Well this is our last day in Nice as we fly out VERY early tomorrow morning. I hadn’t been up to the castle hill in Nice for the overlook so we got up and headed up the hill. I read it was something like 291 steps up but I am pretty sure it was at least double that. We have learned one main lesson about southern France and that is that all sites are on a hill that somehow defying physics is uphill both going and coming. Also France loves their slanty stairs which make both ascending and descending tricky.

The views were everything 291 stairs should get you and we got to see a little history as well with the Roman era cathedral ruins that have been escavated up there. We circled to the various overlooks and got some great pictures of Nice and the port area. We then headed down feeling like we had earned breakfast today. I found a place that served a full English breakfast and as I wanted some eggs we stopped and each got breakfast. This was really our last sightseeing thing on our checklist so we decided shopping, beach and packing would make up the remainder of the day.

We went back through the market for a few items including picking up our lunch/dinner which we would eat later. A trip to a few more shops finished most of our souvenir shopping so we went back to the apartment where I took a short nap (so tired at this point) and Becky headed to the beach.

After my nap I joined Becky on the beach and today got all the way in (still cold but once in it was very nice) and swam and floated for a while just taking it all in. After a bit of that I left to see what this new group of tents was on the promenade. Turns out it was an Italian food festival of some sort and they had all kinds of food vendors with sampled or for for purchase. They had everything from baked goods to cured meats to cheese, pasta, wine and beer. I texted Becky to meet me after trying a few things and she did and we wandered through for a while sampling some prossecco, beer and various cheeses. Before Becky joined me I saw yet another example of a bad US tourist. This lady was irate over a simple miscommunication for a couple of buns she was trying to buy. The vendor was trying his best (in full and pretty good english BTW) to get it straightens out while she yelled at him and eventually snatched her money back saying “I don’t have to deal with people like you”. UGGH. If you are in a foreign country and don’t speak the language at least have a little patience when they are making every attempt to communicate in YOUR language.

After the festival it was time to get back to the apartment and pack. We ate our dinner of a pan bagnat sandwich (basically a nicoise salad on a baguette) and a local tart made of Swiss chard. We remembered after dinner a couple of other items we wanted to purchase so we made one more round of the shopping area and got what we needed. We did laundry and packed all we could for tonight (cab picks us up for the airport at 4:30am). I ran out for one last ice cream run and then we went to bed to get what sleep we could.

We fly out tomorrow and I will update that as I can through the day. I am sure we will follow up with a summary post each as well sometime soon.

<pics to come>