THE South of France. April 28th - May 1st 2016

I have fallen in love. The South of France outlived any of our expectations. If I said it once, I said it a million times over the weekend...this was by far the prettiest place I've ever seen! Hands down. I must give credit for this trip to our London chiropractor. He recommended the whole trip to us, from what to do, to where to go, to even where to stay. I'm telling y'all...the best way to travel is by recommendations of others.

We flew out early Thursday morning, landed in Nice just in time for lunch and our 1st adventure. We rented a car and needless to say, the rental car led to many adventures through the weekend. We opted for the upgrade because well...we are in the South of France...what better way to see the sea than with a top down?! Hello BMW Convertible. Our first view of Nice was this....I mean...can it get any better?

Look at the color of this water! 

We drove into Nice to grab lunch before adventuring the French countryside. I was co-pilot and Okeefe was a badass driving this car....until...I led us down the narrowest street ever, covered with people enjoying lunch outside. After a minor freakout, we made a circle, narrowly avoiding a family...with a baby (I closed my eyes) and parked that bad boy in a parking garage. After a few deep breaths, we made our way back to the narrow streets and enjoyed our lunch outside....while laughing about others trying to drive down the same street. After lunch, we hiked up to find this view. Again...I mean.

Getting good at these selfies. 

After our quick jaunt around Nice we hit the road. Right in time for rush hour. We hit traffic so decided to make a quick diversion to a side road. (Keep in mind our hotel was about 20-30 minutes away in the lovely town of Mougins.) Being off the interstate, we decided to pull off and let the top down. Except well...it didn't go down. It went halfway down. I'll spare you all the details...but there we were...in the middle of France. Stuck. After about 2 1/2 hours, we made our way back to the airport....long story short and maybe one of the funniest adventures thus far...we were back on the road, car fixed. Because of minor, ahem, I mean major delay, we arrived at our hotel around 9pm. Luckily our hotel had a fantastic French restaurant...putting us to our 1st real test of the French language. Dinner was delicious and we were exhausted.

Day 2: Adventure in Cannes

Day 2 started early with a trip to Cannes and vespa rides! We rented a Vespa for the day, again I was co-pilot. We spent the first few hours laying on the beach because I mean the sun. We missed the sun. After a few coffees beachside we rode stopping along the way to admire the yachts and the views. These views... I couldn't stop admiring. We grabbed a seafood lunch complete with raw mussels (ew..raw mussels are not my jam) and oysters.  

After lunch we hiked up to this church with again amazing views. It was glorious! (I still pinch myself every trip) Making our way back down we took another afternoon ride along the beach, stopping for an afternoon cocktail and loving this time together. After dropping the Vespa...we decided to test this convertible again. Pas bon. No go. No beuno. This car. I can't. 

Our night ended with a traditional French dinner in Mougins. Mougins is a lovely French town tucked away in thick city walls. We felt as if we were looking out at a puzzle scape.

Day 3: Adventure hiking, trip to Antibes ... and more beach side. 

Day 3 started with a morning hike. Getting to this hike was again another adventure in and of itself. Finally finding the trail we took off. Quickly realizing that I'm pretty sure we were hiking over sewer grates, we turned back. We did find a river to walk along on our way back. Okeefe showed off his rock skipping skills which quickly developed into a competition of who could hit a rock....half an hour later, we are are still trying to hit the rock. 

Morning Hike

View from morning exploration 

We cleaned up and headed out to find another beach. Antibes had been recommended to us, a walled city. We decided to come back for dinner and enjoy the beach day. Finding chairs and an umbrella, we settled in...with champagne of course. 

Making our way back to Antibes for dinner, we roamed the city. We learned quickly that the French don't eat dinner until late...really late. So finding a place to grab dinner became challenging. We decided to have a drink in the meantime. We ended up an English Pub (isn't it ironic), but we are so glad we did. We ended up meeting these great new friends that were from South Africa. They all worked on the yachts in Cannes and Nice, so the stories were incredible. The introduced us to a local pizza place and we ended the night with them. This sealed our trip together....our favorite part of traveling is meeting people. 

Day 4: Adventure to Valbonne and Biot 

Our last day we traveled country side. We took a road trip North to Valbonne and West to Biot. In Valbonne we happened upon a French Car Show. It was unreal. The BEST people watching and so many odds and ends for sale. And it was VERY popular. 

We headed to Biot for lunch. Biot is another quaint French town on top of a hill....a very large hill. We parked and hiked our way to the top. It was a beautiful afternoon and Biot was hosting a Sunday market. Perfect. Biot is known for their glass blowing so we grabbed a souvenir. Searching for lunch, we found a street vendor with some of the best food we had on the trip. 

Sunday Lunch - Biot, France

Biot Sunday Market

After a few hours exploring we sadly made our way back to Nice, not wanting to leave one of our favorite weekends. So thankful for this time and opportunity to explore. 

This trip...it's going to be hard to top. But I can guarantee this...we will be back. And...I'm now taking French lessons. Je m'apelle Nini.