St. Jean Cap Ferrat

A major hike today for the Bruce and me - off on the 10 a.m. train, ten minutes to Beaulieu sur Mer, and then a long walk along the coast back toward Nice. We bought sandwiches in St. Jean Cap Ferrat - I bought a pain bagnat, salade nicoise on a big round bun, delicious - and then walked. And walked and walked - a tough rocky path, very narrow in parts, much up and down, many stairs. But glorious in the hot sun, stopping twice to eat and rest and admire. We were exhausted by 3 p.m. and faced still a long walk to the train station at Villefranche sur Mer and the train ride back, when lo, there in front of us was a bus to Nice! One euro fifty to go all the way back. One of the nicest bus surprises ever. And then we figured out how to get the tram from where the bus stopped to near our place, using the same ticket.

These are the small boats - we saw many luxury yachts. And fancy villas. Phooey.

Tahiti?

Don't these people know it's the first week of April! The beaches we came on later were packed.

 My tired companion, who has bad knees

The last bit. What colour is the water, asked Brucie, who is colour blind. The only answer: as turquoise as can be.

Everything is closed in Nice on Sunday - we have no bread and not much food in the fridge, but I think we're going to improvise rather than go out and walk again. It's funny - this trip, with so many friends en route, I thought I'd be going out for dinner. When I travel alone, I sometimes eat lunch out - pretty rarely, actually - but never dinner. So I thought I'd be dining in restaurants with Lynn in Paris, with Lynn and Denis in Montpellier, with Bruce in Nice. Instead, not one single dinner out. An occasional wonderful lunch, but mostly homemade meals at lunch and dinner. And lovely they have been too. Though much ham and bread. Much, much ham and bread. Tonight, again.

Now I have out my London tube map, my pounds, my British plug, my directions, have just checked in with British Airways. The weather has been glorious in London and is due to turn cold tomorrow. And now, as they say, for something completely different.