Our amazing honeymoon, part 2

NICE, FRANCE

As I said in my previous blog entry, the second half of our honeymoon was spent in the south of France. After a five-hour ride on the TGV train, we got off in Nice, which was very nice!

Our hotel wasn't as nice as the one in Paris, but it was a five-minute walk to the boardwalk and beach! One thing I will say about European hotels is they are literally smaller than my living room in New York City. They were JUST big enough to hold a queen-size bed, a narrow table, and a tiny bathroom. But since we weren't in the hotel for more than sleeping at night and our afternoon naps, I didn't mind.

Our second full day in Nice was Brent's favorite part of our honeymoon. And no, his favorite part of the trip didn't include anything that had to do with his new wife. He is a guy after all. So his favorite excursion was watching the Ironman Triathlon along the beach ALL DAY on Sunday. And yes, apparently we had to watch the whole thing. He watched, I read a magazine. We're a match made in heaven!

And since the first part of the race was held in the water, I used it as an excuse to lie on the beach. Unfortunately, the "beaches" in Nice are made up of huge, flat rocks. There is no sand, which is good for me because I HATE sand. But the rocks, as you can imagine, were not the most comfortable thing to lie on. Nevertheless, to Brent's utter surprise, I looked totally European on the beach, as in I went completely topless. Which he documented with my camera, of course.

Unfortunately for me, I apparently "did it wrong," according to Brent. What I did was put down my towel, sat on it, took off my top, put on sunscreen, and then relaxed with my magazine.

What I was supposed to do, according to Brent, was act somewhat modest and take off my top while lying on my stomach. Then, after 15 minutes, I was supposed to nonchalantly roll over to get some sun on the girls.

Now how does he know this? Apparently while I was admiring the view of the sea and people-watching along the boardwalk, he was admiring the view of the topless European women on the beach. Sigh.

MONACO AND MONTE CARLO

Our first excursion away from Nice was to go to Monaco and Monte Carlo, which is a 20-minute train ride away. We spent the day there admiring the amazing views of the harbor and the architecture.

Our first stop was going to the palace at the top of a huge rock to see the changing of the guard ceremony, which was extremely precise!

I wandered around the shops afterward while Brent rested after crutching up tons of stairs.

Afterward, I unfortunately, I made the mistake of letting Brent choose where we went to lunch. Let me reiterate that we were in Monaco near France. So, of course, Brent chose to take us to a little place called "Stars and Bars" which boasted traditional American food. Yep, this is the guy I married!

I of course hated that idea, so we compromised by eating paninis in a little park overlooking the water before heading to the bar for a drink.

When we were cooled down, we decided that the Monte Carlo casino didn't look too far away, so we started walking there.

After an excruciatingly hot and painful upward walk, we finally got to the casino and were rewarded with a nice view of several Ferrari's and other fancy sports cars.

After wandering around Monte Carlo for awhile, we decided we had had enough of the sun and headed back to Nice.

One of my personal favorite parts of our trip was when we decided to visit a vineyard. I mean, we were in France, right?

So after some research, Brent and I boarded a bus to head to Chateau Cremat up in the mountains of Nice. Unfortunately, the bus could only get us so far, so we had to hike about a half a mile, which Brent was not too happy about doing on crutches. But he was a trooper.

When we got there, we saw that the chateau was on a hill so high that we literally had a 360-degree view of Nice. It was beautiful! The tour guide took us on a personal tour all around the chateau, and showed us every aspect of the wine-making process, including where the grapes grow, where they go to make the wine, and where the wine is stored for a few years until it is ready to sell.

When our tour was over, we then had a chance to relax and sample all the different types of wines - red, rose, and white. We usually drink red, but I honestly liked the white wine the best. But we still bought one bottle of each along with a second bottle of white wine for my parents for a gift. Brent's parents got chocolate and cookies!

Though it was hard to leave such an amazing place - France, that is! - I definitely didn't mind getting back on a Luftansia airplane - one that came complete with pillows, blankets, free booze, several meals and snacks, and 10 different movies to choose from to pass the time. Though we flew coach, I have never felt more like first class, which was how I felt most of the time during this amazing honeymoon with my amazing new husband!