Visited: The beautiful French Riviera city of Nice, in the South of France

The agenda was simple...by day, lie on the beach, have awesome French food, check out some of the lovely old little cobbled streets (that houses some of the biggest designers in the world, right next to quaint mom & pop cafes serving authentic French food, and wares, old world style) and at night, PARTY!! And the first 4 days, that's exactly what we did! Our hotel was on the famous Promenade de Anglais, a beautiful stretch of beach and corniche where everybody, tourists and locals alike, hangout, lying on the beach, basking in the beautiful Mediterranean sun, or just eating and drinking in the fabulous restaurants and bars that line the strip. Obviously, owing to it's proximity to the sea, Nice is a seafood lovers paradise.

The fifth day, we decided to get off our lazy (and by now stuffed) behinds and take in some more of the Cote D' Azure, so we hired a cool convertible, and with the roof down, wind in our faces, drove south towards Cannes, the city most famous for the coveted film festival. Cannes is a beautiful drive along the coast, a mere 30 Km from Nice. Once we finished the most touristy thing one can do, which is a visit to the Grand Theatre Lumiere, the venue of the gala screenings and awards ceremony of the film festival, walked up the infamous Red Steps, and felt like Martin Scorcese, we walked around the city (traffic is crazy, and roads are narrow). Someone pointed out a very small, sweet, blink-and-miss winding hill road that he said would lead up to a beautiful ancient church, from where we could see the entire city, and were we glad we did, cos the view was truly breathtaking... of the city and the sea, and yachts, of all shapes and sizes, docked as far as the eye could see! After lunch at a sweet bistro on the pavement, we drove down to St. Tropez, which was about 50 km away, checked out some of the beautiful (and HUGE) holiday homes of some of the biggest names in show biz and industry in the world, decided which one we'll buy in about 20 years, and headed back to Nice.

The next day, we set off by road up north to the playground of the rich and famous, to the principality of Monaco, to the legendary Monte Carlo. Monaco is a sovereign state located just 25 Km from Nice, and is set between the Alps on one side and the Mediterranean Sea on the other! It is ruled by the Grimaldi family, a dynasty that has been the face of Monaco for about 700 years or so. Monaco, we were told, has only about 100,000 inhabitants, but is packed with tourists throughout the year. One of the biggest reasons people come to Monte Carlo is for the gambling. The Monte Carlo Casino (made famous in numerous James Bond flicks) is a haven for the serious gambler, where the stakes are big enough to make or break you! With its awe inspiring wall paintings, sculptures and an astonishing gold and marble atrium, the architecture is unforgettable. It is also home to the Monte-Carlo Opera, which stages world-renowned productions. After checking out most of the huge and beautiful casino, and being told that we need to be in formals to enter the actual hall, we left to go have lunch, and waited about 30 min to be seated at the Café De Paris, a hugely popular café with alfresco dining, facing the casino. We realized why it took us so long to be seated at a place that could easily seat about 200 people at one time, after we tried the food, which was superb. The one other event that brings tens of thousands of people from around the world to this little city for a few days is the Formula 1 Grand Prix, held in May every year on the actual roads of the city, and we had a great time driving around parts of the actual circuit. One of the most beautiful places we checked out in Monte Carlo was the dock where thousands of boats were docked, beautiful 100 ft super luxury yachts to catamarans, all the way down to 25 ft single person sail boats!! It was a day well spent!!!

For all those who've never been to the South of France, it is a must-see. A week is more than enough to check out all the places we went to.