A Photographic Diary of My Trip: French Riviera

After Paris, my friends and I took a wonderful break in the coastal town Nice - it felt so good to be back near a beach (I'm from sunny San Diego - salty water runs in my veins).

Using my camera's nifty Photostitch feature to make this panoramic view of the beach - click for a closer look

The beaches here are rocky, which surprised me.
And topless is an option.
And there were a lot of older couples when I went...
maybe this is where wealthy French people vacation?

The water was lovely, although when you get out you have to step onto rocks and pebbles with your bare feet - ouch. And there seems to be glass everywhere (since it seems you can drink on the beach) but I didn't get hurt.

The market - where they sell flowers, produce, and local crafts

The town square has this beautiful fountain

and this oddly mesmerizing tile pattern.

I wish I had taken a picture of this amazing ice cream shop located in one of the main squares - not only did it have ice cream, it also had miniature frozen desserts, shaved ice, and popsicles!!! These seem to be rarities in Nice. I totally had a craving for a popsicle and this store saved the day.

We also hiked up to Cimiez, a wealthy neighborhood on the hillside of Nice, and visited the Matisse museum and saw some Roman ruins. On the map it looks like a small distance, but the elevation combined with the hot weather wiped me out.


Funny story at the Matisse museum, I took off my hat (a boater hat I had bought at a stall by the beach) and walked around, but my hat was too big for my bag so I had to hold it. And I put my sunglasses in them. And then the security guard, this funny old man, would pretend to tip money into my hat. Every time I met him. I must have bumped into him like three times. And finally, I decided to thank him in french "merci" and he found that wildly amusing. I thought that was a cute story.

Anyway, we also saw this beautiful Russian Orthodox church but didn't go in because the entrance admission was a bit steep.


Here is a picture of the beach just before we left.

But before we left, we took a night train to Monaco.


And had dinner by the waterside at this lovely seafood restaurant, where I tried some snails (and it actually wasn't that bad, although it's not worth the effort it took to get those teeny snails out of those shells). Had a bit too much wine...

and then went inside the famous Monte Carlo! It was pretty intimidating, seeing these people play thousand dollar stakes on roulette. If we had paid a bit more, we could have seen the high rollers. I couldn't take any pictures inside, so you'll have to trust my description that the interior exudes luxury and sophistication but was surprisingly smaller than I imagined.

Since I'm a poor college student, I just played a little slots.