Paragliding and Stray Fireworks in Nice

Have you ever been suspended from a parachute some twenty metres in the air being towed by a speedboat on the French Riviera while being exposed, 'down there', if you get my drift? I haven't. Or at least I wish that wasn't the case but sadly this isn't so.

Nice started out terrific. We drove through a massive amount of rain from Venice but when we arrived most of the rain cloud held at bay up in the mountains for the entire evening. Kat had already booked us a hostel for the two night stay but after seeing that we'd have to catch a train every trip in and out of the city, we tried our luck with the much closer Busabout hostel and managed to get a room.

Once we'd settled in we went for a walk towards the main strip then down to the beach. Nice looks spectacular but all of the expensive casino's everywhere gave it a bit of a cheap and tacky feel to it. Down at the beach we stood in awe at the relaxed outdoor atmosphere and detailed coastline. It was just becoming dusk at the time so there were lights everywhere - Nice lights up well.

Outside the hostel later on we met up with a few of the Busabout crew and mostly other Aussie backpackers and headed down to the beach with a bottle of wine each. The beach here is not sand at all, there's pebbles everywhere which makes it a somewhat uncomfortable yet much less messy trip to the beach. We sat around for a few hours smoking cigars and drinking while soaking in the atmosphere and watching massive fireworks down the coastline towards Cannes. With only half of us left by that stage we headed to a pub close to the hostel and sat around drinking and watching a Robbie Williams concert on FHM TV with Kama Sutra tips and tricks popping up every now and then. Bizarre. An hour later we headed home to bed but not before trying a great kebab with fries in it!


Around lunch the next day we'd slept off the hangovers and headed by train to the ritzy Monaco area with not a cloud in the sky. We started high up in the hills and made our way down to the mariner taking a few amazing photos along the way.

Once there, we sat in a cafe next to one of the massive, expensive boats and munched on breakfast/lunch while sipping on a Pina Colada from a coconut. About an hour later we trekked up to the casino area and had a wander. The cars up there were insane! Most of which would have easily cost 100,000 upwards.


Back in Nice that afternoon we grabbed a straw mat to make the pebble experience slightly more comfortable and relaxed on the beach for a few hours through massive waves of nostalgia for my hometown Byron Bay, Australia. Just like most of the other things we've done, we decided on the spot to go on a tandem paraglide for only 30 Euro each. It was so much fun and such a brilliant view of the city from our harnesses. The corners were the funnest part. When the boat made a turn there was slack on the rope and we started falling but just before hitting the water the rope tightened and we were hoisted back into the air. All except for the last turn where we saw the mischievous look on the boat drivers smile and knew he was up to something. As we fell towards the water we were expecting to be pulled up again but this time we actually hit the water and got dragged through for a few seconds. Enough to expose my commando-style fashion to the French Riviera. 'Nuff said.

I swam back to the shore after the sharp fall into the water suffering from a chronic case of embarrassment. We spent the next hour passed out on the beach tanning in the 7pm sun thinking 'this is the life'.

We were lucky enough for our day in Nice to be Bastille Day, kind of like Australia Day for France. All dressed up we headed back to the main strip which was now all blocked off to traffic and full of people, entertainment, fireworks and the French flag. The vibe was intoxicating (and so were the drinks). It felt like New Years Eve with legal home fireworks going off everywhere. We ran into some people we knew and headed down to the beach where about twenty other Busabouters were sitting. Kat and I left to grab drinks and stumbled upon Old Town, a beautiful part of Nice with pedestrian only streets packed with glamorous restaurants and cute markets. One rushed tour later and we were back on the beach just in time for the spectacular fireworks shot from a brigade close to where we were sitting.

After those finished and half the crowd left, we were left sitting amongst the drunks and firework enthusiasts, most were both. My unsettled feeling that I'd had all night about the amateur fireworks proved well-founded when a precariously placed spiral firework fell over and skimmed the ground towards us. Sparks ablaze it passed between two of my friends and hit my arm, singeing a small patch of hair and burning me in a few places! I couldn't believe it, what a day. First the wardrobe malfunction and now this. Suffice to say I was too unnerved to stay and went back to the hostel to bed. Probably for the best as the next morning we got up with time to spare for the bus for the first time since we started.