Arrival and First Night in NiceThe trip to Nice was pleasant. Easy flight, I slept most of the way there. Before we had taken off I noticed a girl with what sounded like an American accent sitting next to me on the plane and asked her where she was from; she turned out to be Canadian, and herself and 2 friends went to Cambridge University and decided to visit Nice for the weekend also. After learning that I was a solo traveler, she offered her number and for me to tag along with them if I got lonely. Once we got to Nice, they helped me find my hostel, and split a taxi with me from the airport. This was extremely helpful because they all spoke decent French and I couldn’t understand a thing the taxi driver was saying. Once we found my hostel, they took off to find their Airbnb. I actually didn’t end up meeting up with them the entire trip, but I was grateful they helped me find my way. Upon arriving to the hostel, I was looking forward to meeting some other travelers and hopefully not sitting alone in the hostel common area. At first I was a little wary, because when I checked into my room there were only older women in my room (I’d say 65+, definitely not student traveling abroad age). One of them was friendly, and explained that they come to Nice for the winter while it’s cold in the north. The other lady was cranky and old spoke to me in grunting noises. I learned “arghh” meant “move please” and “ughhhh” meant “your annoying me but I don’t speak English so I can’t tell you how annoying you are”. There was another girl there that was from Russia, who also didn’t speak English. So my first few hours all I could think was “Well, maybe you will really be alone during this trip”. I decided to get cleaned up from traveling and make my way to the hostel bar where they were having happy hour from 6pm-8pm and beers were €1.50. I walked in, ordered a beer, and wandered somewhat aimlessly and was about to sit down when a nice girl behind me asked if I was alone and if I wanted to join her. I was happy to meet someone that spoke English and her name was Emma, originally from New Zealand, but was living in London and on holiday in Nice. (Perfect!!) She introduced me to her friend Johnny and 2 other people from Australia! And just like that, I had found some people that I could talk to and enjoy my first night in Nice with. I hadn’t planned on going out this night. In fact, I wanted to go to bed early and get up early to have a full first day in Nice. But Emma and Johnny were not having it and dragged me to some Irish pub around the corner. One of the employees at the hostel shut down the bar early and went out with us and took us to a few other local bars. I had a blast with Emma and Johnny, none of us spoke a lick of French and all felt out of place together. We had so much fun dancing to songs we didn’t understand the lyrics too, relying on google translate to order drinks, and getting pizza on the way home from the pub. It was a dang good first night in France, and I still had 2 more days to look forward to! Day One - Sunday 3/12/17I got a later start than I wanted, made it out the door around 11am with a smile and city maps in hand. I didn’t have much of a plan for today so just started walking. I knew I wanted coffee so I was in search for a cafe. I was a little worried because I didn’t know how to order a coffee, but I did my best. I found a coffee tent by the Christmas market and tried to order. They gave me a cute little espresso shot, and while I didn’t exactly like the taste, I knew I needed the caffeine for the day ahead! After I sipped my espresso, I walked towards the ocean. It was sunny, and warm (compared to England) and all I wanted to do was sit on the beach and look out at the glimmering water. At first I stopped and sat in one of the chairs overlooking the water that was on the walkway, then I decided to walk down the stairs and along the rocky beach. There wasn’t any sand, just rocks, and I immediately started looking for rocks for Melia (I taught her how to wrap rocks with wire before I left to turn them into necklaces.) I eventually laid my jacket out and sat down to take it all in. On my right there was a couple playing with their kid and taking an insane amount of pictures of him. On my left, there was a young couple who remained lip locked the whole time I was there (They call it French kissing for a reason I guess). And then there was me. You might be thinking... “She probably felt lonely” but I honestly didn’t. I felt as if I finally knew that I could do this. Coming abroad was a big leap, and then there were little leaps that followed, and this was the moment I just felt so at peace with what I was doing, that I enjoyed doing it alone. I guess we can call this moment a reflection of my personal growth, because I sat here for the better half of an hour just thinking about all that I have been able to do and how grateful I was to be sitting on a beach in France. *Life pondering moment over* I decided to keep walking along the water. I knew I needed to eat eventually and was scouting out some places when I stumbled along the famous Flower Market of Nice, which was more of a farmers market. I decided to buy some fresh cherry tomatoes and some other fruit to eat until I wanted a full meal. The flower market was so cute, there were so many things I wanted to buy but I knew with my one backpack I wouldn’t be able to fit much to take home so I restrained myself. After I was done at the market, I walked up the “I love Nice” sign to get a picture and admire the view from the cliffs. There were a bunch of people taking pictures here but I managed to sneak in there and get a good one. Check out the pictures below! After the Nice sign I remember there was an old abandoned castle from the Roman Era somewhere nearby and decided to hike the many stairs up to. It was situated in the middle of Castle Park, and it was definitely worth the climb. The levels seemed never ending... I would get up one set of stairs and be in awe of the view of the ocean and then get up the next and admire it even more. There was this one section where a man was playing his accordion on the stairs, and it was so peaceful to be looking over the ocean and listening to him play. It really felt like I was in France at that moment. I continued to climb and noticed there was a small snack shack at the top of the hill, and decided to get lunch here since it was cheap. I purchased a panini and sat a table looking over the ocean. I have seen the ocean many times in Southern California, but there was just something so pretty about the Mediterranean Sea. After lunch I continued to walk around until I found the old castle, and there truly was not much left of it. Usually a waterfall runs off of it but it was turned off for the winter. It still was so lovely. I walked around for a while a decided it was time to see some museums! I decided to see two museums before heading back towards the water to watch the sunset. Musée d’art moderne et d’art contemporain (Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art) and Palais Lascaris were the two museums I chose. The modern art museum has some truly interesting peices. I didn’t understand them until I read the artist’s descriptions of them and they made more sense. I found it interesting how something that looks so bizarre could be explained into a meaningful piece of art! Below are some pictures from the art museum. The next museum, Palais Lascaris, is an old aristocrat building that is currently a musical instrument museum and holds over 500 musical instruments. Not to mention, other beautiful works of art and lavish wall and ceiling decor. This building is one of the oldest in Nice and if you weren’t looking for it, you probably wouldn’t find it because it is in Nice’s old town, surrounded by many other buildings. I’m happy I made time for this museum because it was truly beautiful to walk around it and see the growth of musical instruments. After I was finished walking around museums, I decided to find somewhere to get something to eat and have a glass of wine and watch the sunset. I didn't want anything too expensive so I tried to stay away from fancy restaurants and find a bar with a view. Turns out, that isn't too hard when you walk down the 11 mile long Promenade street... there were bars every few feet! I picked one with a terrance that didn't have too many people on it and order a glass of white wine. The sunset was just getting started and it was already beautiful. I feel like you always hear about France's wine, cheese and bread so I decided to order a cheese plate. (Yeah, probably not the best dinner, but I had snacks back at the hostel). It was some of the best cheese I have ever had. The bread was a little hard, but the delicious cheeses made up for it, and the sunset was one of the best I have seen. Once I finished enjoying the sunset, and it started to get a little chilly and darker outside, I walked around the shops for a while until I came across a crepe spot and ordered a hot chocolate to end my night. I could only stand about half of the hot chocolate because it was so dang sweet! I tried to finish it but it was just too much sugar for me. With it being Sunday, everything was closing up for the night, and I figured it was time for me to head back to my hostel and get an early nights sleep. I had a big day planned to visit Eze Village and Monaco the next day and wanted to be well rested! Check out the last of my pictures from day one below. Day 2: Monday 4/12/17Day two was an early day for me! Since everyone in my hostel room was still sleeping, I decided to take advantage of the extra showers in the gym section of the hostel and get ready down there. I was ready a little too early for my bus so I waited a bit in the hostel bar to enjoy their free coffee. I eventually made it to the tram station, and caught the tram to the bus station. I had timed getting to the bus just perfectly because If you catch your connecting bus within 18 minutes of buying your tram ticket, you don’t have to pay again for the bus! Woo! €1.50 got me all the way to Eze Village! Eze Village is a tiny town on the cliff of a moutain just passed Nice. It is known as Medieval Village, and is rich with history! When I got there, I didn’t know how to get up to the castle part of the village so I stopped in the local cafe for a croissant (best croissant I’ve ever had and it was only 1€) and asked a local how to get up there. With his directions, I made my way up to the old village. It was only about 9:30am at this time and none of the shops were open yet. I didn’t mind this, I actually enjoyed the quiet of the town and it gave me a chance to really take in the surroundings before the pathways were filled with people! The village was adorable, and even though it was small I found myself getting lost in the narrow winding pathways. I didn’t know where each walkway went, so I just kept turning in the direction that I felt led up! At the top of the village, there is an old castle that is surrounded by a botanical garden. Its a regular 6€ to get in, and I was almost out of cash, but thankfully there was a student price and I got in for half of that! I walked around the garden, and it had reminded me of the garden my Grandma Gayle had taken me to before I left for England. This garden was very similar to that one as there were many beautiful cacti and art statues everywhere. There were many statues of women, and below the statue was a name plate and quote for each woman. I remeber thinking to myself, “If I was a statue, this wouldn’t be a bad place to spend forever”. I finally made it to the top of the village, and stepped onto the remaining grounds of the castle. Turns out King Louis (don’t remember which one) ordered that the castle be destroyed in the 1700s. There was hardly any castle left, but it was still pretty amazing to be standing there knowing that the stones below my feet had been there for hundreds of years. I spend about 20 minutes up here, looking around, and enjoying the view from the top. The time was now 10:45am and my bus to Monaco was at 11:30am, so I decided it was best to start to make my way down. As I was exiting the village I saw a tiny dirt path to my right. It seemed to have been walked on before so I chose to follow it and it lead me around to 2 benches that looked up at the whole village! I snapped a couple pictures from here and made my way to the bus station. Next stop, Monaco!! The bus to Monaco was short, and dropped me off right in front of the 156 year old famous casino, the Monte Carlo Casino. I had visited the Vegas version less than a year ago and never thought for a second that I would get the chance to see the original. In fact, before visiting Nice, I didn’t even know Monaco existed! I think our bus driver knew most of us hadn’t ever been to Monaco and gave us some fun facts about the small country. 1. That it was the second smallest country in the world and was only 1.25 square miles. 2. Residents of Monaco are not allowed to visit or gamble in the famous casino, the casino is purely for visitors only. 3. And out of a 37,000 population, 30% of them are billionaires. (Makes you wonder how many are millionaires). So it was safe to say, I was in one of the wealthiest places in the world. I only had a few hours to spend here so I started out at the casino. I didn’t want to pay 12€ just to get in when I had no intention of gambling, so walked around the lobby. The place was beautiful! I wasn’t much of a fan of the checkered decor, but I guess when your a famous casino your interior can be anything and it would still be grand. When I finished walking around the lobby of the casino, I walked over to the mall. I had read online that the inside of the mall is so pretty, with sparkling lights everywhere! And it sure was glamorous! I didn’t buy anything, just strolled through the shops and enjoyed seeing the fancy things. Once I was done checking out all the fancy shops I couldn’t possibly afford, I decided to walk to the Prince’s castle that was on the other side of the harbor. The walk there was pretty neat because it was along the coast and I was able to see all the yacht's lined up in the harbor... yachts of all different sizes, from big to massive covered the bay, and I kept thinking how rich would I have to become to have a mini yacht (I don't really need a big one). I eventually stepped into the town part of Monaco, away from the casino and yachts,where all of the buildings were different pretty colors and had beautiful terraces hanging off them. Can you guess which one was my favorite? I finally made it to the Prince's Palace! It was more modern looking than other palaces I have been to, but beautiful nonetheless. Surrounding the palace was a courtyard type area, with gift shops and other stores and cafes. There were many guards walking around, and one that walked in front of the palace doors the whole time. I walked around the courtyard for a bit until I spotted a sign that pointed the Prince's garden. I ended up on this windy pathway that walked me through the garden. There weren't too many flowers, but it overlooked the ocean through the trees and was a great spot to take a walking rest. I sat there for a bit and then wandered back up to the Palace courtyard where I spotted the Cathedral I had wanted to see. It was a bright white, with amazing detail, and was absolutely stunning. After I found the palace again, I bought some souvenirs from a shop, and decided it was time to head back to the bus stop. It had taken me around 30 minutes to walk here and my bus was leaving in an hour. On my walk back, I had noticed another smaller church off to the side of the road. Before I came to Monaco, I looked up some 'must see' spots, and recognized this church from the list. I had some spare time, so I popped over to it. There was a sign outside the church explaining its importance. A little back history of this church, Eglise Sainte-Devonte.... In the early 4th century, during the roman times, a young christian women was killed because she wouldn't deny her faith. The Romans had planned to burn her body, but the Christians put her on a boat and set her sail for Africa, where they thought she would get a proper burial. During a storm, the boat shifted and landed in Monaco. The church was built where the ship had wrecked, in remembrance, and dates back to 1870. I sat in this church for about 15 minutes, in silence, a said a little prayer. There were no pictures allowed inside, but I tell you... It deserved more than 15 minutes to appreciate it fully. After I made it back to Nice, I went back to my hostel to relax for a little bit. That is when I met Phoebe. I hadn't met anyone from America yet while being in France, and was excited when I came back to my room and recognized an East Coast accent. She is originally from Jersey, and dropped out of college to travel until she could decide what she wanted to do with her life. She had just arrived in Nice that morning and was looking for a friend to get dinner with. I met her right at the perfect time to go watch the sunset, and it was just a beautiful as the one the night before. After the sun had set we went to the Christmas market to walk around and get some mulled wine. (That stuff is amazing, I could drink it everyday). We enjoyed the market for a while before walking the High Street of Nice. I hadn't walked the main shopping area of Nice yet, so it was fun getting to walk along the big stores and sparkling lights. We eventually decided on a restaurant and treated ourselves a little with a bit fancier place than we normally would have went. Considering I had only eaten a croissant and pringles so far that day, I felt that I deserved a full meal. When we first sat down, they handed us menus in French. I stared blankly and tried to use google translate to change the words to English. (Can you imagine trying to translate a whole menu? Yeah, not possible). The waiter noticed we were struggling, and politely brought us english menus (Thank goodness). I ordered a Salmon dish and she ordered duck. We had a very nice meal together, talking and learning about each others experiences. She has been backpacking around Europe for 4 months, and this was her last stop before she went home. And she did this all by herself! Hearing her stories just gave me more confidence that I could handle traveling alone. She was almost three years younger than me, and she was inspiring me to branch out more often. After we finished dinner, we made our way back to the hostel to hang out for the rest of the night. We met some other solo travelers in the common area... two other Americans, one from San Francisco and one from Chicago, and a boy from Australia. There was one guy from Italy that was sitting with us, who didn't speak any english at all and had no idea what we were saying. For a while, him and I tried to talk via google translate (You can set it up so each person can speak into the phone and it will translate what is being said to the other language selected). We did that for about 30 minutes, until both of us got pretty tired of it. I wondered why he hung out with us if he couldn't understand us, but I figured maybe sitting with people is better than sitting alone.
I hung out for as long as I could, but I had a flight the next day and hadn't packed. So I said goodbye and goodnight to my new friends, wished them safe travels and headed off to my room. I packed up all of my belongings and prepared to depart the next morning. I really wasn't looking forward to leaving (In fact I almost paid 40$ to change my flight to have one more day in Nice) but I talked myself out of it. It was an amazing weekend but I knew it was time to head home. The next morning, I got up early enough to have one last Nice memory. I wanted to make it back to the Flower Market to grab one last batch of those cherry tomatoes (they were that good). My flight wasn't leaving until 11:30am, and the market opened at 8am, so I had time. I left the hostel at around 7:50am to make it to the flower market. After I grabbed my cherry tomatoes, I walked over to the beach and found a place to sit on the stairs leading to the water. I sat there eating my version of a French breakfast, and watched the early morning sun glisten over the blue water. My last few moments in Nice were a few of my best, as I reflected on everything I had done on this trip and all of the great people I had met. I fell in love with the French Riviera that weekend, and I cannot wait to go back again someday. My first solo travel was a huge deal for me, giving Nice a very special place in my heart. I made it back to London safely and caught a bus back to Colchester. When I got home it was grey and rainy and I already missed my French paradise. Thats all for now! I leave in two days for Brussels, Belgium and then continue on to Berlin, Germany, Paris, and Amsterdam, Netherlands. Stay tuned for those stories! Thanks for reading. Love, Maddi
2 Comments
Aunt Hope
19/12/2017 21:18:05
Maddi, I loved your since and Monaco adventures.I have not been to either city so I was thrilled to be “traveling” with you! Great photos and fantastic descriptions! Keep exploring and enjoying! Love always, Aunt Hope💕
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Aunt Petra
24/12/2017 20:02:36
Frohe Weihnacten Maddi und ruf Kerstin an en Berlin!!!!!
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MadeleineMy name is Madeleine Sarner, and I am an American student living in Britain's oldest recorded town, Colchester. After many months of saving, extensive planning, and a few break downs along the way, I have finally started my journey of living abroad. On this blog you can keep up with my adventures, my culture shock, and my new and exciting experiences! Archives
December 2017
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