(Announcement at the Bottom)

    As mentioned in the first post in this set (Vienna and Austria), I had the amazing opportunity to travel to Europe last year. The other day I posted about travelling through Northern Venice, and other cities in northern Italy. Today is 'part 3': out of Italy to the next few stops in France! Since I have a lot of pictures in France, this is going to be in at least 3 parts -- to start will be this post on the Côte d'Azur (French Riviera).. This place seriously contends for my favourite coast line, possibly beating out the Pacific North West. Seriously.

    The largest city in the area is Nice (pronounced like 'niece', not 'nice'!). Nice has a long history between French and Italian rule, and as you might now by now -- I love these little tidbits about history, especially about Europe! So how about a quick history lesson? Nice was first controlled by Savoy, then the French, then Savoy again, then the French and Spanish, the French, then Piedmont-Sardinia, then France again, then Piedmont-Sardinia again, and then to finally back to France from a ballot (they voted to re-join France!) Also, during WW2, Italy (finally unified by now!) controlled Nice from 1942–1943, but it has been back to France ever since. What a crazy history of a city constantly swapping hands, eh?

    Anyways, enough for the history lesson, lets get to the pictures! This one will be a bit shorter than the last, as I am splitting France into a few chunks (I have a lot of pretty photos to sort through!) So, let's get started.

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The Côte d'Azur

    I'm putting this gorgeous picture first, for the thumbnail, as this one is my favourite! This is slightly before Nice, looking into one of the bays -- Rade de Villefranche-sur-Mer.

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A Solo Sailboat

    Another awesome picture of the Mediterranean, this lonely sailboat was the only one out that day, it seemed! The waters were calm, and this person probably had a wonderful time!

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A Million Dollar Pool

    Okay, not sure if the pool actually costs a million dollars. But this guy has his own house on a little peninsula, so it must cost a pretty penny. Could you imagine living there?

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Monaco

    Here's a shot overlooking Monaco, which is before Nice, but actually not part of France! Monaco is city state within Europe, although they are politically, economically, and militarily tied to France for just about everything. Monaco is also home to a large amount of Millionaires, are probably for good reasons.

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The Road to Nice

I took this shot from a moving car, so don't blame me on the blurriness! I thought this was a unique, short little tunnel, so I had to take a picture of it. It turned out be be a bit minimalist of a photograph, which I quite like.

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Port de Nice

    Entering Nice for lunch, we had this view of the Port of Nice while we chowed down on some French food. We ate outside, and funny enough, the only time it rained that day was when we were eating. But only briefly!

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Nice is quite Nice

    Here's Nice proper! This is the center beach in Nice. That weird statue you see, is the Neuf Lignes Obliques.

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Red Rocks and a Brick House

    Continuing along the coast, and getting out of the big city, it was interesting to watch the nature change. The rocks got very red, and the nature really green! You can also see in this shot, the Spanish and Italian influence in the housing design.

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So long, Coast

    This was my last shot along the coast, as we peeled away to head to Aix-en-Provence. A lovely last look at the Côte d'Azur.

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    That's all for today! For those of you interested: Camera is Sony NEX-7, with a Zeiss 16-70mm lens.

    Click an image to enlarge to the 1920px version! They are, of course, down-sampled from my original copies, we can chat if you're interested in any full quality versions. As always, these are my original photos, and I maintain the copyright.

    Don't forget to if you like my blog, I will keep posting picture stories! Next up, will be the continuation of this trip within France (to the Aix-en-Provence area), so don't miss out!

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Update: Steemfest!

    In my last post, I hinted at the possibility of me attending @steemfest. After completely 'okaying' it with my schedule, I am now on board with heading to Amsterdam for it! I can't wait to see some of Europe again, and more importantly, meet many of you fellow steemers. I will be booking my trip shorty! The thousand dollar plane ticket is an ouch for a student, but I know it will be worth it. See you all there, in just under two months!

And don't worry, the camera is coming with!