Monday 18 November 2024

An easy travel day today with a train to Genova, then a change there to Ventimiglia on the border, then a French train into Nice.

Everything was going smoothly. The 50 or so primary schoolchildren, with matching orange caps and stressed teachers, boarded at Genova! Luckily, they scrambled through our carriage and disappeared further down the train.

Time for a picnic lunch in Ventimiglia with our cooked chicken and salad in focaccia, sitting in the carpark and then back on the SCNF train to France.

We went one stop – Menton and on got the Police Nationale. The train does not proceed and the armed coppers ask to see our passports. There are more police on the platform and clearly, something is happening. Next thing you know, a tall young chap with a chin beard is led off the train. Interesting.

The media did mention a heightened security presence in France. We’re no sooner on the way again and a dodgy looking character with a back pack gets on and sits next to us, takes a socket key from his bag and proceeds to undo the window latch and crack it open. Then he does the same to another on the opposite side in the next carriage. Well, you can imagine what we thought. Should we take a surreptitious photo and text the railway security? Is he planning a gas attack in one of the many tunnels?

Relieved to get off at Nice without incident, we concluded that he was a nutter on drugs. But really, bringing the correct sized socket spanner on board?

Our hotel, the West End, is on Promenade des Anglais. That’s waterfront Nice and next to the famous Hotel Negresco. Lady P has arranged an upgrade, as it is our 35^th wedding anniversary. She has also booked the Hotel’s Siecle Restaurant for Chateaubriand and Crepe Suzette for dinner tonight. Our room is a bit old fashioned but nice. 

It’s been a while since we used hotels, preferring bnb or home exchange but we settle in and contemplate a cocktail after a little nap. Halfway into the nap, Lady P gets sick. A Vesuvius eruption! Dodgy chicken? Flashy hangs on waiting his turn. Luckily he is un affected, so, as a good hubby, he sets off to get ginger beer and chicken noodle soup. Perhaps an apple to go brown etc.

He leaves Lady P confined to the little room and close to the porcelain bowl and goes out for a cocktail and to watch the sunset. Also, some might say crazy, he has an Asian style fish ceviche and a couple of Cognacs. Still no movement, so back to the room to check on the patient, who seems to have stopped rumbling and drifting off to sleep.

Dinner is postponed until tomorrow night.

Sunset from the hotel.