NICE

Monday, August 29, 2011 Arrived in Nice at around 8:45 AM after getting a good night’s rest on the train. Went to the bathroom and headed to our hostel, which was a 20 minute walk from the station. The hostel was SO NICE!!!! Haha punny. But really. There were showers available for us, even though check-in wasn’t until 2 or 3 PM. So that happened, and we changed into bathing suits and headed for the beach! Oh, I forgot to mention that we checked facebook before leaving the hostel and communicated with one of the guys who is going to be at Oxford with us for the semester who happened to also be in Nice. So, we coordinated a meet-up time at Lido Plage (which I learned means Lido Beach). We met up with Chris at 12 and went to the main square to eat lunch. It was delicious, as per usual. French cuisine is on a level all its own. Dang. I am looking forward to Italy, but it’s pretty accessible and not totally extraordinary, you know? But good French food is. I ate a salad that was topped with duck bacon and foie gras. Chris got the same thing. Molly got fish, Laura got salmon pasta, and Malvika got Lamb pasta. We headed back to the beach, and after a few hours, we grabbed some Häagen Daze and went back to our respective hostels. Nice is soooo beautiful. I’ve never seen anything like it. The water is the deepest blue you’ve ever seen, and completely translucent. The coast is a mixture of jagged cliffs and rocky shores. Almost every view of the water is picturesque, and you find yourself completely absorbed in the scene. When we were on the beach, Chris pointed out a waterfall that was up on a hill, from which you can see all of Nice and is worth the hike. So, we tried to see it, but it ended up being closed at 8 PM. I know it’s ironic, since I’ve been going on and on about French food, but our last meal in France was Chinese food. We passed a place that was on the main strip, and it was there…and delicious…and affordable…so hard to resist. We picnicked with it on the rocky shores and devoured the meal. The rest of the night consisted of riding a merry-go-round, drinking mimosas, and walking around Nice. Definitely a wonderful close to the French segment of the trip.