Nice, you are oh so nice

I tried forever to think of a clever title for this post. Above is all I could come up with. Regardless, Nice is beautiful.

About fourteen other students from my marketing group traveled to southeast France this weekend. We arrived on Thursday afternoon and made our way to the hostel. The hostel – Villa St. Exupery – was absolutely fantastic. Now, I’m no hostel connoisseur, but out of the three I have stayed at thus far, this one takes the cake by a long shot. Free internet, rooms with connecting bathrooms with detachable showerheads, free breakfast (cereal for the first time since I’ve been home!), and the view:

I was in a 6 bed room with Joy and Frances (both from my program) and three other girls from Canada. The group shortly went out for dinner thereafter. We traveled down to Old Town Nice. This is the historic part of town near the coast. Small winding alleys are home to cute restaurant vendors and small boutiques.

The hostel recommended a bar called Wayne’s to us. It was a famous tourist bar that spoke English. We hopped in after dinner. It was like this English hiatus in the middle of South France. English speaking patrons and bartenders. Even burgers and fries. We went back to hang out at the hostel.

The next morning, we decided it was a beach day. We took the complimentary hostel shuttle (another perk) down to the tram station that would take us back down to Old Town near the beach. On the car ride from the hostel to the tram, I had a classic vacation moment: the sky was clear, music was blarring in the car piled with kids, and wind blowing through my hair. It felt great to be out of a crowded city. A tram ride later, we said hello to the gorgeous beach.

Frances, Joy, me, and Rachel:

We stayed there beach for several hours. I forgot my suntan lotion and got a little burned. It’s about the first time I have got some decent sun in the past two years (not exaggerating). But forget about my skin, it was everyone else’s scantily clad bodies that stole the show. Check out this sister:

I don't think commentary is necessary. And can you find Mr. Hotstuff?

In between my fill of speedo Sams and topless Tammies, I walked along the Promenade de Anglais to find Fenocchio – a famous gelato shop in Nice that serves its 96 flavors to patrons daily. I tried tiramisu and vanilla. You could see the black vanilla specs in it. qualiTAY.

Later that night we found a small restaurant in Old Town. Sidenote: basically, this blog is revolving into what I eat during my summer instead of where I am going. Salivating? Possibly. Boring? Hopefully not. I decided I needed to take advantage of all the fresh seafood in Nice. I ordered Spaghetti Pescatore (homage to mom) with fresh mussels and grilled calamari in a pesto/marinara sauce. We went back Wayne’s were we met up with our new friends from Pittsburg – Drew and Elizabeth. Drew just finished his Spring semester abroad in Dubai and Elizabeth is studying in Florence in July. We also met two other Canadian girls – Emily and Becca from Ontario. They were on their 7^th week of backpacking around Europe. The soccer World Cup is going on in Europe right now. The French v. Holland game was on at Wayne's. We took pleasure in pitching in our participatory yells throughout the game, but the REAL fun started when the live music commenced. They played the Rolling Stones, Lynyrd Skynard, and other music that reminded me of my dad. Naturally, a dance party ensued.

Gabby, me, Joy, and Frances at Wayne's (World):

Joy was giving complimentary piggybacks that evening:

Back at the hostel that night, we met three different groups of UT grads. Crazy, really. Hook ‘em. France, Joy, and I went back to the room to find a new set of roommates – Mike, Nigel, and Gabrielle from Singapore.

The next morning we headed off to Monaco with our new Canadian and Pittsburgian friends from the night before. We were also joined by Tim from Tanzmania and three University of Illinois grads who were off traveling before starting consulting gigs in Chicago in August. We took a bus ride along the coast and stopped at a small little town called Eze Village. The hostel suggested we climb up to the top of the hill for a fantastic view and a coffee. I ended up ordering the cheapest thing on the menu – a 6.50 euro hot chocolate. That’s at $10 cup of warm milk and chocolate syrup. That aside, the view was well worth it:

More Eze Village:

The gang traveled on to Monaco. Group shot in front of Monte Carlo is below. Tanzmanian Tim was apparently preoccupied:

We walked into the foyer of the Monte Carlo casino, but you had to pay 10 euro just to get into the actually playing room. The guys went in, and the girls stayed outside to drool over the ostentatious display of ridiculous wealth – the cars. Chase, Frances, Joy, and I went into a smaller casino later on. I bet one euro and lost. Big spender.

We walked around the town and grabbed lunch while we admired the yachts.

Chase ‘Linen Pants’ Lancarte posing with his yacht.

Frances and I with our nutella and banana crepe.

We took another picturesque drive back to Nice. Sunday morning we left the hostel before 7am to catch our flight.

Adieu, Nice. It was a fantastic weekend.