Nice, Villefranche, Menton.....

3 towns in one day is too much. Insufficient, but spectacular in each....start in Nice again, with a walk on the beach (see people swimming and am inspired to try also, so return to hostel for swimsuit), walk around Vieux Nice and Castle Hill (pictures of the water from this vantage point are ridiculously beautiful), buy food for picnic on the beach....yes you are going to get a detailed list. =) A fresh baguette aux cereales, fresh goat's milk cheese, super ripe and delicious cherry tomatoes, olives flavored with garlic and basil (holy shlamola, those things were amazing!!) Proceed to catch the bus at 1:30 pm (significant delays because of Carnaval - boo!) but finally make it to the beach at Villefranche around 2 pm. Picnic barefoot in the fantastic sun by the Mediterranean. Feeling very VERY grateful for life and all of its goodness at this point. But missing someone to share it with. Test the water, but it is painfully cold on my feet, so opt for the option of putting my shoes back on, rather than swimming in the sea. Ha! 'Petite Nature' yes. Catch the next bus to Menton and juuuuuuuuuuuuust miss the parade. Bummer. Get to see the last 3 floats heading back to the parking lot.....for next time, I suppose. Spend 2 hours walking around the Gardens, in utter admiration and picture frenzy of all the structures they created and decorated with oranges and lemons. Get a hot 'lemonade' (literally just fresh squeezed lemon juice, hot water, and honey) and buy fresh Menton kumquats! Woohoo! Walk around the Port and beach of Menton by night and catch the closing of the festival with the firework show. Actually much better than I expected! Had it synchronized with music and excerpts from "Around the World in 80 Days" (the theme of the festival this year, as it is the 80th anniversary). Lovely time! Catch a train back, along with masses of other people, but I'm surrounded by very good natured people, so it was a grand old time. Now off to bed to prep for last day in Nice tomorrow!

First Day in Nice : Spectacular!

Amaaaaaaaaaaaaaazing day!!! So glad I didn't cancel my trip and rejoicing in the fact that whatever had invaded my GI system is gone. =) Started the day with a free walking tour of Nice, which concluded with a picnic in the sun on castle hill, bus to Eze (really charming medieval village), then bus to Monaco. Mixed feelings on Monaco....slightly disgusted by the absurdly excessive wealth flaunted in all of the yachts and ferraris and at the Casino, but also kind of fun to walk around and gawk. Absolutely brilliant blue sky and sunshine the whole day (walking around in a tee-shirt most of the day) but did have to sport the winter hat and gloves after sunset. =) Felt a little funny, but hadn't brought enough layers with me and the windbreaker was not cutting it. Also felt a bit funny walking around the casino in my typical workout clothes (and new 'poppy' running shoes) but it was all I had and I wanted to check it out. A sign outside said 'proper clothing required' and I was afraid I was under-dressed for entering. However, they said I was fine and it was apparently meant to keep people out who only have swimsuits on. Excellent. Even though I didn't gamble (after gambling $8 in Vegas in 2004 I've never been remotely tempted to gamble again) I did use the toilets in the Casino. Ha! Just because I could. And they had these crazy machines that clean the toilet seats after each use. Snazzy! Thus is my experience in the Monte Carlo Casino.

Nice is Nice!!!

Yes, corny title, but I just couldn't help it! Arg! And I'm back on an American keyboard and making mistakes left and right....this will be brief. Basically, all is good! I was going to cancel my trip to the South of France this morning at 3 am, when I was laying on the bathroom floor, exhausted from hours of being sick. With the wonders of technology, I was able to skype with my parents (while laying on the bathroom floor, thank you smart phone!!) to get some comfort and words of advice. They brought up the wise idea to cancel the trip to Nice and spend the next few days recuperating instead. Hmmmm, very sad idea, but indeed, very wise. The thought, at that point and time, of spending a similar night in a single toilet bathroom shared with a 16 bed dorm, was very unappealing, and enough to persuade me to agree with my parents' reasoning. HOWEVER!! I woke up this morning feeling pretty much miraculously better!!!! I severely hesitated, but my aunt helped me concoct a plan to allow as much recovery time as possible before my 5 pm flight. So when the time came for decision making, I felt recovered enough (and desperate enough to see Nice, Menton, Marseilles, and a friend in Aix-en-Provence), that I decided to go for it!! One of her amazing neighbors brought me to the bus stop, and I was off and running...or actually, bus-ing, then RER-ing, then plane-ing my way to Nice. And there was no desperate need for a toilet on any mode of transport!! Double Hooray! So now I'm off to take a nice and easy walk to explore Nice, maybe be bold and eat some chicken soup, then call it an early night to see if I can feel fully 100% by tomorrow. Fingers are crossed, this can happen!!!