So I’m writing this blog from the train on the way to Genova where we are going to get a bus to where we are staying in Cinque Terre. We have successfully started our eurail passes and I think that makes us officially European travelers. So anyways last time I blogged I was packing in Sevilla...
After I was basically packed Sara and I walked to Plaza de España so I could finally see it. Somehow I managed to go six weeks without seeing this gorgeous plaza. I’m not sure about the history behind it but it was so pretty. There was a fountain in the middle and then this huge building surrounding it. There was pretty tile everywhere too. The plaza was surrounded by a park which was also really pretty. We stopped at a water fountain to drink some “magical” water and Sara stuck her toes in a small pool. We walked along the river to the churros stand so we could finally taste “churros con chocolate” which were amazingly good. It was some kind of fried dough that you dip in hot chocolate. We walked back and picked up some mixers on the way back so we could finish off the alcohol we had left/make ourselves going away drinks.
Back at the apartment we made our drinks and I finished packing. The lemonade I bought to mix with was really good and on the side it recommended using it to make cocktails which was very appropriate. We had our last dinner together which was so much food Sara stuffed some in a napkin to save for later. After dinner we told Charo we wanted a picture with her but she was in her pajamas so she put on clothes and touched up her makeup just for our picture. Her husband Antonio took the picture of us in the living room. Our internet wasn’t working so we couldn’t get in touch with anyone and we didn’t know what to do. Finally we asked Charo why it wasn’t working and all she had to do was flip a switch to turn it on. If only we had known that the whole time we were there! We got in touch with Tyson but nobody else and I was worried how I was going to find Mackenzie.
Tyson, Sara, and I walked to Plaza de España because we wanted to take pictures in front of it at night. Sadly it was closed and we couldn’t get in so we decided to walk to the torre where everyone usually pre-games hoping that we would find everybody else there. Thankfully when we got there we found everyone including Mackenzie and Caroline. Mackenzie and I made a pact that if we got split up we would meet at the bus stop at 4:20am. We spent awhile at the torre taking pictures and drinking with everyone and then decided to walk down the street to one of the clubs. The line to the club was forever long but we decided to wait. When we got in we literally walked around once and decided to leave. We stopped at the burger stand outside the club and Mackenzie split a hot dog with Kirstie. It was getting late so we decided to head back to my apartment first to get my stuff. Sara, Mackenzie, and I walked in, ate some bread, used the bathroom, grabbed my luggage and off we went. Well Sara stayed there and saying goodbye was really sad. Next stop was Mackenzie’s apartment where she was smart enough to change. She said goodbye to her señora and we walked to the bus stop.
We waited at the bus stop until the airport bus came around 4:30am and took us to the airport. At the airport we sat down and waited for about 20 minutes until we could check our bags. The weight limit was 20kg and thankfully when I put on my bag it was 18.5kg. However Mackenzie’s was 24kg so we had to go through it and throw away her spanish book and put some heavy stuff in her backpack. When she tried again it was 21kg and the guy let her go. We went through security without any problems and went to the airport cafeteria for breakfast. The flight to Marseille went smoothly and we had a row of three seats to ourselves. However mackenzie was still pretty drunk, I wasn’t feeling too good from staying up all night, and I still had on my dress and shoes from going out. Since my dress was navy I decided to wear my uncomfortable silver shoes so I was having trouble walking to and from the plane. As soon as we got off and walked (slowly) to baggage claim I had to sit down and Mackenzie grabbed our bags. Just to give us a scare our bags came out near the end (Mackenzie’s was dead last). After I got my bag I changed into more comfortable clothes and put on my running shoes which felt much better.
We knew we had to get to the train station somehow so we followed the signs saying bus/train. When we got to where the bus was all we saw were self-serve ticket boxes in French which we obviously didn’t know how to use. We decided to ask a group of girls that we decided were American and they showed us where the ticket desk was. We got tickets just in time to get on the bus that was about to leave. The bus ride was relatively short but when we got to the train station we had to figure out where to buy tickets. We found it and thankfully there was a guy that spoke English. We could get on a train leaving relatively soon for 50 euro or wait about 2 hours for a train that cost 22 euro. Needless to say we waited. Shortly after we got our tickets we smacked right into the language barrier. We decided to get McDonald’s and didn’t understand anything the cashier was saying. I gave up at first and then decided just to get a Big Mac meal and wipe off what I didn’t like since I didn’t know how to say plain. I kept thinking if someone didn’t speak English they spoke Spanish so I kept accidentally trying to use my Spanish to talk to people.
We figured out where our train was and got on the train to Nice. We got our own little compartment on the train which was really nice. Once we got to Nice we went to the tickets area to buy seat reservations to Genova on Sunday. Thankfully there was someone that spoke English who was extremely helpful. She validated our eurail passes and we bought seat reservations for the second train (to get to Genova we had to connect at Ventimiglia at the Italian border). We walked out of the train station and there was a tourist information building right next door so we went in there to get a map and directions to our hostel. Our hostel was only a 15 minute walk away so we walked down the main road and found it easily. The hostel was in a perfect location. It was really close to the beach and the historical district that had a lot of cool restaurants and shops.
After we put down our stuff in the room and changed we walked down to the beach. It was sooo pretty. There were mountains in the distance and cute little houses on the hills. The water was Gatorade frost blue and instead of sand there were small rocks which wasn’t the most comfortable thing but was really cool. We had arrived to the French Riviera!! Everything was really stylish and there was a place where you could buy day beds which was expensive but very cool looking. After a couple hours on the beach we went back to the hostel and showered and changed. On the way back to the hostel we went inside the ironman expo. Apparently there was an ironman being held the Sunday we were there which was kind of cool. We saw runners, swimmers, and bikers everywhere. Back at the hostel, I read my “Let’s Go Europe” book and found a place that had socca (a traditional dish in Nice and other nearby towns, it’s on wikipedia) and other fried food for cheap. We walked around the historical district and couldn’t find it so finally I saw people looking at a map and speaking English so I asked them. They helped us find it on the map and then we had no trouble finding the restaurant ourselves. We sat down at one of the tables outside and a waiter came up to us. He didn’t speak English and we couldn’t figure out what he was saying to us and then finally he said “self service” and we looked across and saw where you order your food. Thankfully the person at the counter spoke some English and could tell us what the food was in English. We got socca and fried white fish. I normally hate fish and refuse to eat it but I was feeling adventurous. We sat back down and looked at the wine list. We didn’t know what anything meant but we saw “blanc deux” for 1.80 and we knew blanc meant white so we went for it. It was extremely good! We both loved it. Looking in my phrase book I found out that deux meant sweet. The socca was also good and even the fish was good! I put lemon and salt on it but I was very impressed with myself.
After we ate we walked down to a gelato place I had also read about in my book and got some gelato. It was really good and made us look forward to Italy. After ice cream we walked around the cute streets of Nice. Everything was really cute and clean and we found a little market that we walked up and down a few times. After that we were exhausted and decided to go back to the hostel to sleep. The beds were amazing! The pillows were foam, the mattresses were extremely comfortable, and I think the comforter was some kind of down. Needless to say we fell right asleep.
The next day we woke up early so we could get a good amount of beach time before our day trip to Monaco. We had cereal, toast, juice, and coffee and the hostel for breakfast which was really good. Then we walked down to the beach and dozed on the beach for awhile. It was really hot and sunny so the water felt really good. Around 1:30 we walked back up to the hostel and stopped by a supermarket on the way back where I bought some bars that were kind of like nutrigrain bars to snack on. We showered and got ready at the hostel and then walked to the bus stop where we got right on the bus which was only one euro. The bus ride was breathtaking. We traveled right alongside the French Riviera and saw gorgeous beaches, ports, houses, and mountains. When we got to Monaco we didn’t know exactly where to get off the bus so we chose a random stop. There were a lot of people climbing up these steps so we decided to follow. As we got higher and higher the view became better and better. We finally got to the top and could see all of the country. All of the expensive houses, nice cars, yachts, and shops. We spent awhile looking out in awe and taking pictures.
After that we walked around the top for awhile where we found the palace, the cathedral, pretty gardens, and all sorts of cool buildings and gorgeous views. There were pictures of the prince and his fiance everywhere which reminded us of the royal wedding in London. Eventually we wandered back down in order to find Monte Carlo. We walked next to the harbor and saw huge yachts and expensive cars. Eventually we found our way to Monte Carlo and went inside. We didn’t want to pay to go inside the actual casino but we saw the rest of the inside of the building. There was a line of extremely nice cars parked out front and a pretty garden scene complete with flowers and a mirrored ball where you could see the reflection of the casino. Walking back from the casino we passed countless designer shops including Cartier and Louis Vuitton. I couldn’t afford any of the sit down restaurants for dinner so I stopped by one of the sandwich stalls instead and got a panini with tomato, basil, and cheese. After that we walked back to the bus stop and hopped right on a bus back to Nice.
Back in Nice we went back to the gelato place and Mackenzie got a crepe with ice cream, chocolate, and banana for dinner and I got a scoop of gelato. After we finished eating we walked back along the same market and I bought a small painting that was really pretty. We then sat down and had a glass of wine outside where there was a man singing which was nice. After drinks we walked alongside the beach and saw a bunch of really cool buildings including a casino and a huge hotel. Eventually we wandered back to the hostel and went to sleep.
The next morning we woke up and had breakfast and walked out to the beach for a nice long beach day. I spent the day laying out listening to music and occasionally going in the water when I got too hot. There was something going on but we never figured out what because there was a helicopter constantly flying over, a police boat, and a scuba diver that came out of the helicopter. They had to be looking for something but as I said we never figured out what. After a long day at the beach we went back to the hostel to shower and get ready for dinner. I was burnt. I had applied sunscreen regularly but I had missed some spots and the sunscreen I was using that I bought in Spain was not very good sunscreen. It literally was anti-waterproof. But anyways I put on a dress and we went to a restaurant that we read about in my book. It was 18.50 for an appetizer and a dessert and well worth it. We both got a glass of wine and our meal came with bread and water. For our appetizer we got tomato and mozzarella which had pesto and vinegar on it which was delicious. Then for our entrée we got a filet which came with a sauce that was amazing, french fries, and some other side that tasted kind of like potatoes.
For dessert, as usual, we went back to our favorite gelato place. We walked by the market again and then decided to explore the chateau we had heard about which we knew was some kind of park on this big mountain/hill/cliff thing. We headed over towards it and walked up all the stairs just in time for the sunset. The view was breathtaking. You could see all of Nice. There was also waterfalls and other pretty things in the park that we saw and took pictures with. We heard music coming from the top so we continued walking. Once we got to the top there were tents everywhere with food and other stuff and a stage where people were playing music. We walked around and I found a place were they were serving crepes. I decided to get a chocolate one since I hadn’t had a crepe in France yet. Then we passed a place where they had punch that I decided to get to drink with my crepe. It was really good and kind of tasted like a piña colada. We went and sat down in the grass behind the stage so I could eat and we could listen to the performance. Mackenzie took a picture of me with my food and then I took a picture of the band. I then ate my crepe and drank my punch and eventually we decided to head back.
We got half way down and decided we wanted to take a picture of Nice at night. It was all lit up and looked beautiful. I opened my satchel to get out my camera and it wasn’t in it. My stomach sunk. I decided I must have left it where we were sitting in the grass so we ran back up and looked everywhere including the trash can where I threw out my plate and cup from my crepe and punch. We asked everyone sitting around where we had been sitting and no one had seen it. I decided it must have been in my lap and I hadn’t noticed. We looked everywhere for it and went back to that same spot to look at least three times. Eventually we gave up. I couldn’t believe I lost my camera. I am usually so careful with my things especially my camera and it is so unlike me to do something like that. Mackenzie’s computer got a virus on it in Spain and when it was fixed they put in in Spanish and it wasn’t reading her memory card so we decided to take all of the pictures on my camera. So when we lost my camera we lost every single one of our pictures from Nice and Monaco. My camera also had the picture Sara and I took with our señora that I was supposed to email to her. I was the only one that had that picture and now it’s lost. We took so many gorgeous pictures and nobody will ever see them. It makes me extremely sad just thinking about it but I guess there is nothing I can do. It wasn’t that nice a camera it was just all the pictures on it that I wanted. We’re going to try and figure out if we can make Mackenzie’s memory card start working but if not we are just going to have to use her camera in Cinque Terre and then when we get to Florence see if it is cheaper to buy a cheap digital camera or just a bunch of memory cards to fill up using her camera.
The whole camera thing kind of put a damper on our time in Nice and really made me upset but overall we had an amazing time in Nice ... I just can’t prove it with my pictures. We woke up early this morning to get our train and as I said we used our eurail passes for the first time. We are officially in Italy now and I’m ecstatic to eat Italian food! We should get to Genova around 1pm and then we take a bus to where we are staying in Cinque Terre. I hope this was detailed enough to remember everything from Nice since I don’t have pictures to remember it from. Hopefully it will be relatively smooth sailing from here. Now I need to read about Cinque Terre in my guidebook and learn Italian from my phrase book!
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