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Nice Sun
When we last left our travelling adventurer hero, he was headed away from
Florence, Italy into the unknown of Western Europe. Let's see what
happened to him:
On Thursday the 9th I headed to the train station in Florence for my trip
to Nice, France and the nearby Monte Carlo. I had heard great things
about the place, both from friends/family and from assorted James Bond
movies. I was sitting alone in my empty compartment on the train reading
when all of the sudden 5 girls burst in and asked if they could join me.
Not ever being one to monopolize space on a train, I readily agreed. :)
They were architecture students from Kent State studying for the semester
in Florence (I can't imagine why they'd pick THAT location for
archictecture), two of whom were from the Cincinnati area. We had nice
conversation on our way to Nice, with a brief 1-hour stop in Pisa. No, I
didn't go to see the leaning tower, but the whole place did feel a little
off-balance, if you know what I mean.
We arrived in Nice the next morning (after a rather sleepless night that
involved distorting my body around a French couple who decided that they
needed 3 seats each) and I was ready for the sun. I ended up going with
Amanda and Trisha, to of the ladies I had met, up to a hostel that they
had had recommended to them. It turned out to be a beautiful ex-villa
that was now a paradise for vacationing/travelling youth. The owner is an
Italian who speaks French, and enough English to poke lots of fun at us
(e.g. tells us we must sleep in the garden, waits 10 minutes, then laughs
out loud for 5 while we gape in wonder...). The views of the city and the
ocean were beautiful, the accomodations wonderful.
So, we spent the next 4 days living it up in France. I felt very
comfortable there, likely because I'd studied French in high school and at
Earlham. It wasn't just being able to communicate with folks on a basic
level that was great (which *was* new on this trip in itself), but I
actually ended up having conversations with some locals about things in
French, which made me feel almost bi-lingual. It was a great feeling.
Not to mention the location. Right smack dab in the middle of the Cote
d'Azur, the water was a beautiful, sparkling blue that just took your
breath away. The weather wasn't consistently glorious and sunny, so on
the days that we did venture to the beach, there was a lot of shivering
followed by basking followed by shivering.
One day we went to Monte Carlo, about 20 minutes down the track (Eurorail
pass highly recommended for anyone visiting this area) in search of the
ritzy rich life that the place caters to, or at least a peek at it from a
distance. Right when we got of the train we saw several hundred red (and
some yellow) Ferrari's of all shapes and sizes lined up for the annual
Ferrari convention that was beginning that day. Each of those cars costs
about $300,000 or more; there was enough money there to buy a small
country (which, apparently, is exactly what Monaco, the small country
where Monte Carlo is located, is).
We tried to gamble but I was immediately thrown out by a porter when he
discovered that I wasn't 21, which is probably better for me anyway (I
already, um, "experienced" gambling in London). So we walked around and
sat on the beach and took in the sites.
In the mornings in Nice they have this incredible, beautiful market with
the most amazing, colorful, tasty food I have ever seen. I just walked up
and down the rows in awe (secretly pleased that I could order any of it in
the native language) before buying only a Baguette and joining my
travelling friends on the beach.
I really wanted to stay in Nice longer than I did, mostly because of the
language thing; it's so important to me to be able to communicate with the
people around me, not just for buying or helping or giving directions, but
for exchange of personality and views and miscellaneous conversation that
makes people more comfortable with each other.
However, seeing as how I was several countries away from my final
destination (Lisbon, Portugal), I decided to get a move on and on Monday
night I bid farewell to my newfound friends and hopped on a train towards
Portugal...
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