Our trip started out with some excitement and it was my own anxiety/ "blonde" thinking that caused it. We were heading for our bus in the train station and I started feeling like we were going the wrong way. Danielle and I decided to run ahead of Nicole and Angela because we were running short on time. I had wine and bread and bananas in my bag, so the running was not an easy thing to do at the time. Plus, my clumsy self fell two days before and my knee was swollen...it was a circus. Danielle and I get frazzled easily when were together. We asked random bus drivers and train station workers if they knew where the Nice bus was. Sometimes they stared at us, sometimes they just laughed, and sometimes they tried to help us but led us no where. We were in panic mode and I was silently praying to Saint Anthony to help us find the bus or find Angela and Nicole back ( it is so hard not having cell phones in times like these!) Finally we found our friends and they luckily found the bus. We were actually going the right way in the first place........
I would have been so upset if we actually did miss the bus because I loved the French Riviera! We arrived around 2 am to our hostel and met again at 11 the next day and took a train to Monte Carlo in Monaco. It is so crazy that Monaco is its own country (its so small but so wealthy and exotic). They have the largest amount of police per person in one country in the world because they do not have a military so if they were ever under attack France would be responsible for protecting them (fun fact I learned). We walked up a bunch of winding hills and paths to see the harbor from an awesome view. We also saw the castle of Monaco where Prince Albert and his hot South African model wife live. We also gambled at the casino. Friday night we had a champaign party in the hotel with everyone on our trip and then went out to see Carnival festivities. We went to a bar that had a live band afterwards which was fun too. On the way home we stopped at McDonalds and they had a walk through window! Way more fun than a drive through. There was also a KFC and we went inside to see if they had mac and cheese or mashed potatoes but they sadly did not. I settled for a Le Krunchy chicken sandwich and immediately decided the next morning that I would never be eating a Le Krunchy again.
Saturday we woke up and had a really good breakfast at a family owned cafe. Then we walked to the beach in Nice and shopped around. The wether was so good! We also climed to the top of a place called Castle Hill. It's where the castle once stood and it looks obver the entire Mediterranean Ocean and beach in Nice. There is also a waterfall at the top that runs from a canal. We went to an Irish Pub on the way back from Castle Hill and I had a really good sandwich. Saturday night we watched the Carnival parade. The floats were amazing!They were so detailed there is no way they were just made out of paper mâché. The theme was 7 contents and it was interesting to see how the French see all of the different countries.
Sunday we took the train to Cannes and saw where the Cannes film festival takes place. Cannes is also a beach town so we walked along the boardwalk and stopped at some shops. On our way out of Nice the bus stopped in a small town called Eze and we took a tour of a perfume factory. I found out some interesting facts, such as:
-3 tons of flowers are used to make 1 kilo of rose essence (rose smell).
-A perfume maker is a chemist and can tell the sense of something while blind folded. They make formulas and then patent the formulas so they can create the perfume and sell it.
-Perfume makers are only able to smell for up to two hours per day, so they basically can only work for 2 hours per day to obtain accurate smells.
-The School of Perfumery is in Paris and Versailles. It takes 7 to 10 years to become a perfume maker ( they major in chemistry and then a "nose" helps teach them how to mix and match scents.)
-A nose is someone with almost perfect smelling senses. There are only 50 of them worldwide and they work in France.
-The soap is made from olive oil, honey, and coconut extract. Lab workers use presses to make shaped and hand painted soaps.
Overall it was a great weekend and I'm glad that I got to see a different side of France! Im also very glad we made the bus!
Pictures:
1: Danielle and I after our marathon run around the train station......
2-4: One of the many fancy car dealerships. Ferrari is the car of choice in Monte Carlo..like trucks are in Clinton County.
5-10: Views from the top of the winding hills that look down at the harbor in Monte Carlo. The yachts are small mansions. I can't imagine how crowded it gets in the summer there.
11-12: The palace in Monaco where Price Albert lives. The guards are intimidating and scary...they are so scary they won't let you stand by them to take a picture..they are pretty important (can you feel my sarcasm?)
13: The church where Grace Kelly is buried.
14-18: A park that overlooks the Mediterranean, along with the ham and cheese crepe I had for lunch (sorry I took a bite before I took a picture). If you can't tell I love eating crepes in France.
19: The famous Monte Carlo Casino. I was not allowed/scared to take pictures of the inside but it was the Casino Queen on crack. Chandeliers everywhere, a bar lined with diamonds, and toilets that cleaned themselves! I am a high roller and won 1 euro ( I was up 6 euro but was having too much fun with the slot machines.) One girl I met won 140 euro!
20: The view from the train on our way home. It was so nice seeing an ocean!
21-26: Our champaign party and night out at Carnival. It's a huge party in bars and on the street with silly string and confetti. Angela and Danielle actually ran into the mayor of France on accident when we were out in the street. And you meet some interesting people during Carnival, like the guy Danielle and Angela are talking to...he thinks we have a yacht in Monte Carlo.
27: Awesome omelet breakfast and coffee the next morning...France knows how to make good eggs.
28-31: The pebble beach in Nice. I found some cool rocks and sea glass down by the board walk that I took back with me.
32: My first, and not last, macaroon. It was chocolate and coconut.
33-40: Castle Hill in Nice. It was such a cool view (not to mention there was a rainbow in the water..bonus points). Also, the Irish Pub chicken club and awesome chips.
41-50: The Carnival floats in the parade in Nice
51-57: The film festival location in Cannes. Its kind of like France's Hollywood Walk of Fame because if all the handprints. I was Angelina Jolie if you can't tell....
58-60: Views from the board walk in Cannes.
61-68: This is the perfume factory we visited. The first picture is a board that lists all of the countries that the company buys ingredients from that they can't get in France. The second picture is where we tested out how good our sense of smell is. The other pictures are the labs where they make perfume,soap, and lotions/oils. The factory was pretty small for the amount of work that they do there.
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