Rome is Where the Heart is: Fall Break: Nice is Nice

Thursday morning was early, we didn't even bother with breakfast until we got to the airport after Meredith got herself out of bed and walked us to the bus stop, what a sweetie. I cannot wait to see that girl again in fewer than 12 days. At the airport I enjoyed my last "american" coffee, since then it's been all espresso.

Once we landed at Cote d'Azur airport in Nice I slipped up a bit. I tried following the directions we were given to get to the hotel but they weren't the clearest. We took a bus to the other terminal at the airport we grab a bus to the wrong stop then walked to the train station then got a bus and missed our stop, I correctly asked for directions in french! thanks Madame Soloman, and then we walked past our street and turned around. Whew. Kat was a little peeved with me and I can understand that, we were both tired. Thankfully Hippopotamus was a great landmark. We stayed at Chez Patrick which had sparse accomedations but clean hot showers and clean beds along with the sweetest reception lady. They do not have 24 hours reception unlike Bunkhouse so I kind of liked that we were the only ones in the flat for a while.

It was only four o'clock but after travel and stress and so many timezones in a week we were hungry. So we went to Hippopotamus, a restaurant on the corner, for a quick bite which turned into an early dinner. Afterwards we walked the main drag enjoying the warmth compared to the North and all the lit storefronts. We stumbled upon a mini Notre Dame with beautiful stained glass windows. It's odd to see Notre Dame with palm trees around it! We poked our heads into H&M before settling down for a glass of wine in France. After that we were both ready for an early night and turned back to catch up on some zzz's.

Friday morning we got up and packed since we were flying back to Rome later that evening. Our reception lady very kindly let us keep our stuff at the hostel until we left for the airport. I decided at the last minute to leave my fleece coat there too and just tough it out with my sweater and scarf. HA! I took those off within an hour of leaving the hostel, t-shirt and jeans baby! I love Nice. We bought pastries on the street as we walked down towards the flower market, at the suggestion of our friendly lady. We saw brightly colored houses and hotels all along the street and ended up in an open piazza with a fountain, what a wonderful good morning that was. The flower market is an open air flower, soap, spice, veggie market which smells heavenly. Kat and I wandered then we bought brie, a baguette, and grapes to snack on at the beach. Best decision of the day. We crossed the road to the beach and enjoyed the perfect morning. The grapes even tasted like lavender!!!

It was sunny, warm, the waves were crashing as women swam and children built sand castles in the little patch of sand on a pebbly beach. Kat and I finally took off the shoes and waded into the surf a bit. At one point the wash from a cruise ship hit shore and we had seconds to grab our belongings and scamper up the shore as a giant wave collapsed onto the beach. A heart pounding moment that had everyone on the beach laughing from relief or despair if they weren't fast enough.I can't believe I was at the beach in late October and it was hot. Not just warm, hot. After we tore ourselves from the beach we walked along the coast and found the port with big beautiful sailboats and yachts. We stopped for lunch and I was politely corrected by our waiter when I tried to slip some Italian words into my French. Light salads were nice after heavy stews and Guinness. We stopped in a few bakeries/patisseries and chocolate shops soaking in the afternoon. We grabbed a croissant each and I had a meringue while Gatto bought an eclair and sat in the park enjoying the sunshine and we people watched and nibbled on our treats. More shopping/window shopping took place because we loved how cheap it could be compared to Rome.

Eventually, sadly, it was time to go. We figured out how to get to the airport much easier than how we left it thankfully. Our flight was delayed which meant we sat playing card games at the gate for a while and when we landed in Rome the trains to termini had stopped running for the night, so we had to splurge and take a shuttle back to our apartment. But oh how nice it was to be home. We smiled to each other then collapsed into our beds for the next ten hours. Nice was very relaxing and just the way we wanted to end our trip.

I have much to share about my time since traveling but school comes first! Off to Italian class now.
Ciao!

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