So for RWC 2023 in France, I followed the same routine as every previous tournament and booked tickets to a few games over a couple weeks, strategically placed to allow me to travel around a bunch of different parts of the country. But because I had to do all this ticket planning 1.5 - 2 years in advance, by the time the tournament came around, I'd realized that my travel stamina had greatly reduced during lockdown... I can now only stand 7-8 days on the road, max. After that, no matter where I am, or what I'm doing, or how attractive I find the guys in the sporting event I'm watching, I'm perpetually cranky. I don't want to be anywhere in the world but at home with my cats. So I decided to nix the fortnight of games and concentrate my trip on a part of France I hadn't been to before, sold all the tickets I'd bought except Scotland v Tonga in Nice, and set out to enjoy several days on the French Riviera.
Nice
With a sore back from 20+ hours of travel, a 9pm arrival at the hotel the night before, and a forecast including thunderstorms and apocalyptic rain, my first full day in Nice was mostly spent in the hotel, in bed, watching a bunch of Golden Girls episodes for about the 745th time. Ah, well... the middle aged traveler's heart wants what the middle aged traveler's heart wants. Luckily I mustered a little youthful vigor for the next two days, and spent them both out exploring the town. The first day, I just took a wander out to see what was near the hotel with no agenda, and ended up walking in circles, passing by the path that would have taken me back multiple times, completely losing my sense of direction, for hours. Welp. At least I got outdoors.
The second day, I made a real plan and went downtown on a tram. The trams and downtown streets were pretty easy to navigate, so I didn't get lost this time, but also didn't stay there long because it was sunny and sweaty out, and I didn't find anything that was all that appealing to me. I saw a big church and did some random shopping, but mostly just meandered around wondering why Nice is such a sought after luxury destination that sites kept offering me private jets as an option when I looked for flights. Never seen that before! I mean, downtown Nice was fine. It was like any other generic western European city, reminded me a bit of Milan, but with palm trees... that grew there naturally and didn't cause a giant controversy when placed there by an American corporation. Maybe the problem is that I'm much more of a city person than a beach person, and cities aren't really the point on the Riviera. Or given my other travel experiences, maybe I'm just not the right audience for... well, France.
But never mind that! Day four in Nice was rugby day! I'd purposely chosen a hotel away from downtown because it was easy to catch a quick 15 minute tram to the game, but that didn't make it a less busy or annoyingly crowded experience. I enjoyed singing Flower of Scotland, and was surprised to see the Tongans do a haka-like war dance before the game, but loved it nonetheless. I looked it up later, and found out it's called the Sipi Tau, and the current version was written in 1994.
Anyway. Scotland won 45-17 despite their elite ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, even in games where they're the favourite. Tonga's a fun team to watch. And I'm not a sports reporter, so that's pretty much all you're gonna get.
Side note: It occurred to me at some point on this day of rugby that I probably don't understand as much French as I think I do. I'm too out of practice speaking it to put a sentence together, but I can still understand a fair bit when it's spoken (unless it's in a Montréal accent - qu'est-ce que c'est?!), and I get even more when I'm reading and have time to process. So when in France, I always believe that I'm catching enough to know what's going on around me, but realistically... I probably have no idea.
Oh, also, I got asked for directions twice on my first day out wandering in Nice... when I was completely lost and had no business giving anyone directions. This has always happened to me, everywhere I go. The more things change, etc...
Monte Carlo
I used my last full day on the Riviera to take a brief trip over to Monte Carlo, since Monaco was right next door and all. It was much prettier than Nice, and waaaaaaaaaaaay snazzier, but I struggled to find things to occupy the short time I spent there. I'm not much of a gambler, so skipped the famous (or infamous?) casino scene, and I'm not a millionaire, so all the store fronts I passed featuring luxury goods and sports cars were regrettably out of my price range. A Lambo wouldn't fit in my luggage anyway.
I'm normally happy to just wander and enjoy the scenery, but on the particular (very hot) day I chose to visit, Monte Carlo was hosting a big yacht show that closed off and blocked much of the waterfront. So this photo is a good example of pretty much all the scenery I got to take in. It did make me realize why fancy expensive flights to Nice are such a thing, though -- it's the closest airport to Monaco, which is where all the fancy people actually want to go.
But as only a wannabe member of the Fancy People Club, after a couple hours in Monte Carlo, not buying a yacht, I had to hop on the hot, crowded train back to Nice, and fly home commercial the day after that. No vie fabuleuse for moi, just la vie avec les chats.
And honestly? I'm not that mad about it.
