Riviera paradise

I'm going to be sad when I leave Nice on Sunday. I wasn't sure what to expect, coming here--staying in Nice was my way of avoiding buying another round trip ticket to and from the US and spending three weeks in the cold. But I love this city, and this region, and now I understand why so many people vacation in the French Riviera.

Last Tuesday was an interesting evening. Two friends my from class and I decided to check out a French-English language exchange at a pub by the port, which ended up being fun. The pub staff set it up so that ~3 francophones and 3 anglophones would be sitting together, so we would switch off languages every ten minutes or so, and then switch groups every 20 minutes. It was good practice, and nice to meet some actual French people! Afterwards, we went out to another bar in Old Nice that looked like a cross between a bomb shelter and a ship's mess, but was actually quite fun. Needless to say, I was a bit tired in class the next day.

On Saturday I took a day trip to the next town over, called Villefranche. Like most of the towns here, it has a cute old part, a nice port, and then modern apartments spreading up the mountains. I strolled around the steep old streets for a while, admired the harbour, and then (and this is very logical), since I didn't feel like walking back to the bus stop, walked all the way back to Nice. It was about 4 miles/6.7 kilometers, and so beautiful. The path wound around the point separating Nice and Villefranche, then led up the hill and back down to the port in Nice. I took a good nap after my walk, then went out to a bar with an Australian friend from my class that evening.

On Sunday, since I didn't have anything planned, I set out in the afternoon and just wandered for around 2.5 hours, eventually ending up at the Promenade des Anglais and eating a sandwich on the beach. A very peaceful afternoon.

Today was by far the most exciting day of my week–-I headed over to Monaco (~40 minute bus ride) to see the Festival International de Cirque de Monte Carlo! I had heard about it, and it was pretty cool to see. I got there a little past 2, managed to buy the cheapest ticket available (the very last row in the chapiteau!) and got in just as the show was starting at 2:30. It was a fun show, though it went for almost 3.5 hours, much of which was scene changing--taking the lions' cage out and setting up the flying trapeze rig. My favorite act was a handbalancer who had won a "Clown d'Or" at this year's festival.

The city of Nice is getting ready for a big festival too--Carnaval! According to my host mom, Nice's Carnaval is the largest in Europe. They've been setting up guard rails and bleachers for the past week or so, but sadly I'll be leaving before the celebrations start in February.

Dinner time! Thanks for reading!