I spent this past weekend in one of the most beautiful places in the world, Côte d’Azur also known as The French Riviera.  It is also one of the richest places in the world.  The cars, the hotels, the palaces, the boutiques, and even the restaurants all showed the wealth and glamour of this part of the world.    The coastal landscape was absolutely breathtaking and the blue water looked so refreshing.  It is too bad that the water was too cold to swim in…

                My adventure started on Thursday night when I boarded a mini-bus headed from Barcelona to Nice, France.  The trip was through EuroAdventures, a travel company that organizes bus trips for students studying abroad in Europe.  We were on a mini tour bus, but it was kind of uncomfortable.  Luckily, we had 4 movies to entertain us on the trip up.  With the movies, the 9 hour bus ride did not seem that long at all.  Interestingly, in Spain there are a lot of rules restricting bus drivers and truck drivers.  For every 2 hours on the road, the driver had to stop for a half hour or so.  That got a little bit annoying, but at least it gave me a chance to stretch my legs and grab some food.  We arrived at our hotel at around 3:30 am.

                The next morning we caught a train to the second smallest country in the world, Monaco.  It was about a half hour train ride, but the train tracks ran right along the coast so I had spectacular views of the landscape for the whole ride.  The first thing we did in Monaco was take a bus to the Prince’s Palace and the Cathedral of Monaco.  Unfortunately the Cathedral, which was where Princess Grace Kelly married the former Prince of Monaco, was closed due to construction.  Not only did the construction restrict entrance to the Cathedral, but it also was an eyesore to an otherwise elegant building.  The Prince’s Palace was also under construction, but the grounds and the building were still very regal.  The view of Port of Hercules from the Prince’s Palace was unbelievable: fancy, expensive boats and yachts floating in incredibly blue water surrounded by cliffs and the Mediterranean.  From there it was only a short walk to the Exotic Gardens, which were very pretty.  The gardens contained statues, flowers, fountains, and birds, and opened up to a great view of the Mediterranean Sea.  After the gardens, we walked around Monaco a little bit before heading toward the highlight of the day, playing Roulette at the Monte-Carlo Casino.  It was €10 just to enter and they made us bag-check our cameras and phones so we were unable to take pictures of the inside.  I wish I could have had my camera; the inside of the casino was extremely elegant with ornate chandeliers, paintings, and gold everywhere.  It was so cool being inside such a stylish casino, surrounded by the rich high-rollers.  That day was the first time I ever saw a €500 bill.  We played a few slots, but once again, I hardly won anything on the slots and I went through €10 very quickly.  So after some observation, I headed over to the roulette table with the lowest minimum bet at €5.  I wanted to play some blackjack, but the minimum bet was €25 and I am terrible at blackjack.  I spent a lot of time at the roulette table, having my ups and downs, but always staying around the break-even point.  In the end, after the ball landed on “0” a few times, I found myself down €20.  My roommate on the other hand won €175 with his last chip.  I walked out of the casino down €40 in total (10 to enter, 10 at the slots, 20 at roulette) which I didn’t think was too bad considering where I was gambling.  For example, one guy at our table was betting at least €800 on every spin. Whew!  I one of my €5 chips as a souvenir of my gambling experience at the Monte Carlo.

                After losing money at the casino I hopped on a train and headed back to Nice to grab some dinner.  We were told that Nice had excellent seafood and pizza.  Anybody who knows me will surely know what my vote was.  We went to a pizza place right near our hotel that had one of the best pizzas I have ever tasted in my life–and I’ve had a lot of pizza in my 21 years.  I got a chorizo pizza, which is like the European equivalent of pepperoni, and a glass of wine.  I was in heaven.  The cheese and the thin crust and the chorizo were perfect.  After the pizza, the guys at EuroAdventures offered all of us students free champagne at the hotel before exploring the Nice bar scene for the night.  I realized that night that I am spoiled with the originality of the bars in Barcelona.  In Nice, the bars had excellent live bands that played popular alternative music from the US and UK, but the drinks were very expensive and the bars themselves were very plain.

              On Saturday we took the morning train to Cannes, the site of the famous annual film festival.  Once again, the tracks were right on the coast, so the ride was full of stunning views. When we got to Cannes, we headed to the Cannes Palais des Festivals et des Congrès which is a giant convention center/auditorium where the Cannes Film Festival is held.  Once again, due to construction, the building was closed.  We were not allowed in the back lot because they were setting up for a gaming festival that was happening the following weekend.  That was ultimately disappointing.  I was looking forward to seeing the building and maybe seeing a famous director or something.  I guess it was just wishful thinking.  There was a miniature “Walk of Fame” in the area surrounding the Palais with famous movie stars’ and directors’ hand prints in the concrete.  After spending some relaxing time enjoying the sun on the beach and on a dock extending out towards the Mediterannean, we looked for a place to eat along the famous Promenade de la Croisette.  On the Promenade, we passed many expensive shops, boutiques, and hotels such as Chanel, Gucci, Prada, and about a hundred other fancy looking designer boutiques that I had never heard of because I don’t know the first thing about fashion or trendy clothing.  We eventually found another pizza place aptly named “La Pizza”. 

I have to say it was the name that most attracted me to the restaurant.  In the states, an €18 ($24) pizza would have turned me away in a heartbeat, but I’m only in France once.  This pizza, heated in a brick oven, could have even been better than the first one.  The chorizo was very spicy, and the cheese was extremely flavorful.  It was very filling but very delicious.  After eating so much fantastic pizza in France, I hope to make a trip to Italy to try some original Italian pizza! 

From the pizza place, we ventured up a hill to an archaeology museum that had an ancient tower with a panoramic view of the city.  I think I mentioned this in another blog entry, but I am very interested in archaeology and ancient artifacts so I enjoyed looking through all of the rooms, especially a room filled with Egyptian and Christian sarcophagi.

The view from the top of the tower was stunning.  On one side there were snow covered mountains and on the other were golden sandy beaches and bright blue water.  It was awesome.  I could have spent the whole day up on that tower just taking in the view and appreciating where I was.

               After sneaking onto the train back to Nice because I lost my train ticket, we got some inexpensive kebabs for dinner.  I couldn’t believe it when I found out they had ranch sauce for the kebab.  Of course I got it and it didn’t disappoint.  Then we got ready and headed out to the Carnival parade.  It is hard to explain how cool the parade was.  Of course it was crazy; there was silly string and confetti flying in all directions.

  I was covered in both within 5 minutes.  There were thousands of people packed into the streets as giant, ornate floats drove through the crowd.  I have seen the balloons at The Macy’s Day Parade in New York and I have seen floats in many other parades, but nothing compares to the floats in Carnival.  The people are decked out from head to toe in colorful costumes, so much so that they don’t look human at first.  The balloons were huge and the floats depicted scenes from French culture and historical figures from Nice.  It was a long, fun night that culminated in getting lost in the streets of Nice after the parade ended.

The next morning I met up with Morgan and Renan who I had met the night before.  They live in Nice and offered to show me around the city for the day.  I had a blast walking with them to the Castel, which offered fantastic views of Nice and the port.  From the Castel, I followed them all around the city, taking pictures, and they told me about French culture, French people, and about the way of life in Nice.  We got lunch at a bar by the port and I ordered a delicious pasta dish.  In the bar on the TV was the music video of Wiz Khalifa’s “Black and Yellow”.  It was a little bit surreal seeing my hometown on a TV in a small bar in Nice, France.  They were incredibly nice, friendly people and if they read this I hope they know how thankful I was for the experience that day.  Morgan even gave me delicious croissants and pain au chocolat for the bus ride home!

              I was surprised at the friendliness of the French during my visit; not only Renan, but also all of the people in the stores and people that I asked for directions.  A lot of people talk about the French hating Americans and about the terrible experiences they have, particularly in Paris, with the locals.  I had no such experience.  I was also shocked at the amount of people who spoke English in the French Riviera.  However, that could be due to the tourism aspect of the area…   

              The bus ride home seemed to drag on longer than the ride there, but that is usually the way these type of things go.  Luckily, it was still light out for most of the ride back so I had an opportunity to see some of the landscape of France and Spain that were very different than what I had seen so far.  After 9 hours and 4 more movies, we arrived in Barcelona around 1:30 am.  Lucky for me I still had a Spanish essay to write, so it was a long night to end a long, exciting, enriching, beautiful, breathtaking weekend.  I had a great time in the French Riviera and experiencing Carnival!

Hasta Luego!

Sean

Location: Nice, France