Nice!!!

Last weekend, I went to Nice and Monaco!!! Friday was a holiday, so we left late Thursday night to take a 10-hour train to Nice. When I told my host-mother that we were taking the night train, she asked me if we had gotten couchette seats (like little bunk beds). "Hmm, I don't think so," I said. "Oh, because you really should have." Oops! Anyways, the cheap seats weren't that bad. They were like regular train seats, except you could recline them really far back, and they also had a foot rest that you could pull out. I talked to my friend for about an hour, then went to sleep. I thought I slept rather poorly because I woke up a couple times when I was cold, but some of my friends said they only slept for like an hour. So actually, I guess I slept pretty well!

After brushing our teeth in the basement bathroom of a McDonalds freshening up, we headed over to the beach! NICE'S BEACHES ARE INCREDIBLE. These pictures cannot do justice to how beautiful the beaches are there! Nice is on the Côte d'Azur, and the water was indeed the bluest I have ever seen. The beach is all small, perfectly rounded stones instead of sand, which is really pretty too. They hurt a little to walk on, but it was worth it for the visual! We all rolled up our jeans so we could stand in the Mediterranean. It was cold, but not too too bad!

Sooo blue!

We sat by the water's edge for a while, skipping rocks (or trying to), taking in the view, and deciding where to go next. We settled on walking along the quai, which is the boardwalk along the beach. It was so pretty! There are palm trees and really pretty, very Southern France-style buildings. By which I mean, pastel colored, with shutters and balconies and molding around the windows. There were also a lot of restaurants, and some of them even have tables right on the beach!

Next, we hiked up this huge hill next to the beach to see the view from the top. It was amazing! We could see all across the roofs of Nice, and the expanse of blue sea was incredible! The water is so clear, we could see the rocks under the water even from all the way up there. We could also see the harbor and all the fancy boats. And the weather was beautiful! It was warm and sunny - I even broke out my UCSD sunglasses!

There was also a park up at the top, so we walked around that, and my friend and I climbed to the top of one of those rope-web things. We made sure not to get in the way of any little kids though! Then we had lunch at at a café that was nearby. I finally had a croque-monsieur! (That's a French version of a grilled cheese sandwich, with ham and a lot more cheese.)


Then we walked back down and climbed on some rocks that jutted out into the water, then strolled over to the harbor. There were so many fancy yachts! (Or at least, I thought there were a lot, until I saw Monaco!) We sat on a dock for a while, looking at the boats go by. Then of course, being so close to Italy, I just had to get some gelato again! Not as good as Italy's, but still pretty delicious!

"Ruins" of the Acropolis...

Looking at our map, there were several little tourist spots of interest labeled, with little icons next to them. One of them was the Acropolis, which had a little icon of a yellowish ancient-style type of building that looked like it was falling apart. "Ah, that must be ruins from ancient Nice!" we assumed, clearly revealing how little research we had done before coming. Well, after walking to the "ruins," we discovered that the Acropolis is actually a very modern convention center! With a convention going on! Luckily, that meant it was open so we could go inside and use their bathrooms.  It's still a mystery to me as to why that had that very ruins-y looking symbol next to it though!

Next, we went to the Musée d'Art Moderne et d'Art Contemporain, which was in this really cool building that was like circular, with a courtyard in the middle. The art was really cool! And there was a lot from Niki de Saint Phalle, who made Sun God at UCSD!!! If you don't go to UCSD, Sun God is a huge statue on campus and is pretty much the symbol of UCSD. So it was pretty cool to see a lot of her other work! And Sun God was even mentioned in their timeline of her life! 

You could also go out on the roof of the building, which was really cool and wavy. You could walk all the way around it, and we went out right as the sun was setting, so it was perfect timing! We had a beautiful view of the city of Nice and the ocean, and it was amazing to watch the sunset over it. Too lucky!

Afterwards, we went to the beach to see the lights along the water, and then we walked around a little and ate dinner. We got pizza! The menu at the restaurant was a little confusing, because the price to get a combination of a pizza and a dessert was less than some of the pizzas cost individually. We were all nervous the bill would be much higher than we expected, but luckily it turned out to be correct! And the pizza and ice cream were really good!


That night, we slept at a little hostel near the train station, and got ready to go to Monaco the next day! I wish we could have spent longer in Nice; it was probably the most beautiful city I've ever been too. Everywhere I looked, I almost couldn't believe it was real! If you ever go to France, you absolutely must go to Nice!!


À bientôt, with stories from Monaco and Portugal!