THE sun is shining. The water colours in La Baie Des Anges graduate from the emerald green foreshore to turquoise to a deep midnight blue out to sea.
The water temperature is an alluring 22 degrees or so.
The majestic mountain backdrops are a bonus to the seaside vistas.
Nice.
Nice by name and nature (except the French pronouce it "neece" and it actually comes from a Greek word meaning victory).
But we can't bring ourselves to go for a dip because barely a speck of sand is in sight - only rocks, pebbles and gravel.
Still, that isn't detering the thousands who are lapping up the majestic surrounds and perfect Cote d'Azur day.
We have arrived - literally and metaphorically - to enjoy the lifestyles of the rich and the famous on what the world calls the French Riviera.
So hubbie and I do what the rest of the holidaymakers are doing and walk the Promenade Anglais, dodging the cyclists and rollerbladers, stopping here and there to photograph the colourful beach umbrellas with sunlounges or waterfront bars and cafes before ending at the almost circular headland lookout.
Then we climb the stairs to the Tour Bellanda (built in 1826 on the former Tour Saint Elme site) for a full perspective of the calm bay on the Mediterranean Sea and a better look at the paraflyers off the back of a speedboat.
Our Globus tour guide Philippe tells us that tourists have been coming here since 1850 when British and Russian visitors tried to escape to the south of France for the whole of the northern winter.
They liked this place so much that they started to build palaces and large residences - of course we're talking about members of royal families, aristocrats and captains of industry.
After the First World War One, they also started to come in summer.
Without affordable accommodation, French holidaymakers took their newly acquired two weeks annual leave, gained in 1936, and went elsewhere.
French tourists only began arriving in Nice after the Second World War when moderate- priced hotels began to spring up, also attracting Italian tourists who didn't need to travel far.
About half-a-million people call Nice home today but the popular summer season can add another 200,000 people to the city streets, browsing the popular markets or high-end stores, dining in the wide variety of restaurants or throwing their towels down on the rocks.
Nice now has a wide range of hotel accommodation to suit all budgets and remains the cheapest city on the Riviera.
Still, if you have a lot of money, this is the place to party.
Fly in your best friends or family on your private jet to Nice airport, hire a yacht, upmarket hotel room or house from 150,000 to 200,000 euros for a week, and shout them a champagne shower - the latest must-do experience.
But the serious money is at Cape Ferrat, Villefranche and neighbouring Cannes (famous for its annual film festival).
And then there's Saint-Tropez.
Saint-Tropez was just a small fishing village but as Philippe says, today there's more Chanel than fish.
That's the place people go to be seen.
One woman put the village on the map, although that was not her intention.
Brigitte Bardot starred in And God Created Woman about a young sexpot who loves one brother but marries the other, which was filmed in the then "undiscovered" town.
The beautiful French actress bought a house there to escape from the celebrity world but found it had the opposite effect as fans and paparazzi came to see her home and other celebrities began buying villas and attracting more publicity for the town and its most famous inhabitant.
At nearly 79, Miss Bardot still lives in Saint-Tropez today, but continues to shun the limelight of the film industry, prefering to campaign for animal rights and set up dog shelters.
But for me, Nice will do just nicely, thanks very much.
Lesson of the day: There is an art to taking photos out tour bus windows that I am yet to master
White pointers and bronze whalers wearing expensive jewellery on gravelly beach: 590
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