This does not not read in order as EZE was sitting in draft and got overrun by my excitement at the cottage in Cotignac but have decided its worth finishing.
We head of to EZE early, as in Uber at 8.30, because that’s early now. We do this because one, it evidently gets very, very hot and secondly because evidently it gets very crowded with tourists arriving in buses at around 10.30.
We take an Uber because the bus schedule looks tricky and we aren’t quite sure where to connect, so we decide to Uber there and bus back once we know the lay of the land. I determine that our Uber driver is an ex Monaco circuit race driver or at least a wannabe one as he whips and winds up the little roads, back lanes and then highway to get us there. Safely delivered we begin the now infamous baguette walk and start climbing feeling the carbs quite literally melt away as it’s 26 degrees already. We are at the gates when the gardens open and with a few other early tourists we start to wander.
The views are spectacular and we are indeed pleased we came early as the paths are purely one way traffic. It’s hard to imagine them crowded. The gardens are dotted with these beautiful states of women who give of a “decontracte”, which I think or at least hope means “relaxed, easy going vibe”.
There are others dotted around, some with names and some without but all with an aura of grace. We wander up and around and as the heat builds so do the tourists. You can hear them before you can even spot a pointy umbrella. It feels out of place in this space and I bet I do know what Charlotte is thinking behind her masked eyes. The photo in the picture shows some umbrellas on a terrace so with the building foot traffic I think it would be nice to escape and grab a cafe au lait on the terrasse. We wind our way down but alas you have to be staying at the quaint little 5 star hotel to sit on the terrace or yet again book months in advance to dine in the restaurant. Silly me.
We find an alternative cafe and share a yummy omelette and pain with conserve for breakfast with Yet another very ordinary cafe au lait. I had as mentioned previously all but given up of ever finding a good one. We sit below the jasmine and watch the hoardes now pass us by, queuing behind the righteous selfie takers fixated on shoot, look, delete, shoot again.
We head to the bus stop and wait in the heat for the appropriate bus which eventually meanders in. Unfortunately we do not yet know the lay of the land and miss the stop and end up all the way back in Nice. We get off to find our faithful number 600 bus that we know 100% stops by our apartment and begin the double back to Ville-Franche. On the bus I see a couple of young girls who are wearing pounamu so I ask if they are kiwis to which they reply yes. We tell them of our missed bus connection and that we are circling back. We discuss where they are from and where they are going and share some stories. They nearly miss there stop as we tell them all knowingly where it is to get off to explore the village as we carry on up the hill.
Rested and watered we decide to head to Monaco in the late afternoon as we are leaving tomorrow and it’s just down the road. We hop on the bus and after a while think we are perhaps heading in the wrong direction, but hey at least it’s great scenery. We reach the end of the line and hop off to double back and get back on. Sound familiar. We are waiting for the bus to depart when the two young kiwis from earlier hop on the bus. They have visited a chateau and now after our this morning conversation they have decided to visit EZE as they too are leaving tomorrow. We tell them how to get there or at least how not to get there and given I have just told them that we are again on the wrong bus I am not sure they saw me as someone who gave good travel advice. Yet we made it to Monaco and home again.
PS.just in case you are wondering. Last nights birthday dinner did not disappoint.
