Friday, October 16th - Monday, October 19th
Being in Nice for about 5 days was absolutely heavenly. It was truly the epitome of relaxation that we all needed and had been strategically planning for as a revitalizing getaway before returning to England for the rest of our semester. I’ve never known the sun to work such wonders; I don’t know how the British cope without it! Basically everyday was spent at the beach and we felt no obligation to do anything else.
On Friday (October 16th) we first slept in (yes!), and then discovered this brilliant café across the street from Hotel Wilson where we had croissants and espresso for breakfast before hitting the beach. Around lunch we went to the grocery store (Monoprix!) to pick up some lunch food for the week, and then went back to the beach. Soon we got a call from Katy who was planning to join us in Nice (coming from being with her family in Paris for the first half of free travel) and she said she had arrived at the train station, so we packed up our stuff and walked through town to pick her up. And after we got her settled, we…guess what? Went to the beach.
Saturday we went to the beach. Sunday we went to the beach. And Monday we went to the beach. No joke. Ok, there was some variety in there such as eating breakfast at different places: one time we went to a place called Emily’s Cookies (specifically for Emily) and literally had cookies for breakfast (and espresso), haha; and another day we went out for crepes. On Sunday – before we went to the beach – we explored what I believe was the old town of Nice where there are lots of sweet shops to wander through. Another afternoon, Nelly and I explored one of the lookouts near the coast where you can see the expansive ocean, the city of Nice, and the Alps in the distance; also, when we walked to the other side we could see the port full of ships docked below. Needless to day, we took many, many pictures. Also, one evening we went out for some very yummy pizza and escargot! We thought it would be fun to try a French “delicacy” that also fit Nelly’s goal of eating seafood everyday while she was near the ocean. We also had our share of gelato as well. On our final night in Nice we dressed up and went out to a nice restaurant along the promenade and took our time eating a leisurely meal; it was a wonderful capstone moment to our free travel adventures.
Other Nice details that I want to include:
1) You need to know the awesomeness of Hotel Wilson. We stayed in one of the best finds in all of Nice in my opinion. It totally fit a college student’s budget, was very quaint, clean, and owned by the hospitable French man I’ve met. The hotel consisted only of a small floor/hallway of rooms, at the center of which was located the dining room and the all-purpose office-kitchen-laundry room belonging to the hotel owner. It felt like we were being invited into the home of this who, who gave off a very chill surfer-guy type vibe that went along with the incense we frequently found wafting from the entryway. At one point Katy even saw their pet turtle walking across the hallway from room to room. (So funny!) We also felt really safe here based on the fact that they had a fingerprint security system! When we checked in, we had to scan our fingers into the system and then whenever we needed to get back into the hotel, we just had to press our finger to the tiny screen outside the door. It was super sweet!
2) Though we immensely enjoyed being on the beach in Nice, we were secretly (or not so secretly) glad to leave the creepy French men (and possibly Italian men) behind and return to living around the non-assertive, non-threatening, British guys. I never thought I’d find apathy so comforting.
No comments:
Post a Comment