Nice, Monaco, and Cannes
Leslie and I arrived in Nice in the morning on Friday, April 29. We stayed in a bed and breakfast there; we even had our own private, adjoining rooms. We couldn't check in when we first got there, so we just dropped our bags and headed out to get some breakfast and do a little sight-seeing. We walked through Vieux Nice (the old part of town), where there was a market going on. Then we climbed to the summit of the Colline du Chateau (hill of the castle) for a panoramic view of the city. Nice began as a Greek port city in ancient times. Originally, almost all the important buildings in the city were constructed atop the Colline du Chateau, but over the centuries the city spread out a great deal. It now sprawls out around the hill in three directions (the sea borders the hill on one side) and is the fifth largest city in France. Today there's a park on top of the hill complete with a waterfall. We heard the waterfall was lovely, but on that particular day it was shut off while it was being cleaned.
Leslie and I spent Friday afternoon on the beach. We'd heard the beach in Nice was really rocky, but the stories hadn't prepared us for what we saw when we got there. We'd both been expecting small pebbles, the kind you see on children's playgrounds, but what we actually found were fist-sized gray stones. They were smooth, of course, from the ocean washing over them, and they weren't even that uncomfortable to lay on if you arranged them correctly under your towel. Walking on them hurt like nobody's business, though.
That night our friend Simone came to join us for the remainder of our vacation. After we met her at the train station, we went out to dinner. Simone and I had salade Nicoise, the traditional salad of Nice, which has tuna fish, hard boiled eggs, and olives on it. You can order salade Nicoise all over France, and I'd actually had far better ones in Lyon than I managed to find in Nice. After dinner we went to a few bars. We managed to find the bar where all the exchange students hung out in Nice, called Wayne's, and we had a pretty good time there.
On Saturday morning the three of us took the train to Monaco. Monaco is a tiny principality (meaning it's independent from France) located on the coast 30 minutes from Nice by train. Monaco has six districts, the most famous of which is Monte Carlo. Its citizens don't have to pay taxes because the principality brings in so much money from the tourists who come to gamble in its casinos.
Monaco was absolutely beautiful, built on a mountainside overlooking the ocean. Everywhere we looked we saw expensive cars, extravagant hotels, and men and women dressed to the nines. We decided that, in order to fit in, we should pretend we were celebrities. People tell Leslie all the time that she looks like (a much less trashy version of) Britney Spears, so it was obvious who her celebrity alter ego would be. Leslie decided that I should be Kate Hudson. After much deliberation, we decided Simone would be Kirsten Dunst during the period when the actress wore her hair short and dark. We had wanted to go in to the Monte Carlo casino and gamble just a little, just to say that we'd done it, but it turns out we weren't dressed nearly well enough. Instead we settled for a picture outside the casino (which was, of course, under construction) and then made our way to the beach. I loved the beach in Monaco. It was made up of tiny, smooth pebbles, which were actually far nicer than sand because they didn't stick all over you the way sand does.
That afternoon we took the train back to Nice. We went out to dinner again that night and then back to Wayne's.
On Sunday morning we took the train to Cannes, our last stop on our second grand tour of Europe. After we checked into our hotel, we headed to the beach. There a a coupe of public beaches in Cannes, but the majority of the shoreline has been taken over by small, private beach clubs. For a fee, you can rent out chairs and umbrellas at these clubs, which also offer bars, restaurants, and clean bathrooms. Because it was nearly the end of our vacation, and our time in France, for that matter, we decided to splurge and rent out some chairs at one of the private clubs. It was definitely worth it; the chairs were comfortable, we had an umbrella to hide under when we started burning, and the restaurant offered great cheese omelettes, which you could eat right there on the beach. Later that afternoon we walked down the boardwalk and saw all the chic hotels, including the Ritz-Carlton and the Miramar. The city had started setting up for the Cannes Film Festival, which took place later in May, so we got to see some of the VIP tents and even a red carpet. There were no celebrity sightings, though. After dinner that night we ended up in a karaoke bar near the Vieux Port (the old port). We had some impressive-looking tropical drinks and sang "Oops...I Did It Again" and "Downtown."
On Monday we splurged a second time on chairs at our private beach club. After another lovely day of tanning, we took a train back to Lyon at 5:00 pm.
That's the end of my trip, which means this is the last entry you will all read about my year abroad. It's kind of sad! All in all, I had an amazing year. There were happy times, and there were sad times, but I wouldn't trade any of them for anything in the world. I was given an amazing opportunity, and I'd like to think that I made the very most of it I possibly could. For those of you who've taken the time to keep up with everything I've written (especially those of you who read my 50 million entries on Berlin!), I'd like you to know I really appreciate it.
Leslie and I spent Friday afternoon on the beach. We'd heard the beach in Nice was really rocky, but the stories hadn't prepared us for what we saw when we got there. We'd both been expecting small pebbles, the kind you see on children's playgrounds, but what we actually found were fist-sized gray stones. They were smooth, of course, from the ocean washing over them, and they weren't even that uncomfortable to lay on if you arranged them correctly under your towel. Walking on them hurt like nobody's business, though.
That night our friend Simone came to join us for the remainder of our vacation. After we met her at the train station, we went out to dinner. Simone and I had salade Nicoise, the traditional salad of Nice, which has tuna fish, hard boiled eggs, and olives on it. You can order salade Nicoise all over France, and I'd actually had far better ones in Lyon than I managed to find in Nice. After dinner we went to a few bars. We managed to find the bar where all the exchange students hung out in Nice, called Wayne's, and we had a pretty good time there.
On Saturday morning the three of us took the train to Monaco. Monaco is a tiny principality (meaning it's independent from France) located on the coast 30 minutes from Nice by train. Monaco has six districts, the most famous of which is Monte Carlo. Its citizens don't have to pay taxes because the principality brings in so much money from the tourists who come to gamble in its casinos.
Monaco was absolutely beautiful, built on a mountainside overlooking the ocean. Everywhere we looked we saw expensive cars, extravagant hotels, and men and women dressed to the nines. We decided that, in order to fit in, we should pretend we were celebrities. People tell Leslie all the time that she looks like (a much less trashy version of) Britney Spears, so it was obvious who her celebrity alter ego would be. Leslie decided that I should be Kate Hudson. After much deliberation, we decided Simone would be Kirsten Dunst during the period when the actress wore her hair short and dark. We had wanted to go in to the Monte Carlo casino and gamble just a little, just to say that we'd done it, but it turns out we weren't dressed nearly well enough. Instead we settled for a picture outside the casino (which was, of course, under construction) and then made our way to the beach. I loved the beach in Monaco. It was made up of tiny, smooth pebbles, which were actually far nicer than sand because they didn't stick all over you the way sand does.
That afternoon we took the train back to Nice. We went out to dinner again that night and then back to Wayne's.
On Sunday morning we took the train to Cannes, our last stop on our second grand tour of Europe. After we checked into our hotel, we headed to the beach. There a a coupe of public beaches in Cannes, but the majority of the shoreline has been taken over by small, private beach clubs. For a fee, you can rent out chairs and umbrellas at these clubs, which also offer bars, restaurants, and clean bathrooms. Because it was nearly the end of our vacation, and our time in France, for that matter, we decided to splurge and rent out some chairs at one of the private clubs. It was definitely worth it; the chairs were comfortable, we had an umbrella to hide under when we started burning, and the restaurant offered great cheese omelettes, which you could eat right there on the beach. Later that afternoon we walked down the boardwalk and saw all the chic hotels, including the Ritz-Carlton and the Miramar. The city had started setting up for the Cannes Film Festival, which took place later in May, so we got to see some of the VIP tents and even a red carpet. There were no celebrity sightings, though. After dinner that night we ended up in a karaoke bar near the Vieux Port (the old port). We had some impressive-looking tropical drinks and sang "Oops...I Did It Again" and "Downtown."
On Monday we splurged a second time on chairs at our private beach club. After another lovely day of tanning, we took a train back to Lyon at 5:00 pm.
That's the end of my trip, which means this is the last entry you will all read about my year abroad. It's kind of sad! All in all, I had an amazing year. There were happy times, and there were sad times, but I wouldn't trade any of them for anything in the world. I was given an amazing opportunity, and I'd like to think that I made the very most of it I possibly could. For those of you who've taken the time to keep up with everything I've written (especially those of you who read my 50 million entries on Berlin!), I'd like you to know I really appreciate it.