so it's our last night in Nice already!
Day 1: Nice
we got here on friday morning, after a long night in gatwick airport, london. checked into the hostel, dropped off our luggage, and headed downtown! flying in was amazing, especially coming from cloudy, rainy england. we were greeted by a brilliant blue med, and a coast dotted with palm trees and bright buildings.
spent the afternoon walking around the city:
first from our hostel all the way to the sea, and the promenade des anglais. the architecture is a really cool mix of old & new...they complement each other in an unexpected way. i absolutely loved old nice...the skinny roads, tall buildings, and balconies. there were tons of great shops, some art stores too. then headed to the castle, which is up on a cliff/hill...the stairs up were intense, to say the least. got great panoramic views of the city, sea, and port. i really just wanted to sit down with a canvas and start painting...but another time maybe.
chilled on the beach for awhile, dipped our feet in the sea (it was cold), admired the view...
it was good to relax a bit after the craziness my life here has been recently. some slight r&r before hitting up history in florence and rome.
Day 2 - Monaco & Eze
got up, maxed on the free breakfast, and headed down to the bus station to catch one to monaco...second smallest country in the world! p.s. we're also going to the vatican, the first smallest country in the world....i wonder what the 3rd smallest is...
anyways, monaco is only 20 minutes from nice - so if you're in nice, GO TO MONACO!!! so far it's my fav day-trip. we got off at the palais, which is on a cliff-like peninsula bit. there are harbours on both sides, and both with loads of really expensive yaghts. yes - the med was just as impressive there. blue skies, blue sea, mid-70s....this place was paradise compared to the english weather that's finally set in. made me wonder for a bit why i hadn't studied abroad somewhere along the mediterranean...
ha, there was a street called LOVE. all in capitals too. looked cute, but we didn't get a chance to explore it. also saw a few skydivers near the mountains - personally i'd be scared shitless that some random blast of wind would push me out to sea...but it did look like fun. at the palace we witnessed the changing of the guard! it's a really big deal & honestly it was kinda amusing how formal it is and all. i haven't seen the changing at buckingham palace, but two older english women behind us were commenting on the similarities between the two.
oh! and while we were sitting on a bench eating our nutella sandwiches, i made friends with an old italian man! we somehow had a conversation in a mix of french, english, and italian. it was both awesome and frustrating. i'm not used to totally not understanding a person, since i've only been to england & france. i really want to learn italian...
while in monaco we also made our way over to monte carlo & the casino, which was pretty epic. i definitely could have spent more time in monaco, and it's somewhere i'd love to go back to someday. on the way back we detoured to Eze...a village a bit further from the sea. it's a small town, but at the top of the mountain there is a super-old medieval village. small, winding streets, cobblestone...we had no idea where we were more than half the time, but that was the fun part. you'd be walking up a street, lined with short doors and the occasional shop, then you'd come around a corner and suddenly the sea would be framed by a red tile roof and several bright pink flowers. it was a really cool place to see, and it's unreal how old it is!
after some more wanderings, we caught the bus back to nice, and did dinner in the hostel. they make you a personal pizza. it's amazing.
xxxx
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