Nice with Billo

Post date: Jun 09, 2019 3:46:0 PM

I went to Nice with one of my colleagues. Since leaving academia, my work travel has decreased significantly. However, my company offers a personal development budget for each employee. So Billo and I decided we needed to go to Nice to personally develop. We spent 4 days in an “AI in action conference”, and then had a day and a half to wander along the coast.

So, with this dashing gentleman, I wandered across the last part of the Cote d’Azure I hadn’t seen.

However, fair warning. There are no delicious food pictures because I went to the South of France with a vegan. I have regrets, but not too many.

He is, additionally, a runner. And in an effort to support a friend I drove him to the base of a big hill… and then sat at the bottom as he ran to the top. The view while I was reading my book was simply stunning.

After the last session of talks, we went a wandering. I have visited most of the cities in the south of France (from Montpellier to Nice, and all in between!) so we decided to go a wandering along the coast.

As you can see it was horrible.

Billo has become known for his long flowing red hair and beard like Tormund from Game of Thrones. I think it’s just because he doesn’t know how to get his f-ing hair cut.

But in the wind on the coast… it looked pretty cool. Don’t tell him I said that.

There were these MASSIVE houses (estates) that also lined the coast. So Billo and I went house hunting.

This is not something I would have done when I was younger, but as I’ve grown up I realized I often “house shop” while I travel. To be clear, unless I win the lottery or marry rich I will never be able to buy any of these houses. But it’s fun to pretend.

This is Billo’s guest house.

I told Billo to only take a photo if I looked fucking awesome.

He succeeded. Twice.

The sky was unreal. The water was beyond unreal.

There was this natural pool within the rocks which was lovely, and Billo commented that he wanted to come back with friends and drinks. I commented that I thought we were friends, but whatever.

He climbed out to this point just for the photo. Which looks pretty darn epic.

Our last day we flew out at 7pm, which gave us the whole day to go adventuring. Billo suggested we walk along the water into Monte Carlo. As I had never been to Monte Carlo, I happily obliged. All I can say about the population of this tiny town is that it is… dense. Very dense.

And despite the density, there are an uncharacteristically large number of boats and incredibly fast looking sports cars.

As I am constantly searching for Wesley’s lost boat, I poked around this harbor a bit. It wasn’t there… but I looked.

This sign was all over the place, and it cracked me up. It basically says: Tourists, please wear clothes. In 4 languages. Who knew this was a Monte Carlo problem?

The Yellow Submarine! And one of the premier marine institutes in the world! Billo decided we shouldn’t stop there, but don’t worry. I’ll be back.

What a view! For a prison. No but seriously there is a prison built into the side of the wall here, and inmates get an amazing view of the water. Not a bad way to pass the time.

Please note: I know absolutely nothing about racing cars. But apparently there is a famous race here? At least that’s what this statue was all about.

See that building there? With the amazing view and great outdoor terrace? Yeah, that’s a Starbucks.

Billo needed to see the casino in Monte Carlo, so we stopped by. And not surprisingly there were ferraris and lamborghinis and other cars that I don’t know anything about besides that they are supposed to be VERY impressive.

Hilariously, while we were standing there, someone in a fiat panda pulled up and tried to park out front. I’ve never seen valets move as fast as they did to get this guy’s car out of the line of sight.

The inside was also very luxurious and the wildling (Billo) all of a sudden felt VERY impressive. Like the German James Bond. With red hair. Lots and lots of red hair.

But even at our fanciest we can’t be taken too seriously.