French Riviera- Warning: Just because there is a beach-doesn't make it the Bahamas.

French Word of the Post: Bonjour! (Hello in French)

At 4 on Thursday I was sitting in Italian class. Two Italian worksheets, one train, and five hours of Entourage later I was in the French Riviera. Would I call my first impression glamorous? No. Would I call my first impression stunning? Not even close. We arrived at our two star hotel at 1:30 AM and my thoughts were all scattered as we walked into a hole in the wall hotel in the middle of a side road—similar to the kind of side road you would find on the outskirts of Providence. I crawled into my bunk bed and said good night to my friends hoping that the days to follow would be more glamorous and stunning—and they were. The only piece that didn’t match up to expectations was the weather. I thought that I was heading to the French Bahamas, when really I was heading to the French Rhode Island—a very upscale Rhode Island with similar weather patterns. Just because there was a beach (a beautiful beach none-the-less ) doesn’t mean it is always going to be the most pleasant of weather.

The weekend consisted of going to bed late, waking up early, eating, shopping, relaxing, drinking coffee, learning the basics of a new language, learning that French people don’t really like American people, and enjoying the general atmosphere of the French Rivs.

On Friday, we headed down to the Nice Beach. The beach in Nice, where we were staying, was a beach made of rocks instead of sand. The water causes the rocks to turn different colors. Along the coast, you can see people getting ready to go parasailing, others laying out, and others enjoying drinks at the local restaurants.

Following our beach experience, we found a little Greek restaurant where we each got

kebabs and had french fries…real FRENCH fries.

On Saturday, we headed out to Caanes. There, we stood on the red carpet that is rolled out for the Caanes film festival, checked out the beach, and the watched the ships and sailboats out on the Mediterranean.

After Caanes, we headed back to Nice to sit down to nothing short of an awesome dinner. The deal was 16.50 Euro for a starter, an entree, and a dessert. I tested out their nicoise salad, the fried calamari, and the most amazing Apple tart ever. My friend gave the mussels, rabbit and spaghetti, and caramel cream a taste test, and our two other friends made a go at the goat cheese salad, fried eggplant, and apple tart. No one was dissatisfied.

On Sunday, we woke up early to check out a breakfast spot that we had seen in previous days. The place was called Glacier. There, you sit outside facing the street, not one another, and watch the people on the streets.

You can learn a lot about people by just sitting and watching.

We then headed down to the Promenade to find the waterfall that other people in our tour group has climbed on Saturday. On our way to the waterfall we found a very happening market with fruits, flowers, artwork, bread, pastries, fish, and jewelry. We lost each other a few times in the maze of inexpensive goods. I was in absolute awe of all the people who
were conversing, all the things that were being sold, and all the commotion in general. It
was absolutely insane. When we were finally able to get out of the market we found the waterfall which brought with it the best view of Nice in the Rivs. It was so calming and relaxing.

It was the perfect way to end our weekend vacation, because five hours of
Entourage, one train ride, and one cab ride later, we were back in Rome—our three month vacation.