Nice, Cannes, and Montecarlo

This last weekend was spent in Southern France. This is the third time I have been to France this semester. The first was to Paris in January and then I visited my cousin Julie in France in February. Both times I traveled with my good friend Cierra. This last weekend was with the Gonzaga group, so we all road together in one big Alterini bus.

We left on Thursday around 4:00 PM and had a 6.5 hour bus ride ahead of us to Nice, which is pronounced "Niece". Around 10:30 PM we arrived at our hostel, which turned out to be pretty interesting. It was located away from the city area (as usual haha) and up on a hill. It was actually called a "Villa". At the Villa there was a so called "chapel" that was reconstructed into a hang out area and bar. This was also where we ate Breakfast in the morning. I loved the Breakfasts at the hostel because it was equipped with a plethora of cereals! I miss having variety in my Breakfast diet. I am definitely going to be eating tons of eggs when I come home. Omelets anyone? :)

I went to bed relatively early that night after checking in. The next day I woke up early in the morning and had Breakfast with Leanna and the rest of the group in the Chapel. From here the group went on an optional tour to Nice centre with the staff.Nice (In Itallian they call it Nizza) is France's largest tourist resort and fifth biggest city. One of the first things we did on our tour was visit the daily flower and vegetable market in the Cours Saleya which is a shoppers' paradise. Leanna and I split some delicious raspberries at the market. The fashionable quarter is the Cimiez district, up on the hills overlooking the town, where the old monastery of Notre-Dame lies. After the optional tour, Leanna and I wandered around, took some gorgeous photos, and headed towards Casino Ruhl where we were meeting at noon with the rest of the group. The casino was located on the beach road called "Promendae des Anglais". This casino was very hyped up, but in my opinion it looked pretty trashy... especially since it was right next to a McDonalds- but hey! I had a kids meal there because I was craving chicken nuggets (if you can call them that ha ha). The casino did have a pretty cool looking chandelier though.

Anyways, we met back up around noon and hopped back on the bus for the optional rafting experience. The drive was about an hour to Breil-sur-Roya. Once we got there, we had to change in a sketchy area into these wetsuits and jackets. We all looked ridiculous! I must say though, they did a great job at keeping us warm. After we all got changed, we had another 7 KM ride to the river. We got some instructions from one of the instructors and then almost everyone hopped into their kayak rafts. The staff and about four other students hopped onto a large raft with an instructor because they were out of kayak rafts. I didn't mind though- I wasn't too sure how comfortable I would be at guiding a raft down the river with another non-expert especially since the river was very up high that day so it increased the rapids from a normal 2 to a 3... even 4 in some parts. Needless to say, many people fell in the water but we were trained on how to float down the river and no one really had much of a problem getting back into their rafts. I almost fell in myself because at one point our instructor told us to all lean towards the left and Peter (a staff member) and my friend Leanna (in the front) were quickly pulled off the raft. I was next in line, and at one point I was completely horizontal with half my body dangling in the water. The only thing that was keeping me up was my foot that was lodged in a single foot compartment. Also, I screamed for help and Shelley (who happens to be my finance teacher as well as the student life coordinator) gave me a hand and pulled me back up to normal position. Whew! Peter was lifted up by the instructor, and Peter in turn helped Leanna into the boat. Don't worry... it really was all safe :-D (this note is for my mom :-p )

Around 7:30 we left our hostel for Dinner in Nice at Taverne Massena. We had a tuna salad (gross) and pizza for dinner. I was a bit disappointed because I wanted legit French food, but I guess pizza was fine.

The next day we left for Cannes on our bus, which was about a half hour drive. 150 years ago Cannes was nothing more than an unimportant fishing village. Now it is equipped with tons of beautiful sites such as the Haute Ville, The Vieuz Port, and the rue Meynadier. We had a free day for visit and there was a beach nearby. Leanna, Meredith and I opted to follow Peter, because he always knows "what's up". He took us to a vintage market, and I got a gift for Chris there... and then we walked along the beach line where all the fancy shops and hotels are. We also got some lovely bread and brie and took it up to the top of a Castle that overlooks the city. We sat there on a bench and enjoyed our lunch and took more pictures. The rest of the day we chilled at the beach with a lot of the other GU students. So many people got burnt! I wish it was about 5-10 degrees warmer, because I definitely had goosebumps while I was sporting my swim suit. It was nice to get a bit of sun though... I didn't get burnt thank goodness! :)

That evening I just hung out at the hostel and had a couple drinks. It was pretty relaxing and well needed after a long day. I went to bed fairly early and woke up on Sunday feeling refreshed. We left for Cannes around 10:00 AM, which was another half an hour drive. Monte Carolo or Monaco, is a 371 acre principality with a population of 30,000. The Grimaldi Family acquired the lordship of Monaco in the 1300's and have ruled over the city ever since. The Montecarlo Casinowas created by Charles Garnier, the architect of the opera house in Paris, in 1878. I didn't end up going into the Casino because I wasn't dressed for the occasion (they require suit and tie for men!) and it cost 10 euro to get in. For the few hour I was there, I took an optional Azur Express Tourist Train" that ended up being a joke because it was only half an hour long and our train actually broke down half way through and another one had to come in its place. After the train around the small city, we watched the changing of the guards and half a nice crepe lunch. I had a Monaco beer and a
ham and cheese crepe. Yum! The rest of the time Meredith, Leanna and I just walked around the explored the city and took some cool pictures.

And then we had the long journey back to Florence! This was one of my favorite weekends for sure. :)

Ciao!

PS! I fixed my computer! Go me!