Adventures in Cote D’Azur
We went to Cote D'Azur during the weekend. We took an overnight train from Paris to Nice. There were five in our group : Darwin, Maridol, Jack, Dran and myself. The cabin we were in have couchettes or beds but each cabin has 6 each. Thus, we were forced to sleep early because our companion wanted to sleep early. Ah well. Originally, our companion was a young American guy (cute!) but when he learned that we were all together, he requested someone else to stay with us. This time, we got a middle-aged French guy who was so snobbish. He didn't even say good evening to us.
After spending an hour to get a car (Avis in Nice was so slow!), we went to Mc Donalds for breakfast. Now, I don't know where they get their idea of fast food but they definitely suck at it. It took us about more than 30 minutes to get our meal and the food was worse than expected. I guess the French are just not used to the idea of fast food. Well, I guess that's typical since from my observation, it takes them more than an hour to finish lunch because they follow a set of rules during lunch or dinner.
We then went to the "Le Chateau". A chateau in French, is a castle. However, the place we went to isn't really a castle but a place where an old castle used to stand. It's in a really high place that gives a very good view of Nice. Very breathtaking. I really love seeing panoramas like this. God's creation is so good to the eyes. Of course, the guys noticed the people lying at the beach and when they saw that some of them are topless, whoa! They suddenly have this urge to walk along the beach. This we did. We wandered around the "Promenade des Anglais". Imagine the five of us, wearing non-swimming clothes, walking along the beach ogling at all the people lying there. The culture here is really so different from ours. They are so at ease in lying topless on the beach, something that you'd find so taboo in Manila. What's so amazing is sometimes, a whole family where the mother and the daughters are topless would be there along with the male relatives. Maybe it's our culture or the way we've been brought up, but we just find this idea so different and so not Filipino.
Anyway, we also went to Antibes in Juan Les Pins and ate our lunch there. I had a very good lunch : spaghetti aux saumon fumee. That's spaghetti with smoked salmon. Yummy. After seeing Nice's beach (it was very clean but they have stones instead of sand), the guys just don't like Antibes. Maybe it's because they can't see much of the topless girls in the beach or what, I don't know. We decided to go to Cap d'Antibes. Supposedly, the Eden Roc, famed to be the most beautiful hotel in the world is there and the place was supposed to be filled with a lot of beautiful houses. I don't know. Maybe we were then again busy looking at the people on the beach and we just forgot to look at our surroundings. The Eden Roc was a disappointment though. Or maybe we were just not able to go in to see it. Ah well.
Afterwards, we then head off to Cannes. As expected, we went to the beach again (we never got tired of it!). We stayed for a while at the beach. There was a part of the beach lined up by big rocks. We went near the sea through these rocks and as expected, I got afraid again. It wasn't really high. But, because I can see the cracks in between the rocks, I just got afraid again. At one time, they left me all alone standing in one of the rocks and I shouted! I asked them to come fetch me already because I'm beginning to panic. Ah well. What can I do? I love indoor rock climbing but when I'm faced by a simple task of going over small rocks (well, not so small), I feel afraid again. We went to the Cannes International Film Festival theater and had our pictures taken there. We were also able to go to the Le Suquet, it's an old village high up in the mountain. We got lost on our way there but it was fun. The view is spectacular.
It was a little bit early so we decided to go to another village near that place. However, we got lost so we ended up going to Grasse. We were planning on going to the perfume factories there but since it was already late, they were already closed. We just decided to eat dinner there and head back to Nice. On our way back, we were planning to go to a small village that they said have a medieval theme. However, the place towards the place was so dark that it's so creepy! We decided to turn around and just go back to Nice.
The next day, we visited Place de Massena. It was a very nice Park in the middle of Nice. We then head off to Monte Carlo, Monaco. I love Monaco. We went to the Palais de Prince or to the Prince's Palace. Just like Windsor's castle, the place was well kept. Again, I believe it's because the place is still being lived in. It's the permanent residence of the Prince of Monaco. Well, it was very beautiful, but I still believe that Windsor Castle in England is more beautiful. We then went to the Casino. Ooh la la. The casino is very nice. We went to an observation place there overlooking the sea and it was so wonderful. Ah well. I'm sorry for gushing over the different places we go to but I just love the French Riviera.
On our way back to Nice, we were planning to go to the medieval village of Eze. However, there was no parking space so we had to leave. We tried to go to the Greek village of Kyrelos but we will be late for our train so we had to go back.
And of course, our visit would not be complete unless we got lost along the way. We got lost several times. But unlike in Lisieux, we were not able to find our way back easily. We also got lost trying to return the car. It was so funny one time because we saw the station ahead of us but then we had to go through a street to get to it and then as were crossing the street, we saw the station behind us, everybody was shouting that we're losing the place again! Finally, we made it and were able to get a quick dinner before we catch our ride back to Paris.
Our cabinmate this time is a French lady who speaks good English. She was kind enough to exchange places with one of us so that we can be together. The travel back to Paris was uneventful so there's not much to say. Of course, we were so tired because we had to go back to our apartments and then report for work at once.
Ah well. The consequence is overweighed by the fun we had during the weekend.
After spending an hour to get a car (Avis in Nice was so slow!), we went to Mc Donalds for breakfast. Now, I don't know where they get their idea of fast food but they definitely suck at it. It took us about more than 30 minutes to get our meal and the food was worse than expected. I guess the French are just not used to the idea of fast food. Well, I guess that's typical since from my observation, it takes them more than an hour to finish lunch because they follow a set of rules during lunch or dinner.
We then went to the "Le Chateau". A chateau in French, is a castle. However, the place we went to isn't really a castle but a place where an old castle used to stand. It's in a really high place that gives a very good view of Nice. Very breathtaking. I really love seeing panoramas like this. God's creation is so good to the eyes. Of course, the guys noticed the people lying at the beach and when they saw that some of them are topless, whoa! They suddenly have this urge to walk along the beach. This we did. We wandered around the "Promenade des Anglais". Imagine the five of us, wearing non-swimming clothes, walking along the beach ogling at all the people lying there. The culture here is really so different from ours. They are so at ease in lying topless on the beach, something that you'd find so taboo in Manila. What's so amazing is sometimes, a whole family where the mother and the daughters are topless would be there along with the male relatives. Maybe it's our culture or the way we've been brought up, but we just find this idea so different and so not Filipino.
Anyway, we also went to Antibes in Juan Les Pins and ate our lunch there. I had a very good lunch : spaghetti aux saumon fumee. That's spaghetti with smoked salmon. Yummy. After seeing Nice's beach (it was very clean but they have stones instead of sand), the guys just don't like Antibes. Maybe it's because they can't see much of the topless girls in the beach or what, I don't know. We decided to go to Cap d'Antibes. Supposedly, the Eden Roc, famed to be the most beautiful hotel in the world is there and the place was supposed to be filled with a lot of beautiful houses. I don't know. Maybe we were then again busy looking at the people on the beach and we just forgot to look at our surroundings. The Eden Roc was a disappointment though. Or maybe we were just not able to go in to see it. Ah well.
Afterwards, we then head off to Cannes. As expected, we went to the beach again (we never got tired of it!). We stayed for a while at the beach. There was a part of the beach lined up by big rocks. We went near the sea through these rocks and as expected, I got afraid again. It wasn't really high. But, because I can see the cracks in between the rocks, I just got afraid again. At one time, they left me all alone standing in one of the rocks and I shouted! I asked them to come fetch me already because I'm beginning to panic. Ah well. What can I do? I love indoor rock climbing but when I'm faced by a simple task of going over small rocks (well, not so small), I feel afraid again. We went to the Cannes International Film Festival theater and had our pictures taken there. We were also able to go to the Le Suquet, it's an old village high up in the mountain. We got lost on our way there but it was fun. The view is spectacular.
It was a little bit early so we decided to go to another village near that place. However, we got lost so we ended up going to Grasse. We were planning on going to the perfume factories there but since it was already late, they were already closed. We just decided to eat dinner there and head back to Nice. On our way back, we were planning to go to a small village that they said have a medieval theme. However, the place towards the place was so dark that it's so creepy! We decided to turn around and just go back to Nice.
The next day, we visited Place de Massena. It was a very nice Park in the middle of Nice. We then head off to Monte Carlo, Monaco. I love Monaco. We went to the Palais de Prince or to the Prince's Palace. Just like Windsor's castle, the place was well kept. Again, I believe it's because the place is still being lived in. It's the permanent residence of the Prince of Monaco. Well, it was very beautiful, but I still believe that Windsor Castle in England is more beautiful. We then went to the Casino. Ooh la la. The casino is very nice. We went to an observation place there overlooking the sea and it was so wonderful. Ah well. I'm sorry for gushing over the different places we go to but I just love the French Riviera.
On our way back to Nice, we were planning to go to the medieval village of Eze. However, there was no parking space so we had to leave. We tried to go to the Greek village of Kyrelos but we will be late for our train so we had to go back.
And of course, our visit would not be complete unless we got lost along the way. We got lost several times. But unlike in Lisieux, we were not able to find our way back easily. We also got lost trying to return the car. It was so funny one time because we saw the station ahead of us but then we had to go through a street to get to it and then as were crossing the street, we saw the station behind us, everybody was shouting that we're losing the place again! Finally, we made it and were able to get a quick dinner before we catch our ride back to Paris.
Our cabinmate this time is a French lady who speaks good English. She was kind enough to exchange places with one of us so that we can be together. The travel back to Paris was uneventful so there's not much to say. Of course, we were so tired because we had to go back to our apartments and then report for work at once.
Ah well. The consequence is overweighed by the fun we had during the weekend.
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