Nice and beyond

Hi All!!

Hope everyone is doing well and missing us heaps. We are having a blast but occasionally take the time to miss you all!! So my update will be from Nice to Zermatt and maybe a little more (or a little less as I can go on a bit).

Well as mentioned earlier we were really unsure on where we were to disembark the train in Nice. It turned out we had no need to worry as the centre stop was marked as such and everyone got off (ususally a good indicator!). We were hungry so we headed across the staion to a cafe for breakfast. I also needed to go the toilet (as always) so Richard used his amazing French skills to ask the waiter where the toilet was!!! Well you think that a point in the direction or a simple answer would follow... but nooo the waiter gave us a bunch of numbers!! What??? So I did not get to go the toilet as we were so damn confused!!

After breaky we worked out how we were to get to the airport as that is where the car was to be picked up. It was fairly simple, just had to catch a bus to the airport that was clearly numbered in front of the train station. We jumped on one and headed out. We got to the airport a little early to pick up the car so while we waited we went through the aps and tried to make a plan of where to head too. All the looking at the maps made time fly and then we had in our hot little hands the keys to a brand new Peugot!!! Wooohooo!!!!

We took some time checking out the car, adjusting things, checking how the lights and blinkers worked before we even started the car to leave. The first few mins of driving were a little exciting!! Nothing happened but just getting used to the wrong side of the car and the wrong side of the road is fun!!! Richard, of course, was our driver (though it still stumps me why when my navigating skills leave a lot to be desired!). He did a great job though!



We headed back into Nice for a walk around and some lunch. We parked the car in a carpark and walked on the path that went along Cote D'Azure. It had beautiful views of the Mediterrainean Sea and Nice. The beach was beautiful apart for, the fact there is no sand (apart from a small imported bit) but black stones. The amazing thing was people were laying on the stones like you would lay on a sandy beach. I dont know how this could be comfortable at all. It was quite a sunny day in Nice but I wouldnt say it was swimming or even bather wearing weather but we blessed (read horrified) to see old people sunbaking in their g-strings on the beach!! Hot!!!

After a walk along and dipping a toe and hand into the water (just to say we have been in the Metiterrainean Sea) we had lunch at an Irish Pub! It was a great pub but the food was not as good as it could have been, which was a pity cause the menu was good. After lunch it was time to head off into the unknown!!



We took some time to get out of Nice but it is probably one of better exits of a city. We then headed up aiming towards Italy. As it was the first day in the car I was no so excied about the roads we were driving on. The were crazy!! Windy with a steep drop off to one side, cliff above us on the other. It had some amazing views though off snow capped mountains and down into valleys!! Spectacular (if a little scary)! I think Richrad was loving it but not me!! We had to stop at light for a tunnel before we entered Italy which took quite some time. It took us a couple of changes before we got through and each set went for ten mins!

Once we crossed the boarder we stop at a petrol station as we were told before hand, we needed to purchase a safety vest and triangle for travelling in Italy. Richard made me get out of the car and go ask. Well it was a very funny experience. No one there really spoke any english and my Italian is limited to swear words (which was not really going to be that helpful) so there were lots of arm waving, laughing and confusion. I had left my jumper in the car so I was cold so they thought I needed a jumper!! In the end I decided we would just risk not having them, got back in the car and headed off again.



We came to a town called Cuneo late in the afternoon so we decided to stay there. We parked the car and went for a walk to find somewhere to stay. It took us about one hour to walk from one end of town to the other with no luck. We could not see many hotels (except way out of our budget), no tourist info office, no nothing!! Eventually I seeen a sign for a two star place so we decided to head there (it was geting dark and we (I) wanted dinner). When we got to what seem to match the sign it looked a little flash for two star, we went in anyway. Richard asked the lady about a room and she turned to check what they had, as she did this though she looked at us and asked were we after two or four star??? Not really sure what gave us away, the packs or the volleys! She pointed us in the direction of the two star place. It was really quite nice, a little expensive but it was getting late so we took it. We then had to walk back to the car (miles away) to bring it to where we were staying.

We had dinner in a nice little restauraunt then headed back to our room for an early night (sleeping on the train the night before was tiring). On the way back some sort of church procession was walking through town. It was rather large and strange. we had no idea what it was about. In the morning we got up and headed off towards Switzerland. It was a nice drive except when we got to Turin. As our maps were limited we tried to go around it but somehow ended up in the middle lost!! It took us about an hour to fight our way out!! The most frustrating part was we would follow the signs to the motorway, then when we got to a large intersection all the signs would disappear!! No idea where we were supposed to go. Oh and we never passed a tourist info place either.

Eventually we found our way out but it put our plans back a little. We still made it into switzerland but only to Sion. It was quite a nice little town surrounded by snow capped mountains (I feel I may be repeating the snow capped mountains but thats exactly how it was!). We had dinner at the restaurant where we were staying. We decided to pick dinner without actually knowing what it was, they had no english menus and the lady did not speak very much english. Richard order and that was fine I then ordered and she went a bit funny, she told me to wait while she went over to another tables od diners to get a translation. When she came back she told me what I ordered was 'not cooked', I changed my order! Not really in the mood for raw meat.



We then spent the night in our room watching French MTV. There were stupid American shows on with french translation being played over it. Made for some funny watching as we made up what we thought they were saying and what the show was about.

This is getting long so I will round it up now. In the mornig we got up and headed to Tasch which was the last place you could drive to before Zermatt. Our next post will be from there.

Take care everyone.

Lots of Love SEJB and RJDM xxxoo

PS Sorry we are having computer troubles. There are photos to add in or you can look at our picasa albums, as they are up there.