Natalie in France: Nice and Monaco

Normally a fruit and flower market, it was antique market day

I arrived in Nice after taking multiple trains (train to Paris, train to Marseille and then a train to Nice), and I spent the night at a great youth hostel just off the main shopping street. I met tons of people there and we bonded over some wine (the first person I met was from Ottawa lol). The next day, I did an amazing walking tour, made more friends and then went swimming with my new friends in the Mediterranean! It was 17 degrees outside and even warmer in the water! The next day, a few girls and I checked out the shops on the main drag and then headed over to Monaco (just a quick 20-minute train ride away!). If we thought that meals were expensive in Nice, they were nothing compared to Monaco.

The street signs of Nice are in both French and Niçoise

The old town in Nice

The coast (Nice)!

The port (Nice)!

The yachts in Monaco!

We emerged from the train station right next to where the yachts were docked and it's freaking amazing what money can buy!! These boats had their own carpets on the docks made to match the boat's name, and inside a compartment on certain boats, we could see ski-doos and segways!!! Then we made our way to the casino, which was actually pretty small (entrance, slot machine room, and a room with tables for roulette). We did see on the menu that you could order a bottle of Dom Perignon for 400 Euros, though! The cars parked outside the casino were also very interesting. So then I set out solo from the group of girls and made my way to the Prince's Palace and took a quick tour before my train back at 6:00 pm.

Then I grabbed my stuff from the hostel in Nice, and made my way to Cannes, where I am staying with a lovely family (friends of my teacher). Today I made my way to Nice with the daughter who is home on holidays from university, and although it was extremely cold and rainy, we tried socca (salty crepe which was delicious), deep-fried sardine balls (won't do that again), an onion pie with an anchovy (sans anchovy, it was pretty good), and a few other Niçoise specialties (forgot to take photos until I had finished, of course). For dessert, we tried slightly-flavoured marzipan fruit-shaped treats, which were very good (also very expensive!).

M yacht!

By then we were cold and wet, so we ducked into the contemporary art museum, which was interesting (and free!), bought an expensive hot chocolate, and headed back to Cannes on the ugliest set of trains I have ever seen (the Côte d'Azur trains seem to all be worn out and graffiti-ed, unfortunately). We ate a delicious pasta dish with a cream sauce, gourd, parmesan cheese, and dried bits of beef, sort of like prosciutto. I forgot to take photos again! :) Since it was Halloween, we watched Sleepy Hollow (learned that a fortnight in French is 15 days). No kids came to the door, and I saw no one in costume!
Tomorow we see Cannes and then I head to Marseille. Happy Halloween!

P.S. This French keyboard is quite tricky to figure out!