So Much To Catch Up On!

It's Vacation!

So this next week and a half is vacation....random week in October why not, who wants to work anyway! Sometimes I just really love the way the French think. So this entry will be devoted to catching everyone up on the fun things I've done so far!
I swam in the Med a couple of weeks ago--ridiculous I know, it was October and felt like 80 degrees--it was gorgeous. Seriously, I completely understand why people swim naked here. The water is so blue and so gorgeous that you just want it to touch every part of your skin it can. It's a lot saltier, so you have to shower as soon as you get out or the salt dries and it's gross, but when it's amazing to swim in. You feel so much lighter, and you just float so much more easily. I've yet to take a towel to the beach either--no one wants to haul one of those around all day so we just lay on the rocks or on our t-shirts. I can't even began to describe how wonderful it all is...of course, my roommate and I sometimes still think it's funny when older women just walk around topless in thongs...a little too much for us.
Life here is so just so relaxed too. On Saturday afternoons everyone just goes to the park with family and friends. There are picnics and soccer games and birthday parties and old men playing boules. People sit on benches all the time just to relax and people watch. It's wonderful. No one ever takes the time to just sit at home, we're in too much of a hurry. Benches are for bums. I really think we should use our benches more often.

So, like I said, this next week and a half is a short vacation for all of us. I'm going to Venice on Sunday (SO EXCITED! Lots of blogging and pictures to come I promise), but of course I have all this week to hang out. On Monday, my roommate and I went to St.Paul de Vence which is a cute old medieval village. It's really adorable, and reminded me a little of Mont St. Michel in Normandy. Everything in the little village was cobblestoned with narrow alleyways and shops on both sides. It's like a little artists' village so most of the little shops are like artists' studios. Definitely worth a visit to just wander around and peak into the little shops. It's up on a hill, so the view is amazing.
Yesterday, on Tuesday, my roommate and I went to Monaco. It's less than an hour away from Nice when the traffic is moving, and the bus that we took followed the coast about the whole way so the view was great. We pass through Vieille-Franche as well on the way, so we got to see the huge houses of some of the wealthier people living in Nice. Monaco is a cute little town, or principality I guess I should say, and it's very clean. We saw the palace (yes, they have a royal family) and walked through a lot of the gardens. There was also a carnival down by the port--it was so great, and it kind of made up for the fact that I missed the State Fair at home. We wandered around and watched people riding the rides (Thank God my roommate Emily has a weak stomach too, because there is no way I could have gotten on any of them) and we ate churros and chocolate covered apples. Carnival food is so great, and add to that the fact that we did so much walking we didn't even have to feel guilty, and it was just absolutely heavenly. We wandered around the port and looked at all of the huge yachts and sail boats--seriously some of the most amazing things I have ever seen constructed out of wood. All in all it was a great day, and we rode the bus home around sunset which was perfect.
Today will just be adventuring around Nice, and tomorrow will be Cannes. My roommate and I are meeting a friend of mine from Toulon which should be fun! Then all of us are going out to a pubcrawl, which will certainly be more fun than our last attempt at a night out (I won't name names here, and I'm sure most of you reading this know the story anyway--if you don't I will tell you, it's ridiculous). OH! And for those of you who know me well and want a good laugh...I am learning how to cook annnnddd (here is the killer) how to knit! I am becoming so domestic! Knitting is actually fun, and I am not terribly horrible, so hopefully I'll have a nice big scarf to wear once it's really cold (if that ever happens here!)

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