Nice to see you, to see you Nice

Another early wake up alarm yesterday morning courtesy of thunder, lightning and heavy rain but this cleared by the time we were ready to leave at 9.15. Manuel and Simone (both of whom have been fantastic hosts) and their recently arrived son, Alessandro, all appeared to see us off. Reluctantly we bade farewell to their hideaway former hamlet in the hills and were on our way.

Our first stop was Genoa to take a look at the Costa Concordia in its final resting place. We weren't the only ones. You can't get very close but near enough to see the damage done to this enormous cruise liner. The damaged side (starboard) faces the land and the rusted and twisted metal is plain to see. It seemed a bit ghoulish but I have to be honest and say that the sight was a fascinating one.

Our plan was to take all day and follow the coast road between Genoa and Nice. How naive! Firstly, it's a long way on slow roads and secondly it was a public holiday weekend in Italy and France. We managed to journey as far as Savona without finding anywhere to park before capitulating around lunchtime and rejoining the autostrada. And within a matter of seconds we'd joined the public holiday motorway crawl.

Still, the drive both along the coast and the motorway is spectacular, passing through glorious scenery and past pretty villages and coastal towns. The motorway is an impressive piece of engineering because it seems to consist largely of tunnels and bridges. The downside is that it hardly enhances the environment. Without it however, we'd still be travelling.

In fact, we arrived in Nice earlier than planned and dropped Mike off in central Nice to wait for his landlord for the week (a French Michael). This gave us time to nip to a Carrefour to stock up on a few bits. Or so we thought. After negotiating a route to the supermarket, parked the car and started to shop, we realised that we wouldn't make the 5.30 rendezvous therefore abandoned the shopping and made a dash for it.

Driving through Nice is not easy despite the help of Thomas and his namesake but we managed to get to our destination a few minutes late only to discover that no one was there to meet us as arranged. Or so we thought. Inevitably, there was nowhere to park and so I deposited Rach and Lou with the bags, a little unceremoniously it has to be said, before speeding away in the hope of finding a parking space somewhere between Genoa and Marseille. I turned the corner to be met by a guy directing me to a gap (not exactly a space) on a corner. He recognised the car, spoke with a Yorkshire accent and had been waiting for us. We'd got the wrong street. Bloody sat nav.

Long story short, I managed to recover the baggage (with luggage) and Nigel and his wife Jane (originally from Leeds) introduced us to our new pad. The air con was on and it was very welcoming and homely. All good except (the saga continues) we couldn't connect to the wireless network apart from via the owner's netbook. This remains the case I'm afraid despite much resetting and rebooting. On the plus side, we appear to be free of mosquitoes and (hopefully) the bed bugs we were promised at the original flat.

All that was left yesterday was to take Mike and the hire car to the airport. Nice is not especially car friendly but with the assistance of the e-navigation system, I managed to rendezvous with Mike and return him and the hire car to the airport. It was then simply a case of jumping on the bus from the airport to Nice (disembarking at Boulevard Gambetta). Or so I thought.

I bought my ticket (6 euros), caught the 98 bus from Terminal 2 and got off when the driver announced Gambetta. I then walked up Gambetta Blvd but didn't recognise any of the street names. This wasn't a problem however because I had both Thomases with me so switched on the sat nav. It advised me I was more than 2.5 km from my destination. And it was raining. And I was only wearing sandals and shorts. I set off and Tom et Tom guided my via the one way system to the flat. Or so I thought.

After walking for half an hour and feeling that I seemed to be heading in the wrong direction, it dawned on me: I was walking towards Mike's flat and he was still at the airport waiting for Emily to arrive from Heathrow. I found the correct destination address, reset the sat nav and retraced my steps, eventually discovering I'd originally been one street away from where I'd wanted to be. I got back just before 9. Rach and Lou had been shopping (at a nearby Intermarche) and we finished the day with pizza, taboulet and a few other accompaniments, all washed down with a very nice bottle of Clairette.

Today started with a return trip (for Rach) to the Intermarche and then a leisurely breakfast which included croissants, une baguette and cafe. Mais bien sur! We then went exploring to discover Paris sur le mer, which I'm sure isn't an original phrase. Nice is elegant and chic, with some great architecture, numerous galleries and museums, and the added bonus of the Mediterranean. It has a wonderful relaxed atmosphere, a mountain backdrop, and a centre (including old Nice) which is compact and all within walking distance. I'll let the photos do the rest of the talking...