Monaco and Nice

After finishing our hike, we thought we might spend some more time in Calvi. But further into the off season, the town pretty much shuts down. It was a very deserted place so we headed back to Nice for a couple extra days there. 

The first full day, we took the train to Monaco to go to the aquarium and added another new place to our list of countries visited. The aquarium (or more formally -- The Oceanographic Museum) is housed in a huge elaborate building built right on the cliffside of the ocean. The basement houses the aquarium, the main floor is conference/meeting areas and gift shop, and the upper levels are actual museum. A rooftop restaurant provides some great views. We thought for sure it must have originally built for some other purpose but apparently it wasn't, thanks to Prince Albert I who was fascinated by ocean creatures. Andrew got some really great photographs.

After the aquarium, we wandered around the rest of the Rock of Monaco area (the "old town") which also includes the Prince's palace and the cathedral.  

The Oceanographic Museum and aquarium situated on the cliff's edge of the Rock of Monaco.

One of the museum floors.

The Cathedral

Monaco harbour

At the palace.

Police scooters

The Rock of Monaco

In Nice we went to the Parc Phoenix, CastleHill, wandered the waterfront and back streets and, for lack of anything better to do, went to the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art. While I liked the funky dinosaur statue outside the Museum, I'm afraid neither Andrew or I are connoisseurs of modern art. We both thought most of it was downright strange.   

At Parc Phoenix

Posing for the camera.

At the bottom of Castle Hill

View from Castle Hill

Nice harbour, from Castle Hill

There was a lot of artwork like this throughout the city.

Rooftops - view from Castle Hill

The quiet back streets.

Funky dinosaur statue in front of the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art

I'm a great proponent of supporting local businesses but I have to admit that I'm also a Starbucks fan and do love a good strong chai tea. Starbucks delivers! Spicy chai with half hot water and half steamed milk is my comfort food. I make it at home all the time. After almost a month in Corsica without, I'm happy to be back in Starbucks land and relax with my tea!

McKinlay Family Vacation Begins!

Waterfront in Nice, France

For the next phase of our Europe trip, Andrew and I flew from Vienna to Nice to meet up with Andrew's sisters, Penny and Clare. We had a day there before taking the ferry over to the French island of Corsica.

Unfortunately, it rained most of the time so we didn't a chance to do much. After getting rather wet just going out for breakfast, we sat in the hotel lobby for a while to wait out the absolute deluge that was pouring down outside.

The siblings -- waiting for the rain to at least slow down a bit.

We eventually headed out despite the heavy rain and by mid-afternoon the sun came out and we walked a linear park with some very cool wooden playground equipment that my 5-year old great nephew would have loved! It was all made out of wood and was in the shapes of various sea creatures. This whale was especially impressive.

Whale playground structure with slide at the front, a climbing wall on the side . . . 

. . . and various things inside to crawl and climb on. Lots of fun to be had!

We stopped in a shopping mall to dry off during the morning and figured this advertisement banner that encouraged women to get breast exams for early detection of cancer was probably a bit more risqué than what we might see at home.

The police presence was quite high. A memorial for the people killed last July during the Bastille Day attack was scheduled but postponed to the following day due to the rain.

I was very impressive with the backing up skills of this ferry captain. A relatively small space for a very large boat!

View of the Nice coastline from the ferry. Corsica, here we come!