Nice in Nice! And then Corsica, for an extra treat!

We arrived in Nice on May 16 and stayed there, with many side trips, until June 6. The beautiful apartment, which belongs to an American named Olivia, has been in her family for more than fifty years.  It is called Palais Bel Mare, and it has a to-die-for view of the Mediterranean, access to a beautiful beach, and offers life on the top of the world, among the many birds - seagulls, pigeons, and doves. 

We arrived in Nice just as the Cannes Film Festival was geting underway, and we went from Nice to Cannes a total of four times.  There was a train from near our apartment which took us down to the festival.  We met a bunch of new friends there too.  We figured out how to see movies there if you are not a big cheese, and we saw four movies. And Shirl had plenty of glace (big ice cream cones)!  Here is a classic picture of the whole environment with people who are marketing a film called Owner, which is about a backpack:

and then there are the photogs, who are  everywhere:

and here are the stars of Ernest and Celestine, a movie about a lonely bear and a mouse who does not want to be a dentist.  It was part of the Quinzaine, which is open to the public and was a premiere, so the stars came to the showing.  The two on the right are Celestine and Ernest.  Look how they love each other!

Another side trip was to Monaco, where we again met new friends and saw the incredible wealth that is Monaco.  We were able to catch the bus just outside our front door at the apartment right into Monaco!  This is a shop in Monaco where we got a couple of small gifts.  You can see Prince Albert looking over the shop owner's shoulder. 

Our next destination was to go to Bastia, on the French island of Corsica, on June 6.  We didn't get there directly because the boat left 20 minutes early!  But we were offered a lovely stay overnight on the boat in the Nice harbor, with free dinner because we had tickets and the boat had left us earlier that afternoon.  We met two incredible bicyclers who are touring Europe from their native Holland and through France, Italy, Slovenia, Austria and many other countries, all by bike.  This was their first non-camping night since April!  Here are John and Helen:

And here is our lovely room on the boat.  It was great to sleep before the boat left at 8 AM (no, we did not get up and see Nice while we left the Nice harbor at 8 AM!), and Shirl slept for a total of twelve hours!  Lullaby, baby, when the boat rocks (and you have taken your Dramamine)

Shirl was taking pictures, so we were shown what we suspect you would have if you were on your honeymoon, with a staff member dancing through it:

Because we arrived at Calvi, which is a couple of hours away from Bastia, we were able to take a ride on two great nice and slow trains that took us for at least an hour right on the coast of Corsica and then over the mountains to Bastia.  We would never have seen this part of the island, but for missing the ferry.  This definitely demonstrates the serendipity of "changes" in plans on travel.  The coast of Corsica is gorgeous, and there are some seriously tempting places to drop out (I mean without anything, including the internet)  ??  :)  ??  Here are some examples of the beauty:

And this picture below really reminded us of the movie A Map for Saturday, a movie we saw at our favorite movie theater of the trip, The Flicks in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.  Here is a German tourist reading to her fellow backpackers on the train:

and here is a guy who was following the train journey, stop by stop, on an incredibly detailed map.  He was, as are many we met on Corsica, riding a bike.  Europeans seem to love to camp on Corsica...

And whew, it was the light at the end of the tunnel, not an oncoming train!