Jean-les-Pins & Nice

With so much travelling, I've had trouble keeping up with my normal running training, although we've been walking 5-10 kms a day (which is an excellent effort for the kids). So it was great to kick off Saturday 5 June with a 6am run while the others slept. I ran toward Nice to the next train station as the line follows the coast, covering about 10kms. Already warm at that time of day, I ditched the shoes and shirt and just jumped into the Medetterean Sea to cool off. It was an excellent way to start the day, just floating in the water after a slow but solid run, taking in the gorgeous surrounds.

At lunchtime we got on the train from our Biot campsite and travelled just 15 mins to Jean-les-Pins which is near Cannes. It reminded me a lot of Phillip Island (except actually interesting!). OK, it was nothing like Phillip Island. Sandra did some shopping as we strolled along the beach, the kids downed an icecream which Lachlan got all over the place as usual, and I ended up at a local pinnie parlour playing air hockey with the kids as Sandra continued the window shopping. It looked like the town was preparing for a 'white' colour themed festival at the time which was a pity to miss.

With so much we want to see and so little time, we jumped back on the train, this time heading the other direction to Nice. On arrival at the station, there was a large crowd hanging around and it was hard to figure out what all of the fuss was about. It turned out 50-odd people were looking at some poor guy having convulsions on the ground. As no-one was actually helping, I used my scratchy French to suggest someone call an ambulance as I tried to calm the guy. Fortunately he was breathing and it was hard to tell if he was having a mild heart attack, or more likely an epileptic fit in which case he needed people to keep clear of him to give him air and prevent him from hurting himself. After several minutes I had him in the recovery position and figured that he was Italian and spoke a little English and no French (thus the crowd didn't know what he was saying). So, here was an Aussie, trying to help an Italian among a French crowd. Weird day, but I hope the guy is OK.

We eventually got on with our brief visit to Nice, choosing to again use a hop-on-hop-off bus to see the sites as we were officially buggered by this point. The driver was impressive in working his way around impossibly tiny streets without hitting cars as we checked out the beautiful buildings in town. We got off at the beach for a stroll and watched people flying through the air on parachutes being pulled along by speed boats (Johanna wants to give it a try ... well, maybe one day!).

Saturday finished with us having a glass of wine with a really nice French family who were down on the coast from the Grenoble area and camping behind us. There was also a Daniel among them and he did a great job with his English and helped me with my attempts at speaking French. It was fantastic to spend some time with a 'local' family and Lachlan loved playing with a boy his own age for a few hours. It's a pity we have to move on tomorrow.