This is part 1:
This past weekend I spend in the French Riviera! It was so pretty! On Thursday afternoon I picked up Aunt Debbie at the train station! She took the train in from Rome. Then I dropped her off at my apartment, got her settled and ran to class. Came back, packed and we were off to France! We went with Bus2Alps again (same program I went to Amalfi with). The bus ride was a long one...we left at about 11 and didn't get to the hostel until 5am! The hostel was at the top of a hill so the bus dropped us off at the bottom and we had to wait with out luggage to get a shuttle to the hostel, then get checked it and passed out immediately.
On Friday morning we were off to this town in the French Riviera called Eze. It was the cutest little town on top of a big mountain. It was hard to get to though so the whole group (about 50 people) had to take the shuttle to the center of town, where we got the tram, which took us to a bus, which took us to Eze. Eze looked like one of the towns where its impossible to think of anyone actually living there because its so cute it looks fake. At the top of the town was an exotic garden with all kinds of crazy plants and cactus's. The view from the top was unbelievable. The Mediterranean is so blue and that was all you could see. It was definitely something to see! We shopped around in Eze and I a really cool ring that I love, had lunch and it was back on the bus to head to Monaco! I was really excited about Monaco (pronounced MON-OC-O...who knew?!) Our first stop was the Monte Carlo Casino which is world famous for all of the many rich and famous celebrities that vacation and gamble there. It was really pretty from the outside. We couldn't go in because we didn't meet the dress code but it was still cool to see the outside and all of the fancy cars that are parked out front. Aunt Debbie and I decided to head up toward the Princes Palace to get a tour. It was really pretty at the top because you can see all of Monaco and the harbor. The palace was really pretty. I didn't know too much of the history of the family expect for Grace Kelly so it was cool to learn about. Then we went into the church at the top where Grace Kelly and Prince Reiner III got married. It definitly wasn't one of the more pretty churches I've seen. (And I say that with confidence after being on the church tour of Europe for the past 4 months!) But the family is buried behind the alter and Grace Kelly and Prince Reiner III are the only tombs that have fresh flowers every single day of the year!
Oh and I forgot to mention that our tour guide thought she was Posh Spice. She wore these ridiculous high heels and outfits everyday throughout the whole trip we called her Posh. She wasn't even that nice to us! And she wasn't a good tour guide!
Anyways...back to the trip. SO while on our walk back to the bus, Aunt Debbie, stepped out of the shoe and landed weird on her foot. Not thinking too much about it we got the bus, and then the tram, and then the shuttle back to the hostel and put some ice on it. No biggie. We had dinner in the hostel (which was actually really good food!) since it was such a hassle to get into the center of Nice (shuttle, tram, bus, I'm sure you're noticing a pattern!) And we were exhausted! We were only going on about 4 hours of sleep at most!
Saturday morning we got up early again and headed to this small sea town called Antibes. It was just the cutest town on the Mediterranean with the biggest marina in the French Riviera. There was a big antique market there which we walked though and then Aunt Deb and I ate lunch in the middle of the square. The weather was just perfect! Then we did some shopping and wandered around the town going to a few markets and stuff like that. It was just very relaxing taking in all the sights and sounds. We had a few hours there and then it was to Cannes, where the famous Film Festival is held every year. I was really excited to go to Cannes because I had always seen pictures. It is a lot like Beverley Hills if you ask me. Really cool to see but not much there besides the beach (which is awesome of course!) and designer clothing shops. For the rich and famous its perfect but for the everyday person its too much. We laid on the beach for awhile but it started to get cold and windy so we decided to take a tram car tour ride though the town. That was fun learning about the different buildings and which celebrities had stay in where. My favorite part was standing on the stairs were all the celebrities walk at the film festival (does that surprise you?!) haha. It was definitely a fun place but unless or should I say until I'm rich and famous...not much else to do. When we returned to the hostel we took a look at Aunt Deb's foot and it was really purple but she said it didn't hurt too much as long as she took it easy! But that was hard to do when we had Posh all over our tails!
Sunday morning it was pouring so Posh changed our plans from spending the day in Nice to going to this tiny town in the hills of the French Riviera called Saint-Paul. Saint Paul is a tiny walled Medieval town in the area of Vence. Again...so small and quaint with great little shops and cute places to eat! Unfortunately it was raining cats and dogs so it wasn't as enjoyable as it could have been but we did have fun looking in the shops and getting some warm french food! I was disappointed I didn't get to see more of the town of Nice itself but I had to go with the flow, or should I say Posh, and do what everyone else was doing. Since Sunday was such rainy and cold day we headed back to Florence early. Which in the end turned out to be a good idea because we got stuck in crazy traffic and it took us forever! It was so wonderful being back in Firenze! I had a great time in the French Riviera...it was beautiful and the weather was great...but Florence is my home (aside from Voorhees of course!) but I was just so happy to come back!!
I plan on spending the remaining few weeks left in Florence just soaking it all in and checking off my list of "must do's" before I leave!
Here are pictures from the weekend!!
 |
| Weekend in the French Riviera April 23-26, 2009 |
stay tuned for part 2...
No comments:
Post a Comment