MONACO
On our second day in Nice we had to check out of our first hostel and go to the train station to meet Sarah, who had decided not to come to Nice until Friday. The first hostel was pretty crappy, the bathroom was usable but the beds were incredibly uncomfortable.
After waiting at the train station for what seemed like forever we finally found Sarah and then had to figure out how to call our next hostel so they could pick us up. In France (and the UK from what I have heard) there are no payphones that take coin or calling card, you have to use prepaid cards. Since the phones are in french this was a hard thing to figure out so we ending up taking an overpriced cab to our new hostel, Villa St. Exupery. The hostel was awesome, however it was on the far north end of town (really far from the beach) Luckily a bus line ran nearby.
The hostel was really disorganized, they checked us in but we had to wait for the room because they still had to change the sheets for us. When we got into the room it was a room for 10 people, we had 7, but there were enough bags and luggage in the room for probably 4 or 5. We told the people at the front desk, and told them that we didn’t know what to do with our bags or which beds were ours and all they could tell us is they would figure it out. Apparently two staff members were sleeping in our room and they had to relocate them for the night. Later we found out the entire hostel was overbooked and many rooms had extra cots pulled in for the night. The staff was compiled of other travelers, mainly people who ran out of money and stayed to work for a few months.
After getting settled our group argued over what to do for the afternoon. Erin, Leah, and I decided to go to Monaco and walk around (Monte Carlo)
We took the train there, it was only about 20 mins or so. Again, everything was extremely crowded because the Monaco Grand Prix started on Saturday. We got to Monaco and walked around for hours with no direction, just trying to take in the surroundings. Eventually we made it to the main area of the race, and we stopped to people watch, but mostly CAR watch. You have to imagine that every single type of nice car was represented in Monaco. It is one of the richest and most upscale countries (city states, whatever) in the world and especailly since the grand prix was that weekend, everyone was driving lamborginis (cant even spell it), ferraris, porsches, bentleys, jaguars, etc. If they werent driving them they were parked on the road. We saw and took pictures of a race car driver from Austria, he is the driver for the Red Bull car. The race was exciting, there is no race track the track runs through the city (or entire country I should say) and the roads are all marked off with yellow paint and tires. Bleachers and stands are set up all along the race route, and bridges and stuff overlooking the route are closed off with bleachers. There are huge screens or TVs set up throughout town and around the Marina so those not near the track can watch on the screens, and the people on their HUGE yahts can watch from the marina.
Speaking of YAHTs, they were all enormous. Anyone who has a huge yaht was probably there. They were all parked along the major roads, and we walked by them admiring their lavish furnishings, most of them were packed with dinner parties or people being enertained. Most of them also had hired staff serving meals and drinks. It was definitely a sight to see. I wonder how you go about being hired by the owner of a yaht, to serve them drinks while they travel?
After wallking near the race and people watching we decided to get an (overpriced) drink near the water, overlooking the yahts. There was a group of older (and rowdy) men from London nearby that we ended up talking too. They were all in town for the race and all appeared the be very wealthy. They tried to coax us up to their master suite at the Hermitage Hotel to watch the race from their balcony and then attend the party they were having, who Rod Stewart was apparently also attending. They all had VIP tags for the hotel so they werent lying about staying there and probably werent lying about their party and suite (since they had the VIP and it is a four star hotel—in MONACO) the part to really question was the whole Rod Stewart part. They said it so passively, like it wasn’t a crucial detail or important. Additonally, I was trying to figure out why any man would include the fact that Rod Stewart was going to be at their party in order to impress someone our age. I mean, if they were going to make someone up couldn’t they think of someone better?
In any case we didn’t go to their party and instead walked around Monaco and saw the major sights and went to the casino (where I managed to lose money playing craps—but only a little)
All in all Monaco was beautiful, a very impressive place. The cars and yahts were unimaginable. Everything was so perfect looking, the beautiful ornate buildings, palm trees, sparkling sea, glistening yahts, and luxurious cars.
After heading back to Nice we were too late to catch the regular bus to the hostel. We walked around trying to find the night bus but unfortunatley Nice is under major construction and the stops are all moved around. Luckily Erin is minoring in French and knew enough to ask around, so we asked for help. Everyone told us something different and we kept walking in circles. We were hungry and tired but I was determine to find this bus! (The bus cost 1.30 euro each, a cab would of cost us over 7 euro each.) Especailly since we had spent so much time looking. Finally we decided to argue over what to eat and got some chinese food and then looked for the bus some more. We ran into two canadian girls, also looking for the bus and also staying in our hostel who spoke fluent french and followed them. Soon we ran into two americans (from Ohio) also looking for the bus. Finally we found the bus (or so we thought) but after getting on and validating our ticket we realized it wasn’t the right one. By this point everyone agreed to share two cabs and just go back to the hostel. All in all, from the time we got off the train in Nice from Monaco and the time we got back to our hostel almost 3 hours had passed! Basically, we spent most of our evening trying to find this “night bus”
At the mention of chinese food I must take another minute to complain about food in Europe (well, France and Italy.) First of all, grabbing a “quick bite” is expensive. Second of all, almost everything is already prepared and then REHEATED. The chinese food is all displayed in a huge glass display case. You walk down and pick out what you want, then they plate it up and microwave it or deep fry it. Almost every slice of pizza I have had has been sitting in a glass case, cold, and when I order it they ask if I want it hot or cold (except they ask it in french or italian.)
As James knows, I am not particularly fond of leftovers or reheated food. So to think almost every meal that I pay too much for, the food is merely reheated in the microwave.
Fast food such as McDonalds does not exist, unless it is McDonalds, and then it is even more expensive. So trying to travel and grab fast bites to eat becomes challenging unless you want to eat sandwhiches all the time.
All in all, France is alright and they attitudes I was told they would have towards americans has not affected me yet, nor have I noticed it. I am sure France will be a completely different story.
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