Part II

While in Nice I took the train to Cap D'ail where I spent a bit of time on a beautiful beach with really big and painful pebbles. it made it quite difficult to gracefully walk to the water.
Then, on recommendation, I walked along the coast into Monaco (pic left), which I hated.
To be fair I didn't spend long there, but it's just like a north american city --modern hotels, the hum of air conditioners--with none of grittiness or urban culture. I did see a really buff guy with no shirt, union jack boxers hiked up over his pants, wearing a cowboy hat and carrying two of the tiniest, fluffiest puppies I'd ever seen --one under each arm. Strange place.
On the train ride back to Nice --the hot, crowded train ride--I noticed a perfect beach just down the bank. So when the train stopped at the next station, I got off and went down to the beach. It was the best part of the whole trip. Because I had no more money on me and didn't know if I could reboard the train on the same ticket, it was a bit of gamble, but the beach was sandy and the water warm and much better than the horrible train.
(I got back to the hostel with no problems)
Life Lesson: I highly recommend getting off the train.
(oh so deep)

I got back to london late friday night. And my parents arrived on Saturdayy morning. We did lots of touristy things, like the open top bus.
Okay, so I'm being serious when I say that the weather in london isn't so bad. When it rains, it's quite light rain and the summer has been hot --like toronto summer hot. But the day my parents are in london and we decided to do the open top bus tour, it starts pissing down. Bravely, we attempted the upper deck, swathed in those free thin plastic rain ponchos. I was holding the hood closed with one hand but the painful sting of the freezing rain became too much. At the end of june!!! We must have looked like complete twats, defying the weather and gamely trying to see the buildings the tour guide was pointing out through the sheets of rain.
It hadn't even been that cold in the winter --except for the last time my parents visited.
it's possible that they should be banned from the country all together.
The next day was better and we went to the tower of london! I've wanted to go there for ages, but had been frightened away by the 15 quid cover-- which incidentally sounds quite reasonable now-- could I be acclimatized to the pound now...