Advertisement
Published: October 3rd 2008
Edit Blog Post
So threeweekends ago we went to Cassis, a rocky beach with giant calanques (rock peninsulas that stick out of the land, creating large inlets all over). I took a boat tour of three calanques and it was really cool and totally different from anything in America. There were people resting and relaxing on the flat tops of the rocks all over. The blue water of the mediteranean (sp?) was AMAZING to see! definitely something I've always wanted to experience! It was too cold to swim, though!
We spent the rest of the day touring around the city, seeing little shops, had lunch, got gelatto,etc. On the boatride I met a really nice girl named Anne who, at that point, was kind of a drifter between groups of friends like me and we started talking a lot and got to know eachother. SUCH a small world...she goes to Towson University!! She is from Pennsylvania but goes to school in MD, the exact opposite of me. How funny! She likes to swing dance so I want to go visit her one time when I'm at school (and go home for a weekend) and go swing dancing with her! Really sweet girl! She
has now become one of my best friends here and is in the small group of four other girls that I'm going on my Toussant vacation with and do lots of stuff with all the time. I"m really glad I met her!!
Then two weekends ago we went to Monte Carlo (in Monaco), Cannes and Nice! We spent the day in Nice which was...nice! It was really beautiful and sunny and the beaches were kind of sandy with little pebbles all over! We spent the day wandering around the city, looking in all the little shops and the architecture around. Anne and I found a really old church that was open to the public at the moment which had beautiful 18th archiecture (v. elaborate, lots of gold leafing,etc). Good stuff. We also found this huge fountain that was realy pretty. Then we got on the bus and went to a hostel/group center for the night.
That night we went to Monte Carlo, Monaco. We went for only about an hour at 9pm so nothing was open. All there was to do really was look at the Casino Monte Carlo, which is extremely extravagant and famous. It is where
"Casino Royale", the latest James Bond movie was filmed! It is huge and gorgeous!! The prince of Monaco built it when he was going bankrupt to try to bring more money in. It is crazy to think that someone who is going bankrupt could build something so magnificent! The cars surrounding the Casino are something to be seen as well: tons of Mercedes, Bentleys, Rolls Royces, BMW, Jaguars, etc. BMW was like the lowest of the cars there! It was incredible to see! And a really clean city! It is probably better that we went at night and couldn't really do anything because it would have been too expensive! They have all the major fashion and jewlery designers there too (Jimmy Choo, Prada, Cartier, Diane VonFurstenburg, Manolo Blanik, Balencia, etc..all tres chere!)
The next day we went to Cannes. We went by the building where the film festival is located and took a group picture on the stairs where the red carpet is for the event. There is a walk of famous people's signatures and hand prints in the ground around that building too. Then we went out for lunch, went looking around the city and just looked out
at the port that was realy beautiful. To be honest, we were really really tired from the rest of the weekend and so we didn't do so much. And it was really overcast (as you can tell from the pictures). I think Cannes is just kind of hypedup and glamorized by the presence of the film festival - there didn't seem to be much else really exciting there. But it is definitely cool to stay that I have been there!
All of these trips have been organized and run by my school. They're 'free' (I payed for an 'activity fee' in the tuition) so its really awesome! I'm going on two other trips this weekend (none to the beach though). It was really cool to see all of those places and to finally go to the French Riviera!
You're jealous, I know! :P
Advertisement
Tot: 0.118s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 8; qc: 49; dbt: 0.0853s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb