Thursday, October 22, 2009

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.

3 comments:

amy kelinda said...

GORGEOUS! The water is so blue! Was it kind of painful to walk on those rocks, though?

Christina said...

Once you take your shoes off, oh god it hurts. And I prayed to the high heavens I wouldn't step on any glass (and I didn't, thankfully)

Ariz said...

heya! xD you blog too!?

I took a picture of you guys eating ice cream.


http://taikyrie.fotki.com/ariz-/2009/euromode/im-nice-trick/img6340.html


and here's my crumpled paper.
http://ariez.a2gz.org/x/