It was a hot week in Germany! Our air conditioners are up and running again; temperatures have been above 90F all week. The A/C can’t even keep up at work, so we have been working more from home. Every afternoon, it looks like a big storm is coming through that will break this heatwave, but it has barely rained, and it remains hot and humid. Thank goodness we can stay inside and stay cool!
Ryan spent all week at Boy Scout camp in Croatia. It was also really hot there, but luckily, they were right on the water, and all the activities were based around water activities: swimming, sailing, snorkeling, paddle boarding, and more. The troop even had one day off when they took a boat ride to the “Pirate’s Cove” to swim. There was no way for Ryan to charge a phone during the week as they were “rough camping,” and his phone died on the trip down, so we had no way of communicating with him all week. I know this is a good way for him to work on his independence and maturity, but we really missed him so much!
About halfway into his trip home on Saturday, he was able to charge his phone. He texted to say it had been a great week and that he had a lot of fun but was looking forward to getting into some air conditioning. They arrived back in Stuttgart late on Saturday night, and he spent Sunday catching up on his sleep.
On Friday, I departed for Nice, France, for a long-overdue reunion with some of my friends from the US. We all flew in around the same time, and after taxiing to our hotel, we immediately went out for lunch, rosé, and a walk around town.
After our walk, we returned to the hotel to cool off and take a short nap before dinner. We wanted a fine dining experience during our trip and chose La Reserve on the eastern side of Nice. It’s a Michelin Guide restaurant with beautiful views and fantastic food! It was a great first night on our trip.
Saturday morning, we were all tired from our travel day the day before, so we slept in a little before searching for coffee and croissants. We found a cute cafe on the Promenade d’Anglais and then walked along the beach.
In the afternoon, we took a guided E-bike tour. The tour took us around Nice’s Old Town, the Port of Nice, and then all the way to the next town over, Villefranche-sur-Mer.
On the way back, we also visited the Colline Castle Mount, overlooking the city of Nice. The bike tour was really fun and took us to many beautiful viewpoints, but it was HOT! We were also not without some technical difficulties (one person in particular 😂) that led to some laughable moments 😂.
After our bike tour, we returned to the hotel for much-needed showers (we were drenched in sweat) and a quick change before heading to dinner at Le Frog. After dinner, we Uber’d to St. Jean Cap Ferrat.
The concierge at our hotel had suggested visiting the small town for its annual Venetian Carnival. The Carnival has been held each year on the first Saturday in August since the end of World War II. The festival mimics the actual Venetian Carnival but in warmer weather instead of February.
The celebration started with a parade of different costumed groups of flag throwers, dancers, and performers. The parade circled the town twice, and we were able to see each part from different viewpoints.
After the parade, everyone gathered at the marina for a good spot on the waterfront from which to watch the fireworks. They were some of the best fireworks I’ve ever seen! So pretty and in such a pretty setting.
To end the night, there was a street party with a DJ. We found a table at a nearby restaurant where we could be close enough to the action. We even ran into some of the other bikers from our bike tour, who joined us for the rest of the evening.
Sunday was our “Beach Day,” and we arrived at the Blue Beach Club by 10 in the morning. I love French beaches. While there are free public beaches, there are also beach clubs where you rent a table, chair, towel, and umbrella for the day, and a waiter waits on you like in a restaurant, bringing drinks and food off the menu. There are also full bathrooms with showers at your disposal. We visited Blue Beach because that is the club that had a relationship with our hotel, and the cost for the day was 28 per person, which is actually pretty reasonable considering what you are getting.
We spent the day, swimming, floating, talking, reading, and eating.
We stayed all day, like until 8 p.m., because we were just enjoying relaxing so much. We had lunch brought right to our chairs: fresh sea bass and sole for my friends and a Caesar salad for me with a glass of rose. In the evening, we split a pitcher of cocktails before returning to the hotel to change and prepare for dinner.
For dinner, we walked down to Nice’s Old Town and found a cute pub where we had pizza and pasta and watched some of the Olympics. We finished the night for rosé back at the hotel.
Monday was our last full day, so we headed to Monaco. First thing in the morning, we caught the twenty-minute train ride and arrived in time to walk up to the Prince’s Palace and select a good spot to watch the Changing of the Guard ceremony.
We watched the Changing of the Guard ceremony at noon and did some souvenir shopping. Then we caught the bus to Monte Carlo.
We briefly checked out the casino and then grabbed lunch before hopping back on the bus again to Larvotto Beach, Monaco’s free public beach.
We had been wearing our bathing suits all day and were drenched with sweat in the heat when we arrived. We quickly jumped in, cooled off, and then realized we didn’t plan well as we had no towels and nothing to sit on 😂. We changed out of our wet bathing suits in the changing room and then took the bus back to the train station. It was a hot and crowded train ride back to Nice!
We showered and changed back at the hotel, did some more souvenir shopping and then had one last dinner at Villa D’Este. Steph’s birthday was a couple of weeks ago, so we celebrated after dinner.
Tuesday morning, I got up at 3 for my 6 a.m. flight back to Stuttgart and was back at work by 9! It was such a fun and relaxing trip, and it was always the best time to catch up with my besties from the US. I am so grateful we could get together and have this long-overdue reunion!
Gilcrests Abroad 