France!

February 14

Today is Valentine’s Day! Not like I care, but I am excited to go out and see how Florence celebrates.

So much to say about this weekend.

Friday.

Kelsey, Becky, and I went on a little adventure. We crossed the river and kind of just started wandering down this little street. It started going uphill so we figured it would lead to something good. It was a residential area, which was fun to see. Probably where rich people live since they always seem to reside on hills.

It was so amazing being outside of the city. It was so peaceful and quiet. The road was a never-ending curve with moss growing from it and you could see everything down below. It was almost countryside, but that will only completely happen when I get to frolic in the grass. The road did end because we walked until we hit a dead end. We saw a huge castle looking thing but it appeared to be blocked off. Obviously we went down to investigate. We weren’t the only ones, there was a bunch of other people walking around the area because of Giardino di Boboli behind what we found out was Fort Belvedere. Apparently two people and a few dogs fell to their death because some area wasn’t properly lit or restricted. Apparently the place is haunted as well, so it’s safe to say we didn’t go in. We enjoyed some furry creatures there though and named them George and Toby. Then we kept walking on the tiniest road with probably about a foot on walking room on each side. We got honked at and almost died a few times. It was quite an adventure; we walked by some many cool houses, gardens, and saw such amazing views. We walked forever and ever not knowing where we would end up. Finally we reached an intersection. We weren’t even on the map anymore. We kept walking through beautiful parks with magical fountains and over towering tress. Finally we were back in what appeared to be our way back in to the main center. I was disappointed to walk back in to city life, but happy once we finally got home because after four hours of non stop walking, my feet were dead.

Now on to the stories of the French Riviera

Ode to France

As we drive along the hillside, to one side I see the beautiful crystal blue Mediterranean and to the other the fog is rolling down the mountain side with little towns perched on hill tops all beautifully aged and built with such pristine perfection. It’s hard to think you’re not looking at a movie set. To make things even better I am sitting quite comfortable on a bus with my best friends and listening to my favorite music that Christina gave to me. This is what makes me happy; nothing could be better. We visited Nice, St. Paul de Vence, Cannes, and Eze. I think France is where I am meant to be. Just walking around these places was enough. Aside from buying a hand made perfume and home made money, I bought nothing. I picked up some rocks on the beach, but nothing else seemed important enough to buy. Just being there in the presence of such beauty made all the difference. Seeing a different style of architecture I hadn’t seen before or the lights and festivities of a carnivale made my eyes light up. These aren’t things you can see in America, which made me appreciate them that much more. France as my backdrop for the weekend was purely enchanting. For some reason the places I have seen remind me of New Orleans, not that I have ever been there, but they just do.

Saturday.

Went to bed at 1:30 and woke up at 5:30, perfect. Got on a huge bus that scared the shit out of me. I couldn’t sleep for the longest time, all I could do was look out the window and make sure we weren’t going time. With time I ended up trusting the driver with my life and fell asleep. The drive was about five hours to Monte Carlo, Monaco (the second tiniest country in the world, first is The Vatican). We had a tour of the old town. The main attractions were gorgeous views of the water and beautifully built buildings. The country has a LOT of money. We learned a lot of history, but the one thing I remember was that Grace Kelly was a former princess. The only reason I knew her was from the SNL skit “Excuse me can I have yo’ numba?” The black man (or shall I say woman) references Grace Kelly and it is quite hilarious. If you haven’t sent he skit I suggest you watch it right meow. We had a little lunch there and then it was off to Nice!

We checked in to our hotel and I was super excited about the bed. There were no springs poking me when I sat down, which is a good sign. We wandered around the city and found cute candy stores, tried on hats, walked on the beach, drank hot chocolate, and met a sexy guy that serenaded us. Nice was also setting up for Carnivale so there was a fair with a ferris wheel, games, and everything. The city had so much life in it. There were vibrantly colored buildings, people everywhere of all ages looking so happy, and just an over all character of the place that made me so happy. ,

We then got ready for a typical French dinner, which consisted of pasta with eggplant, pork & French fries, and a tiramisu type dessert. All delicious! Then we wandered around forever trying to buy alcohol from a liquor store and found NONE. Like is that some kind of joke? So we met with a whole group of Chapman kids, we took over and walked around aimlessly looking for somewhere to go for the night. We finally got cozy in an upstairs part of a bar with couches and pillows. I had a blonde beer, so good. I love that I am finally enjoying alcohol here. Then we found a small club called La Trappa. Best experience ever. I didn’t have anything to drink and just watched everyone. The French are fantastic. They are totally in their own world and did not care that we were even there at all. They freaked out and danced to every song. The DJ was awesome by the way. He played all different types of songs from 80’s to reggae to Spanish. It was so fun just being in that environment. Then this old French guy hit on Kelsey. He kept taking her hand and pulling her towards him. I was quite concerned and kept watching but Lindsay came up to me because this guy was creeping on her. I decided it was time for me to get out of there so we all kind of left in quite the hurry.

Sunday.

Then another few hours of sleep because we left at 8:30 and went to St Paul de Vence, a charming hill top town. No one was up and nothing was open because we were there so freaking early. It was nice though, peaceful. We took a bunch of pictures and basically saw the whole town. It was so serene.

Passed out during the drive to Cannes. We drove around it and it almost looked like a trashier version of Nice. There was a really cool outside antique fair, which I loved and a huge open market! We got crepes, which were amazing and Kelsey helped this old woman pull her bike up the street. Then we watched her pedal down the street. It was quite the scene. We all couldn’t stop laughing. It was a fun town to see nonetheless. Another place where only the rich can live.

Last but not least we went to Eze, which was another hill top baby town. We had a tour of Fragonard, which is a famous perfume factory. It was really cool to see how they make perfume with all natural ingredients. You can only buy it there so naturally I had to buy a tiny bottle. I got the sweetest one called juste un baiser, just a kiss. We were leaving in ten minutes and still hadn’t trekked up to the town. We sprinted up took one picture and sprinted back down. Pointless. Then we had a long five-hour bus ride back and finally back to Florence! It felt really good to be back, we even called it home J I feel like there is a lot I am leaving out, but I am tired and have homework so that is all you get.