Then we made our way out of the train station and the boys were giddy! They were pointing out rare cars that you just don’t see at home. Then tavis was pointing out different parts of the street where the Monaco race took place. We made our way down windy roads and got photos of famous turns. We went into many souvenir stores so Ari could find something in Monaco to bring home. In one of the stores, the cashier discovered we were from Canada and he got a big grin on his face. We told him we were from Vancouver and he asked if we knew of Coquitlam!!! He said he likes Coquitlam because people speak French there. It was so crazy to meet someone from Monaco who knew our home town. After several hours of walking the streets of Monaco, Ari finally picked out a licence plate to bring home and we made our way back to the train station.
Our next train ride was much more comfortable. We easily got seats and and went back toward Nice. We got off at a place called Beaulieu-sur-Mer. It was a cute little port town. We made our way down to the yacht club past many large resorts. There wasn’t too much to see, so we went back to the train station and caught the next train that took us into old town Nice.
We decided to get some lunch and went to Chicken Chicken which was sort of like KFC. It was really good and they had free bathrooms, wifi, and they filled our water bottles for free. After leaving, Addison navigated us to a weird art structure of a cube head thing. It was weird. Then we went to a Basilica near the main train station. It was beautiful and had nice gardens around it with lots of bunnies. It is crazy to see such a peaceful property among the busy streets.
We then made our way back to the main station at Nice Ville. This time, we weren’t as lucky getting on the train. First, our passes wouldn’t scan. We eventually just ran through when someone else scanned their pass. Lots of people were having trouble so I think the scanners weren’t working properly. We had tickets and no one was there to ask, so we figured it was the only option. Then we got to the platform and noticed the trains for 45 minutes delayed. Not a good sign! After waiting 35 minutes, we saw a repeat of the morning train. We were in line, but at the last minute, we all decided to wait for the next train. Only 15 minutes later, another train came, but we noticed it was not going toward Cannes so we didn’t even try. I think a bunch of people who missed the previous train may have got on that one by mistake. Another 10 minutes later, another train came. This time, we went down a few platforms and we were first in line. We squeezed on and continued walking to the end of the car. We even found seats! I think the end cars are the busiest because that is where the entrance to the station is. Either way, it was 17:00 and we were finally on our way to Cannes.
When we got to Cannes, we walked around the streets for a while. Down by the water reminded us a lot of Hawaii. It seems like most of the shoreline is just beach from Cannes all the way up through Antibes and almost to Nice. There are old building, but also modern ones. It is a cute town but it definitely had a tourist vibe. After, we took a train to Antibes and did the same We wanted to see the Old Fort but it was closed, so instead, we walked to the big Ferris wheel. It was neat because there was a circus or gathering of some sort just inside the walls. There was even wifi. We sat and rested for a bit and checked the train schedule. We saw a train was scheduled to leave in 15 minutes, then almost an hour wait until the next one so we rushed back and walked straight onto the train home to Nice.
When we were on the tram, it stopped in the middle of the track. Tavis asked a lady on the tram when the announcement said. She told us the train was stopped because of a medical emergency on another tram ahead. We were talking to her for quite a while and it was neat to hear all the places she lived. She has Canadian Citizenship, but she is from Nice. Just before 21:00, we arrived at our stop. There was a grocery store still open so we went in and bought stuff for dinner and lunches tomorrow before returning home to do laundry.
Tomorrow we plan to explore the city of Nice before we make our way to Marseille.