I left for my weekend in the south of France on Thursday afternoon. Friday was yet again another national holiday here (and actually a holiday all over Europe) celebrating the end of World War II. As I was waiting for my train (my last ride on the TGV…) there was a ceremony being held in the train station. I couldn’t see very well but they had a couple wreaths surrounding a plaque that I’m sure had to do with the return of soldiers from war. There was an incredible little military band that played too!
Perhaps one of my favorite parts of my trip was the train ride down to Nice. In between Paris and the coast we traveled in between little medieval villages with stone houses and cathedrals. I got to see all types of French landscape from city, to mountains, to the beach. Once we hit Aix-En-Provence (a city to the west of Nice) the views were incredible. We traveled along the coast of the Mediterranean with all of the beautiful coastal towns and Provence style houses in bright colors. One day I want to rent a car and drive along the coast to see these towns up close.
I arrived in Nice around 21h and was able to find the hostel no problem. I stayed in a small hostel in the heart of the old city. I was very happy with my location because it was definitely the part of Nice I loved the most. The hostel was pretty much an apartment with one large 12-person room and a smaller 2-person room. We had a kitchen and free internet so it made for a good weekend. The son who helps run the hostel met me and let me in. He was incredibly nice, as was his mom, and was excited to talk to me because he is going to the States in 2 weeks. The worst part of the hostel was probably the group of older, fat, smelly Scottish men who stayed in the same room as me for two nights. Yikes.
I woke up Friday morning and went out to explore the town a little bit. I found the incredible market that I had read about, the Cours Saleya, and boy was it incredible. Better than any market I’ve been to so far in Paris. There were tons of fruit and vegetable stands, bread stands, cheese stands (with very fresh goat cheese), olive stands and herb stands. I bought a bunch of things for the weekend because I cooked for myself all weekend. I got some incredible fruit and some of the best pesto I’ve ever had. I would live in Nice just to go to that market every day. Everyone warned me about the rocky beach in Nice but I didn’t have a problem with it. I bought a beach towel and just laid out all day Friday.
On Saturday I took the bus (for one euro!) to a small town called Villefranche to the east of Nice. My friends who went to Nice last weekend recommended it to me. It’s only about a 15 minute bus ride away but I didn’t know the name of the stop I needed to get off at so I kind of ended up wandering around for a little bit. The town is pretty small but was very similar to the old town in Nice with winding streets and colorful houses. It was definitely a lot more of a town I stereotype as a town in southern France. I found the beach there and again laid out all day. The beach was sandier and a little quieter, however had its fair share of topless women…
On Saturday night there was a little bit of a change in the hostel. This group of 9 Belgian women rented out the large room all to themselves. It was a bachelorette party and they wanted to be alone for the night. Some of the boys who were staying in my room had to be put up in another hostel and I was moved in with the two girls in the 2-person room. The woman who ran the hostel was curious as to why they had to have the room all to themselves and asked us to notice what they did that night. We didn’t hear them at all. The next day, they insisted on only paying for 9 people (which is actually at a discounted price since they were a group) even when the hostel had to pay to have the boys put up in other hostels. I’m not sure why they thought they could pay so little for taking up the entire room; it was very rude of them. I was also a little puzzled as to why they would be so stingy for their friend’s bachelorette party.
On Sunday I got up and took the bus (again 1 euro!) to Cannes. The bus ride is actually pretty long, 1.5-2 hours, so for one euro that is a pretty incredible deal! I wasn’t sure what I wanted to see in Cannes besides them setting up for the film festival which starts on Wednesday. I saw the Palais des Festivals which is a large building designed especially for the event every year. I did a small walking tour of the old town (which wasn’t as great as Nice’s old town) and some of the more modern areas. It was Sunday so all of the shops were closed. I ate at a great pizza restaurant for lunch, which wasn’t hard to find. Southern France (at least what I saw of it) is FILLED with pizza places. I’m not sure if it’s because it’s so close to Italy or if they just really like their pizza.
Last night I took the night train home. It was 9-10 hours on an inclined seat (cheaper.). I didn’t sleep much as you can imagine. I couldn’t figure out how to get comfortable. I tried to mimic the guy sleeping across the aisle from me because he sat down, took his position and zonked out all night, but I have no idea how he did it. Oh well, it’s really not that bad for one night!
All in all I decided I don’t like traveling by myself. Besides it being a little lonely, being a girl it can be kind of scary walking around by yourself. Maybe it was because I was alone but I noticed a lot more creepers in Nice than I do normally. If they know you speak English they just like to say the few things they know to you (which aren’t normally very great words…). I didn’t run into any problems but I just didn’t always feel comfortable. I loved Nice but I decided I would have enjoyed the weekend a lot more if I had someone to talk to about it. In any case, it was a great experience and one I think a lot of people should try.
Oh.. I saw TWO people from AU just walking around this weekend! One in Nice and one in Cannes. Neither of them saw me but I was very taken back to see them. There is an AU program in Nice so it makes sense.
I have my one and only paper of the semester due this week. Everyone is freaking out because it’s work that we actually have to do. I haven’t found it to be so hard yet except that I forgot how to properly format a research paper. My topic is the switch of the Musée d’Orsay from a train station into a museum… which was way more controversial than you might think, dun dun dunnn.
My host family and I had a conversation about global warming tonight. I asked my host dad if he had seen Al Gore’s movie and he replied immediately, “Non, parce qu’il est stupide!” (No, because he is stupid!) Hahaha it was pretty funny although according to my host mom not all French people dislike Al Gore like my host dad.
I couldn’t find pita at the grocery store today so I ate my hummus on a baguette instead… how French.
Flowers at the Cours Salyea on Friday morning.
The port of Nice from on top of the hill. This is on the other side from the beach.
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