La Côte D'Azur

I am absolutely loving life here! Last week in Rouen, it rained a lot. Julie and I found some beautiful untouched running trails behind our dorms that are surrounded by hundreds of thick trees and come up onto this beautiful view of a small French village. Julie and I headed to the French Riveria with 3 other girls from Cal Poly via train… which wasn’t necessarily the quickest mode of transport, but not bad. Haven’t gotten much sleep since arriving, well almost none, but in Julie’s wise words… you can sleep when you die, we’ve got things to see!

The train ride itself was actually incredible, with phenomenal cloud formations brushing softly against rolling hills and stone houses inset in the green land. I loved just watching outside the windows!

We arrived in Cannes and promptly went to the beach! The water there was pretty cold for whatever reason, but it was our first dip in the Mediterranean so there was no way we were missing out! That night we wandered beautiful, schnazzy upscale Cannes searching for some fun. We stopped at a fun swing bar and watched some incredible dancing!! Julie’s and my friend Courtney studied abroad in Cannes, so we honestly just did exactly what she told us was fun, including a delicious dinner!

The next day, we took a ferry across the Med to the Isle marguerite where the Man in the Iron Mask was held however many years ago. It was a crazy island, the prison itself was pretty typical, not very legendary with like iron masks chillin ever

ywhere, but the island was UN believable! The views of the coast were epic and everytime I saw the views of the water, I just about died with happiness. Oddly enough, most of the beaches are made of rocks and wood, not sand, so Julie and I found the most comfortable giant slate rock and took a nap. When we woke up, we realized the cove surrounding us was completely full of big and little jellyfish! Headed back… went to get some coffee (actually, coffee is really rare here, people just drink straight espresso shots, which is always good for someone like me who doesn’t feel the effects of caffeine… jk I’m like constantly wired haha)

Then we had might have been the most unbelievable Mediterranean meal of my life!!! Started with about 50 Moules (mussels), the most delicious sea bass in a butter cream sauce, and crème caramel. I’m getting hungry just imagining it!!!

Here in France, some vulgar men hit on you by asking the very sly and devious question: will you have sex with me? It’s pretty gross. They also have condom dispensers on the streets like vending machines. It’s a tad more straightforward then I’ve ever seen… its funny, but sick!! Haha The men also ride around on their mopeds and throw eggs at people at night, but don’t bring it up with Julie b/c it’s a sore subject. Ha.

this picture below is actually the view from the island ste marguerite

Next day, took the quick train to Nice! We ventured to our hostel, which we made the epic error of not finding directions on the metro, and refused to pay the requested 20 euros for a taxi. Lame. So, we finally found our way to the hostel, which was in the mountains of Nice. On the way we saw the human version of the cartoon man in UP! Took a picture… hahah it was so cute.

Nice itself was breathtaking. The water was warm and perfect. The beaches were made of the giant stone pebbles that hurt all over, but I still love everything about the beach. I’d say it was all even more beautiful than like the Caribbean or any tropical islands. It rests at a lovely 27 to 39 degrees Celsius ( like 85), is perfectly stunning, and sits nestled between some of the world’s most anciently beautiful and picturesque buildings. Wow, the shopping was fabulous too, though these trips are sucking everything dry money wise, so shopping is semi-non-existent right now. Can we have a quick discussion though about how much all of Europe loves purple!?! Sweet!

The hostel we stayed at, called Villa Saint Exeupery, was phenomenal!! It was ranked best hostel in France and one of the top 10 hostels in the entire world! The place was a converted monastery, so the common room/bar/restaurant was an ex. Chapel. They serve dinner there every night with Euro beers, so for dinner we had home cooked Boeuf Bourguignon for the beautiful price of 6 euros. J At the common room, we met a bunch of other traveling people, mostly from England and Australia. The people were awesome, especially our roomies 3 English girls that I absolutely love!! Our other roomie Jamie was working on a 3,000 mile bike ride from London to Sicily and stopped in Nice for a quick rest. Crazy!

We were supposed to leave Nice to come back for a non-mandatory French language class, but obviously since I fell so much in love with the ppl/hostel/ cote d’azur, we stayed an extra night!! The next day, we took a bus down to Port Grimaud, a beautiful place a bit farther west of Cannes. We hit up the beach and shopping, and especially liked the canals similar to Venice throughout the small town. (Drove up through Saint-Maxime also and another little town where the King of Sweden (I think ) vacations yearly) Then we hopped on a cruise to Saint Tropez, the most upscale recognized vacation spot in the Riveria. Met so many awesome people, and I’m pretty sure Jules and I were the only Americans on the entire cruise (which boasted free drinks haha). Landed in Saint Tropez, just one day shy of seeing JayZ, Beyonce, and P-Diddy who were alllllso making trips there.

P-Diddy has his infamous white party there every year as well. Other ppl with houses/mansions/gi-freaking enormous Yachts in St. Tropez: Paris Hilton’s Pop (though she herself is banned from the island due to some crazy birthday party she had last year), Mercedes Benz, Heineken, Sarcozy’s wife, a bunch of extremely well known European stars, and so on.

Our cruise tour guide told us a sweet story. One year he was on a small boat taking a trip through the Saint Tropez waters with a small disposable camera when he glanced over to another ship, and saw the lovely Princess Diana. He then realized she was there with her lover Dodi Fayad, snapped a few photos, including one of them leaning in for a delicious smooch. When she passed away tragically a few months later, our tour guide realized the value of his photo, sold it to the press for a FAT dollar sign, (guessing a couple hundred thousand), and now everyone globally has seen that very photo! There are media helicopters that chase down yachts and beaches all across the water too, the paparazzi is vicious, I’ve never watched it in person before.!!

Okay not much to do in St .Tropez though unless you’re a zillionaire. But going to visit just the yacht scenery was kind of worth it itself, because its so unbelievable. Paul Allen was visiting in his yacht, only like the 9^th biggest in the world, and it might have been bigger than like the business building at Poly.

Oh hey on the bus ride back, The girl I sat next to was named Emily, who was traveling with her friend Emily (in front of me).. both from Melbourne, Australia, and next to me was our friend Emily from England. I have a globally sweet name. haha oh and the lady in Rouen who helped me today was Emilie. (like Em_E LEE, in the Madrid customs office haha)

Headed Back to Rouen with extreme sadness to say goodbye to Rivera-n Paradise, but stopped in Marseilles which has some incredibly gorgeous views itself. Rouen has been warm, and I’m excited to go out with our friends from school today. We’re all booked for Brussels and Belgium tomorrow, which should be beautiful. Gotta fill up on all that beer, chocolate, and waffles J Our hostel in Brussels is in the heart of the Grand Palace, so we’re lucky gals.

More later, miss you all… I’m so lucky to be here. If anyone would like to wire me money, I’d take it with happiness. Just kidding, but traveling is expensive… but so so worth it!