Monaco and Hire Cars, Day 13

A new breakfast location downstairs within our latest hotel, and yes, we have toast. OJ, cereal, scrambled eggs, toast and tea. Down the hatch. Off to get some sandwiches for our trip down the coast. Another discovery…….the supermarket. Next we decide to sort out the hire car thing. Parking in Nice is at an absolute premium. We need to find and step out the car park recommended by the hotel. We’ve got a car to sort out now. Car park sorted. Check. Down to the promenade and into the Europa Car offices. After locating our passports, we pick up the car, some sort of funky eco centric Citroen. Lets get this bad boy started. What is going on with these keys? We seek some assistance from someone devoid of interpersonal skills. Oh, I see the keys (for want of a better word) plug into the dash and you press the start button. Right, right, righty, right, right. Silly us. Whats the story with the sat nav? Again we seek some help, but for some unknown reason we can’t with the assistance of a Europa Car representative put in Monaco as a destination. Take the coastal rd we are advised. Sue and I look at each other, and decide to give it a go. As we wind our way out of Nice, all seems to be going well. In actual fact all seems to be going too well. The ocean sights are really extraordinary. I can see why the Riviera goes off in summer. As we wind our way into Monaco, the look of the place spells out indulgence and luxury. And now for some parking. We go around in circles attempting to park. This is crazy. In the end we see a sign to Nice and head back frustrated. This is all good, but we are not travelling on the coastal rd, we are now on a toll motorway. And so the drive gets crazy as we attempt to get back to Nice and hop off at the right spot. No sat nav, a map in French and a lot road signs in French. Hypercrazy. Eventually we get to aim for the Nice city centre and trickle down through the top of town to where we got off the train yesterday. Familiarity. Yes. Now where was that carpark? After some more craziness and abuse from other drivers we get to our carpark. Such a narrow entrance. Up to the 6th floor. All good, except how do you lock this bad boy? Certainly not by standing close to the vehicle and clicking the lock button. Some locals give us a hand. Oh I see, you’ve got to stand well away from the vehicle before locking it. Car locked. Done. We are both ready for a drink. Down to the promenade to gaze out to the ocean. Riveriera. Bang. Time for some shopping. Nice is a bit of a retail label spot, so shopping for normal human wants are a little limited at first glance. You need to look for some shops in some of the side streets. We grab a coffee then head back to HQ. A crazy day. Regret at not walking around the wharfs of Monaco. Is Monaco Nice on steroids? I suppose we’ll never know. Drive to Marseille on Wed, before flying to Venice. Probably no rental car action tomorrow. Kick back day/people gazing day tomorrow?