bkluvsNola

I forgot to talk about St. Tropez itself.

It is a quite picturesque town. The harbor area is filled with boats from dingy size to hollywood celeb caliber yachts. Around the harbor it is filled with artists of every kind.

Now, my wife and I really wanted a painting of St. Tropez, so this is where we decided to get it. I was worried it might get damaged on the return flight, but it didn't.

We got groceries at a local grocery store (taboule, baby bell cheese, french bread and brie, salami, some peaches, and peach iced tea). Why do I mention this? Well, I wanted to give you an idea of the types of lunches we bought throughout our trip, usually between 10 and 20E. A lot of food for a reasonable price, far cheaper than any restaurant charges. Then we went to sit by the sea next to harbor to eat. I couldn't think of a better picnic than that.

After lunch we headed up to the top of the hill, where the castle was. It has a reasonable 2.5E per person entrance fee.

The day was probably 27C or so, very comfortable for touring.

We got back to the boat for a 4PM departure.

bkluvsNola

The rest of the trip was spent relaxing at the beach for the most part, although we did take one other excursion into Nice itself. We also did a tram tour from Juan-les-Pins into Antibes. I really wouldn't recommend it, as it is not that far walking from Juan-les-Pins to Antibes. I did it in about 20 minutes or so.

As for Nice, we took a train to Nice. From there, we walked down to the water along the Avenue Jean Medecin to the shore. We noticed a streetcar/trolley that went in the center median, and I took a note that we may want to ride that back to the Gare Nice Centre-ville.

I found the Place Massena to be very impressive. Talk about pretty.

Then we walked to Promenade des Anglais, and I was absolutely stunned by the beauty. The water was far clearer than at Juan-les-Pins, a blue that you normally only see in the Caribbean. The beaches are rocks, so it would be a good bet to rent a chaise lounge chair there to avoid damaging your back.

The promenade reminded me of the one in downtown Geneva, but this time instead of having Lake Geneva, there was the Mediterranean Sea. Wow, talk about beautiful!

We took a tram tour (again) that took us to the best sites. I found the tram tour to be the best way to tour around with a small child. He thought it was fun, we got some background and history, and we got to see the main sites.

The tour goes through the old town and then up to the waterfalls at Parc de la Colline du Chateau. The view of the city from the top of the hill is spectacular and shouldn't be missed. Breathtaking.

On the way back, we decided to board the trolley back to the stop near the train station.

I really loved Nice and thought it was the prettiest of the cities along the Riviera, even beating Monaco.

kappa

It's a good thing you visted Nice now. Until 1 year (or a little more)ago, the Avenuce de Jean Medecin to Place Messena was a BIG mess for, it seemed to me like, 10 years or so due to the tramway construction. It is a nice and large Square and the street now. I have stayed at a 1* hotel with a view of the fountains near the Place Messena for 3 times in recent years. 5 minutes walk to the old town (lots of inexpensive resto choices - You could have drunk wine there besides water ;-) ), less than 10 minutes to the beach and 3 minutes to Bus Terminal (so convenient for out of town excursion - to Eze, Monaco among others often with better view than train. Next time when you are in the region, consider staying around there.

CarolJean

Kappa - Would you mind giving us the name of the hotel?

bk - Am enjoying your report very much! Thanks, CJ

bkluvsNola

Carol,

Glad to hear you enjoyed this! I was also surprised that somebody bookmarked this.

bkluvsNola

Okay, now onto some of the other restaurants.

After the inlaws left, we finally could eat where we wanted. So, the first night (July 16th) was Le Vesuvio. This has reasonable prices - I had a pizza for 9.90E but my wife's salad was 18.80E. It would be the other way around in the states - go figure. This place also had verre vin for 3E, so it was a reasonable place to get wine. It was much cheaper to order wine at meals than anything else, including sparkling or bottled water, so that's what I decided to drink at restaurants from here on out.

Because our experience was so enjoyable, we decided to head to Le Vesuvio again on the next day (July 17th). I had pasta at 13E and I can't remember what my wife had, but I was still hungry at the end of the meal. So, we went to a little Creperie nearby and each had a nutella crepe (at 3E it was probably the best deal on the whole Riviera). In the US, a crepe will run you around $8-$10 or so, primarily because you'll only get one at a French restaurant.

After eating at that restaurant 2 nights in a row, and not wanting to take chances on miniscule portions, we decided to ask our hotel clerk/concierge/manager to give some advice. She recommended L'horizon.

I do not recommend that restaurant at all. Service was extremely slow, with preference given to locals. They did not take credit cards the day I was there, saying the machine was broken. The food was decent, but the staff there is horrific and I would never return there. I made sure I left no tip. DO NOT GO TO L'HORIZON.

Now, our son hadn't really done very well at restaurants all along. Since dinner usually took a minimum of 1.5 hours and sometimes up to 2 hours, we had to take him for a walk outside for fresh air. Since we almost always ate outside, it made it easy for a quick escape to keep him occupied. However, by now, we were nearing the end of the trip, and frankly, we were all tired of eating out. My wife would generally leave after both of them were finished eating and leave me the bill. A lot of times I hadn't finished my meal so I would be eating my meal alone and then pay the bill. It really wasn't an enjoyable experience for me at all, waiting for a half hour for the bill each time. I know this is cultural, and if my son was older this wouldn't have been a problem.

However, I made an executive decision that all meals from then on would be in the hotel room with groceries bought from the local super marche. It was the best decision I could have made.

So, the last 5 nights of our vacation were spent this way. We did make sure that we bought things that would be expensive other places but cheap in a grocery store: for instance, we purchased Mike's Hard Lemonade, which was maybe 7E in the grocery store, but was 100E at the clubs. We purchased fine cheeses, wines, and chocolates, etc... For 20E we had a feast whereas it would have been 50E if we went out. Our son was a lot happier as well.

bkluvsNola

kappa,

Thanks for the info! I'm glad I got to see the city *post* construction.

The tram is quite nice, so I would say it was worth it.

TaylorSt

BK,

Your posts have been such a great find for me and my fiance, as we have just started to plan our honeymoon, with the French Riviera being a large part of the trip. Thank you for all the price details, they really provide a good example of what to expect, though who knows what the exchange rate will be when we go in 2010. Anyhow, thanks again.

bkluvsNola

TaylorSt,

Congrats on your engagement! I hope your wedding and honeymoon are fantastic. Just remember to book your plane tickets well in advance (at least 6 months, maybe 9 months in advance).

I think the Riviera would be a fantastic place to spend a honeymoon. I can't imagine a more romantic evening than spending it on the beach at Juanita's. We had our kid there and it was still romantic

bkluvsNola

We ended our trip at Juanita's, just like we started it. We had never eaten on the beach directly (although in Jamaica we would eat on a terrace overlooking the sea, which is not the same thing.

We ate around 10 yards from the sea, about as close as you can get. My son was able to play in the sand while we waited.

The food was delicious. We both had the fixed price menu at 26E each. My wife had melon parme for a salad, which was absolutely wonderful. I had a salad that had chunks of cooked smoked salmon in it. I told my wife it was the best salmon I had ever had.

For dinner, I had duck which was tasty but there was a bit too much fat for me to chew. My wife had sole which was delightful.

For dessert, we had the best dessert of the holiday. I had a tarte aux fraises and my wife had a tarte aux poires. They were absolutely delicious.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

bkluvsNola

Now, throughout the trip, I had checked email now and then (our hotel had internet access in the dining room).

You should be aware that the keyboard in France is quite different than the one in the US. Several keys are different, and the numbers have to be accessed through the shift key.

I checked email and various news outlets like CNN to get my daily news fix. I also watched the BBC each day.

Now, can somebody tell me why I hadn't heard anything on the BBC about (a) a hurricane hitting South Texas and (b) a tropical storm going up the East coast and impacting NYC flights?

This is relevant because the next day, after taking the 1E bus to the airport, we took our flight from Nice to JFK, and guess what, a tropical storm was hitting that same day.

We only arrived 20 minutes late, but 80% of the flights had been cancelled that day. Our flight to Austin was already delayed, and after waiting 6 hours, we found out that our flight was cancelled. We then had to stay at a hotel in NYC, and the airline (Delta) wouldn't put us up.

bkluvsNola

We took the train to Federal Station, and there was a list of hotels. It was late, my cell phone had died, and I just wanted to stay somewhere. All the hotels were sold out except for the JFK Inn, and it only had smoking rooms. I hated that option but I knew my wife and son needed to sleep, so we took the shuttle bus there.

Now, words can't describe how bad this hotel is. When we got into the room, we noticed that there were mirrors on every wall, and a giant jacuzzi tub in the room. Upon inspecting the tub closer, I saw cigarette butts and noticed that the controls were rusted out.

The room reaked of smoke, but luckily the windows opened, so I fully opened them, and cranked the A/C on max cool. I was hoping the combo of open windows and air conditioning would filter out some of the stinky air. It did to some extent.

Now, the only problem with keeping the windows open was that I could hear unsavory characters outside the window cursing all night. This was quite annoying.

kappa

French keyboard is different even from the Swiss one! Ask your wife. When I'm in France I have problem locating the basic keys such as @, ., ', etc...

Have you noted :
Nikaia (a Greek goddess of victory) is the origine of the name Nice & of Nike (the sport shoe maker), I read. If you climb at the top of the Château de Nice above the beach (great view of both the beach side and the harbour side by the way), there is a panel that tells it, well not about the connection to Nike though.

Carol, the 1*hotel I stayed last three times in Nice is Acanthe.
http://www.hotel-acanthe-nice.cote.a...page_en_1.html
I found it 5 years ago on Eurocheapo.com. I remember the hotel was described as "not exactly super clean, it may be, but you can hardly get the location and all for that price". All the 3 times, I stayed at their most expensive room (€50 or less) that was a corner room "Rotonde". It has a funny shape like.. a keyhole. A rectangular part and a round part. The double bed is in the round part that is surounded by 3 windows. You can see the room from outside on the site above. The best things about the hotel were location, price, and the view (only if you take one of the rotonde rooms). The rest is very modest, amenities is minimum (ensuite WC and shower with towel and a tiny soap and nothing else). I was fine with that. Reception staff is fine and helpful.

I just checked with eurocheapo.com and Acanthe is not listed anymore! Perhaps not up to the standard of the site anymore? Last time I stayed there was in Jaunuary this year and I noticed no difference. I took 2 lady friends then (I warned them the hotel was going to be very basic). They had no problme either. Since Rotonde room was only with one big bed, I took it (I was alone then) and asked the hotel to give my friends the nicest room with separate beds. My friends got 3 bedded room at no additional cost, not nicer but a bit larger than other rooms.

I will be back in Nice again in October. Then I will go even cheaper staying at Hotel Wilson in the same area for €29 per night (!). Probably not much view and bathroom will be shared and no lift (Acanthe has one) but Tripadvisor.com rates it No.2 or 3 as B&B in Nice. I also spoke with the owner by the phone and he sounded nice so I'm pretty confident of my choice (let's see).

CarolJean

Kappa - Thanks for the information and web addresses. CJ

bkluvsNola

Our rescheduled flight the next day was at 5PM (they didn't have anything earlier), an we were on standby.

So, we had some time to kill. I wanted to go into Manhattan, but the weather was horrible. It was pouring down rain due to the tropical storm and we didn't have umbrellas and raincoats, so we decided to head to an indoor mall.

We asked the concierge where the nearest mall was, and she pointed us to Greenacres mall. We took a cab there at $20 (ridiculous).

At the mall, the first thing we did was to go the Target across the street and buy contact cases, contact solution, and toothpaste, as those had been confiscated by the TSA.

Second, we headed to Borders and got a Fodor's New York book. My goal was to find a reasonably priced hotel in New York, in case we had to stay another night. So, I went to the hotel section and wrote down a list of hotels that were suitable.

We ate lunch there and then headed to the airport, prepared for the worst but hoping for the best.

At the airport, the check-in lady stated that we were #7-#9 out of 10 standby, so we should get on the flight.

When flight time came, we never got called.

So, when they said the flight was "closed", I ran to the ticket counter as fast as I could.

I tried to get another flight, but there was none to Austin. I told the ticket agent to get me "anywhere but New York". She found a flight to Cincinatti.

So, we stayed the second night at a hotel in Cincinatti. This time it was a much nicer hotel for around the same price, the Holiday Inn airport. It felt like a 5 star hotel after the previous hotel.

Finally, on the morning of 7/25, 2 days later than expected, we took a flight to Austin. Our bags had beat us there and were waiting for us.

Next up:

Summary of the trip.

charlieg

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