Feb. 24
On Friday, we arrived at Nice in the late afternoon, and I was somewhat disappointed by the city- it was dirty and crowded and not the quaint beach town I was expecting. We made it up the hill to our hostel, quickly changed and headed straight for the beach (desperate to take advantage of the great weather… We thought 60 degrees was flip-flops, jeans, and t-shirt weather). Needless to say, our walk to the beach was pretty cold and we got some stares. The majority of those on the streets were wearing parkas… The beach was pebbles, not the sand that I was expecting, and it was beautiful! Once out of the train station area, Nice becomes a beautiful beach and boardwalk type place with cute little shops and stands all over the place. Carnevale was also happening in Nice, so there was a giant ferris wheal set up as well as costumes and confetti all over the place, which made the atmosphere that much better.
After soaking up the rays, we made out way back to our hostel for the happy hour specials. Half the group decided to stay in, but Marlee, Nichole and I decided to explore the night life of Nice. We bought our ticket for the tram and hopped on- each stop on the tram has its own little tune, which is very entertaining. About ten minutes later, the police force invaded the tram demanding to see everyone’s tickets (a common occurrence apparently). We showed them our tickets and, to our horror, we were promptly led off the tram. After revealing our passports and after a very rude, very broken English attempt at explaining where we were at fault, we realized hadn’t validated out tickets once on the tram. We were each written up and each had to pay a 30 Euro fine. A huge damper on the night, but we still made it to the recommended Wayne’s Bar and had a blast listening to live music for a couple hours.
Feb. 25
On Saturday, at the suggestion of our hostel, we decided to visit Monaco and Cap d’Ail. Monaco was absolutely gorgeous- as the wealthiest country in the world, you would hope so! (Fun fact: 0% unemployment rate there and the most millionaires and billionaires per capita in the world.) We explore the docs with the unbelievable yachts (hot tubs on board most of them) then head to the famous Monte Carlo casino. Unfortunately, it didn’t open until two so we couldn’t go inside (not that we were in the appropriate attire anyways), but with the wide variety of fancy cars, designer shops and upscale people I can only imagine how fancy the casino is!
In front of the doc
Me, Naomi, Marlee, Caroline, Ashlee, Nichole, and Shelley
From Monaco, we caught the train back towards Nice and got off at Cap d’Ail. This is a little beach cove in the French Riviera. It was so amazing! We sat out on this terrace and enjoyed the great weather and views. There was a little running path along the cove that Marlee, Nichole and I walked along for a little ways.
Cap d'Ail
We had dinner at our hostel and sat around a table in the common room of the hostel talking and hanging out. I started getting sick earlier that day, so I decided to stay in while everyone went out. I had downloaded “The Hunger Games” books (thanks Mom!) so I wasn’t completely bored.
Feb. 26
On Sunday, Nichole, Marlee and I went for a run up to a waterfall/overlook in Nice. The view was stunning and so worth the hard run up! We then ran down along the beach for a little while before stopping to stretch and sit on the beach.
After laying on the beach for a while, we went to the flower/produce/soap/spice market along the beach. There was so much great stuff, it was hard not to buy anything! (The 30 Euro fine took enough of a toll on my budget). With the run, the beach time, the exploring and the overall great day, we lost track of time and ended up having to run to the train station to catch our train.
