Nice, France & the Principality of Monaco

The fruit & flower market
Some of the group at lunch (Chris, me, HCL, Jack)
The group before swimming
It actually looked like this.
Amazing.

A couple of weekends ago Jack, Chris S. (from here on known as HCL), Stephen, Chris C. and I went to Nice, France for the weekend (per usual it was Cait & the boys). It was Jack's birthday weekend and we decided that the best way to celebrate was to head to the Mediterranean to soak up the sun and swim. We left after they got out of their class on Friday afternoon, and after stopping to get some lunch, candy and necessary supplies for the 6 hour train ride, we arrived at the train station and loaded on to the TGV (French speed train). The train ride started smoothly, as we left Switzerland and were venturing into France we passed the time by playing M.A.S.H. and telling stories. All was well until about 4 hours into our trip when the train broke down. We stopped in the middle of the tracks and after finding a conductor who spoke English, were explained that someone had messed with the track's electrical system and that all trains were down. Eventually we were up and running and then it broke down again, what we didn't know is that this would happen various times throughout the rest of the ride. We ended up passing the time in the food and drink car of the train easing our pain with sandwiches and a couple of well needed beers, and after sitting on the tracks for 6 hours, we were back on our way. What was supposed to be a 6 hour ride arriving at 7 pm turned into a 12 hour epic journey, and we got into Nice at 1 AM on Saturday morning. Luckily our hostel (which was a ways away) was still picking people up and taking them back to the hostel, so we got a ride and settled in for the night.

In true hostel style, once we got settled and were ready to go to bed we were awoken by the most intense snoring I have ever heard (it even beat you dad). This was not normal snoring, there honestly had to be something wrong with the guy, needless to say it kept us up all night and a couple of times throughout the night caused people to yell out in anger. Besides the bad roomie, the hostel we were staying in was awesome, it was this old villa and the original owner was the author of Le Petit Prince (if you've taken 3 or more years of French, I can assure you that you've read this book, its hugely famous in Francophone countries). Everything had Petit Prince decor and the hostel had its own gardens, lots of rooms and a really awesome bar. It was a ways from downtown but the hostel was nice enough to pick people up and drop them off at the closest tram stop. If anyone ever goes to Nice, Villa Saint Exupery is the place to stay.

Anyways, on Saturday morning we got up bright and early, got some breakfast and headed into town. Our first stop was the fruit and flower market in the center of town where Stephen and I bought some of the best fruit we have ever had, and then we all grabbed lunch at a local cafe where we had a 3 course meal of seafood for 16 Euro each. After eating, and stopping at a local tourist shop to get bathing suits (HCL and Chris were brave and opted for the euro suit), we took our first dip in the Mediterranean. The sea was a perfect blend of green and blue -just what I had remembered from being there 5 years earlier-, I tried to take a ton of pictures of it, but no matter how many I took it couldn't capture the beauty of it all. After a couple of hours of swimming and laying on the pebble beach we headed back to the hostel to get ready for a night of luxury and gambling at the world famous Monte Carlo Casino in the principality of Monaco.

We showered and got ultra dressed up and then headed to the train station to catch a train to Monaco. The ride there was amazing, the sun was setting and we passed through multiple cliff filled coves with beautiful villas up in the hills, the French Riveria really is perfect. Once we got to Monaco is started raining, but even through the bad weather you could tell that this city (or country?) was one of the nicest places I've ever been to. The streets were beautiful and lined with amazing shops and restaurants and it all was up on a cliff overlooking the Mediterranean. It was truly filled with luxury and beauty. We found our way to the Monte Carlo and after hearing and reading about the strict dress code (and then dressing up in suits and a cute dress) found that it was a little more relaxed than we had anticipated. Either way we had a great time. The building (which doesn't allow photos) was amazing, everything is gold plated and decorated like I imagine the royal palace was. We gambled for a bit, Chris C. even won 100 Euros on the slot machine, I won 10 cents and decided to keep the slip for a scrap book rather than cashing in. Once we got our fill of gambling we headed back to Nice and hung out at the hostel bar for the rest of the night. Thanks to some collective creativity, we came up with a story for why we were all so dressed up and told people that is was HCL's bachelor party and we were the wedding party, and I was the best man....for some reason everyone believed this, and we spent the rest of the night cheers-ing to the wedding and trying to keep our stories straight.

Sunday we woke up early again got some breakfast (tried to avoid people we had been lying to the whole night before) and headed back to our usual beach to go swimming one last time before it was time to head back to Geneva. After swimming for a while and then drying off in the Provencal sun we got another amazing meal of fish, mussels... and all the things we would NEVER be able to afford in Switzerland, and headed back to the train station to hop a train to Geneva. This time the train ride was only 6 hours long (thank god, another 12 hour train ride could have been the end of us) and we arrived back in Geneva at around 11 pm. What was a random weekend trip, ended up being a jaunt to one of the most beautiful places any of us have ever been and a great bonding experience. I don't know when I'll be able to get back to Nice, but I do know it needs to happen sometime soon.