Easter on the French Riviera

This Easter we were very keen on getting a little sun in the Mediterranean after the looooooong winter (for MC anyway, some people spent most of it in the warmth in NZ!). So we booked a couple of budget flights to Nice in France and weren't disappointed! The weather was fabulous, the scenery gorgeous and the food delicious!

The beach in Nice.
Another one of the beach in Nice.
The flower-seller. He exchanges a bouquet for a baguette in the boulangerie when he's feeling peckish!
The medieval hilltop village of St Paul. We took full advantage of the 1 Euro bus-rides to pretty much anywhere on the riviera and took lots of little day-trips from Nice.
St Paul from below.
Cute street in St Paul.
View from the wall of St Paul. And hot enough for iceblocks!
More of the view from St Paul.
More quaint streets.
Locals playing petanque in St Paul.
Back in Nice.
Beach in St Jean Cap Ferrat.
Going for a walk around the coast in St Jean Cap Ferrat.
We walked from Villefranche (a little town about 20 minutes from Nice) to St Jean Cap Ferrat. This is the view from Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild, a palace along the route.
Rest-stop on the way to St Jean Cap Ferrat.
Villefranche.
The port in Nice with its amazing boats.
Nice by night.
The ancient village of Eze, perched on a cliff overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. Below are some views from the Jardin Exotique at the top of Eze.




Narrow medieval streets in Eze.

John and the view from Monaco from the Royal Palace.
Monaco Cathedral, where Grace Kelly married Prince Rainier.
Monaco port.
The Royal Palace in Monaco, home of the Grimaldi family.
Crazy John round the back of the Monte Carlo Casino.
John spent most of our day in Monaco walking round in wide-eyed wonderment at the abundance of super cars. The above is one of many Lamborghinis.
Ferrari, you can see the engine thingy in the back.
Aston Martin.
Monte Carlo casino.
Pretty spring-time tulips and the casino in the background.
More casino.
John and the casino.
MC and the casino.
Back in Nice.
The airport in Nice - "Kiss and fly" - sounds much more romantic than "Drop-off zone"??

So we had a fantastic time in France, was so NICE to get good weather and see a bit of the countryside. We have a few things to look forward to before coming back to NZ in June for Chris and Erin's wedding - MC is going to see Pink in concert in a few weeks, we have a few comedy shows lined up (saw Ricky Gervais this week which was pretty entertaining) and are going to Lisbon in Portugal next month. We have booked our flights to NZ (leave June 23 and return July 11) and have a stopover in Kuala Lumpur/Langkawi organised on the way over to take some of the chill off the NZ winter!

Meanwhile in London, the weather is also warming up - summer is coming!! However John is unfortunately still unemployed which is a little frustrating (more for MC than John... he is living the good life and his stylish "unemployment pants" (£2 shrunk-in-the-wash Primark trackies) are getting a lot of wear!).
Hopefully something will turn up soon, although MC is a little excited about the prospect of returning home for good now, so whatever happens, we'll be happy.