01/09/2019

Italy - France 2019 - part 3

1st of August began quite cloudy. Not the best conditions to enjoy Cote d' Azur but fine for me since I would be able to ride from Nice to Monaco without the torturing summer sun that turns the helmet to an oven and makes the washing machine your best friend. I knew that this kinda hazy day would ruin my pictures but I wouldn't shed a tear, enjoying the route is top priority, Instagram can go to hell. Unfortunately traffic didn't allow much space for joy though the route is quite scenic crossing great places (with great properties).

Have a taste with these mediocre but kinda indicative pictures:






Despite the absolute absence of proper gear and weather conditions it's not hard to see how beautiful this part of South France is and how untouchable its real estate is.
I reached Monaco with high expectations being eager to finally visit the place I've been watching since I was a kid due to its Grand Prix and drive the same roads, not on the same pace obviously, but the (partially expected) extra heavy traffic didn't allow much margin for joy actually not any at all. I got an idea driving around this tiny state for a while and its tunnels that make the mountain look like Swiss cheese and drove away kinda disappointed. On my way back to Nice I stopped at a couple of places I missed before.

Like this one:



Here's the ride:




As I was spending my days at this west suburb of Nice, I was thinking how it would look to other people the fact that I was staying literally a few steps away from the sea and never felt like taking a dip. The reason was that this specific beach (unlike the main one at Nice) was very shallow and swimmers were not allowed to go further than a few meters from the coast due to intense water sports activity. Ideal for families with small kids but not for me. I was smiling only by thinking that this would be a side way to describe how nice the sea is at my home:

"Is the sea nice where you live?"
"Well...I spent a whole week living by the sea west of Nice and never felt like swimming there" 

As spoiled as it gets sea wise. On the positive side, I really like that while walking Promenande des Angles and other places in the city I couldn't see any sign of the massacre that took place there a few years ago. You could only see the security guys at big malls alerted but not overacting in any case. Of course a local has so much more to say on this than me. All these things came to my mind as I was staring at family pictures of my host, flooded by extra cute smiley kids. As if they had a "Best French smile 2019" contest. Don't expect pictures, I'm too discreet therefore didn't take any, but more than happy they didn't loose their smile and hope they never will.

Stay tuned, trip's not over yet.   



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