Study Abroad 2005...

On our last day in Nice we spent a relaxing morning eating and getting ready to head out on the town. We decided to skip the trip to the countryside of Provence in favor of getting a real taste of Nice. We headed down to Vieux Nice to check out the Fruit and Flower market along the cobblestone streets just beyond the boardwalk. The french have the best nectarines i have ever tasted and they make the most colorful candies and candied fruits, almost too good to eat (almost!).

Then it was lunchtime so we hit up this little Irish Pub, called Ma Nolan's in the heart of Vieux (old) Nice that was playing cheezy love ballads and served great food and beer, AND the bartender was hot rugby player. Needless to say the afternoon was off to to great start as we headed up the main drag up and down Nice. A few Euros, and many hours, later we headed back toward the hostel where I now sit typing this wonderful little update.

The plan for tonight is to head out and paint the town red for our final night in this beautiful city. It has really been amazing here, we have had the best of luck finding the places we needed to, getting around, eating well and cheaply, enjoying all the sights and smells (well maybe some of the smells not so much) and just having a jolly good time! Tomorrow we have to catch early flights back to Madrid to spend the next couple of nights, but before I leave i would like to offer these thoughts on the french riviera and thier people:

-French people have annoying dogs with obnoxiously high pitched barks, and thier children have the same pbnoxiously high pitched whine.

-Bread here IS better than anywhere else (except for NorCal sourdough).

-French people are really helpful and generally pleasant people (when they are not bowling past you on the sidewalk or spitting on you, seriously).

-Rainbow flip-flops are the only hiking boots you need to climb 1500ft and a million stairs.

-Detours from road construction will plan your route for you.

-The Meditrranean is equally gorgeous from sea level or on top of a mountain.

-and you should put Nice and its surrounding cities on your list of summer vacations (late august is hot, but best!)

Yes, thats right, here is the days events on the actual day it happened, i know, not my style to be so on top of it, but im trying.

So it seems that we have finally caught on to the slower paced, relaxed atmosphere here on the riviera cause we missed breakfast yet again this morning. When we finally got around to it we realized we had a lot of things to see before we left so we planned our day and hopped a bus headed east out of Nice.

Eze was the first stop on our trip. We had to take a bus down to the bus station where we caught a 'coach' (yes, there IS a difference) to Eze. Eze, pronounced eh-zz, is actually two towns, one along the water called Eze by the Sea, and the medieval village of Eze with a really old Chateau on top of the mountain. We reached Eze by the sea to find our only way to the Chateau was to climb. So with the hot sun scorching us at close to 30 degrees (thats more than 90 F) we hiked up over rocks and climbed stairs for about 1200 vertical feet to the top. It was worth it though. The view of the coastline, the harbor in Nice, the water, the towns below and of the village of Eze itself were absolutely stunning. When we reached the top we bee-lined for the vending machine to buy ridiculously overpriced water and headed up (more stairs) to the Chateau to wander around. It has been converted entirely into a tourist attraction with restaurants and shops, but walking along a cobblestone fortress with a great view of the Mediterranean was terrific (does anyone use that word anymore??!!??). We didnt wanna do the hike thing again so we found a bus that would head back down to Eze by the Sea to move on to our next locale.

Cap d'Ail was the next place we hit up on our trek East. We arrived with the intention of finding the cliffs that you can supposedly jump off and instead found the gorgeous house that Nicole and I will soon be purchasing and makeing all of you come and live in with us. So far its just named 'the house' but im sure something more suitable will come along. Anyway, we never did find the cliffs but managed to climb more stairs and hike up and over more hills in our quest only to find a great beach...real bummer huh??!! The water was so refreshing after hiking and the beach (pebbles this time) was so inviting, so we took a dip and a nap as the sun set over the hills. Real, hard life I know, the only complaint was the funky speedo trend that seems to plague the riviera, its just not the first thing you wanna see when you wake up from a nap, thats all! So we woke up, got up, and climbed more stairs up to the bus to head to Monaco for the evening.

After arriving by yet another bus, we needed to freshen up and change into something more appropriate to be seen along side the Bentelys, Ferraris, and Rolls Royces of the Casino in Monaco. Walking up to the casion is like the Its a Small World ride at Disneyland at night. Its all lit up and fountains are flowing, people are waiting around to see someone famous (although here they are not usually wearing a big felt costume) and people are blowing money on overpriced things that they will never get any use from. So, we, the frugal kids that we are, stashed our backpack in a bush, yes that is right, a bush, as to not appear too touristy, and strolled the promenade of Monaco looking for dinner. We found our spot just off the main plaza at this cute little Italian Bistro that made us get up and dance and drink really good wine while eating yummy food. The french like to take thier time with the meals, so by the time we got out of there we dashed to reclaim our bag from the bush, and run to catch our train back to Nice.

Another great day here in La France. Tomorrow is our last full day here before heading to Madrid for a couple days.

After a night of grand adventure, it was only logical, and plausible, to relax on the beaches of Nice. Our late start didnt put us on the beaches in Nice until 3pm. Nice is gorgeous and the coast looks exactly like any postcard of it, but the postcards fail to tell you that the beaches are all rocks. It is slightly uncomfortable to be laying with a boulder in your back (we arent talkeing pebbles, these are full fledged rocks), but the advantage to that is that at the end of the day, you dont have to dump, wash, and shake sand from every item you own.

After a few hours in the sun, some gelato was definitely in order, and was followed by a walk along the Palais d'Anglais along the water. It is do picturesque and the city is just riddled with things to look at and make you wish you could stay forever, or at least until you got too sunburned to stay anymore. Nicole and I grabbed a drink from a local restaurant at the Port of Nice before catching the bus back to the hostel where we laid low for the night and caught up on some sleep.

So far the things I have learned in Nice are: Rocky beaches are not all bad, French women arent all that skinny, pasteries for as many meals as possible ARE a good idea, the nightlife is obviously not restricted to the hours of night, and i dont have to leave for 2 more days.......YEAH!!!!!!

Well, it off to Eze and Monaco for the day, and possibly the Cap d'Ail for some cliff jumping if we are feeling gutsy, although, nicole may have to induce it by pushing me.

Nice is amazing. We arrived late on saturday to our hostel here, Villa Saint Euxpery. The hostel is an old monastery up on top of a hill just outside the center of Nice and still has a ton of the old architecture and buildings from its original use. For example, the bar at the hostel, is called The Chapel, after its former use! Its a really great place with free internet (yeah!!!), a kitchen for us to use, and again, lots of really great people to meet and hang out with.

Our first full day in the South of France was spent in the small city of Antibes, just west of Nice. We hopped a train with a group of Canadian guys we had met here the night before, and made our way to the small seaside village. Antibes has all the charm of any Mediterranean port city. Everything is within walking distance from each other, all the colors look like they came off the same paint chip called "Mediterranean Sun" and the water is clear and blue (so clear that you can see the jellyfish swimming under you!). In Antibes, we visited the acclaimed Picasso museum, where we spent much time wondering how such such pieces became acclaimed works of art...and then considered the chance that our art careers could take off if we could only smear some paint to look like that! From there we grabbed a bite to eat and headed to the beach for the rest of the day.

After dinner, a couple of the guys who we had met in Interlaken arrived in Nice and we all headed out to Vieux (Old) Nice and the downtown area to hit up the bar scene. Going out is very different in Nice. Partly because I actually can go out here, and partly because there is just so much to do and everyone does it all! On that note we took advantage of the chance to really do Nice up right and after closing down the first place, Wayne's, at 2am we headed down to the next, smaller bar, called the Blue Whale to finish our night before it closed at 4am. We finally got back to the hostel after a hassle of a taxi ride and made it to bed nice and early...at 6am. Needless to say the next day was half spent on much needed sleep, but allowed us to relax here on the riviera...like a good vacationer would.