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Published: December 14th 2005
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Arghhhhhhhhh
My bed is six stories up and only 30cm wide!! Nice, not so surprisingly, is rather nice. Spectacular even.. And there's sun!!
The first day we got here, after a mammoth train ride, that didn't take us to Italy as we'd originally planned, we had to make our way to the hostel. Unfortunately, this included us walking several kilometres up a very large hill! Not. Happy. Jan. Especially when we got to the hostel and were informed that they have a courtesy bus that could have picked us up. Grrrrr! Not only did we walk up the hill with our twenty plus kilo (ALAS, they have grown!) packs, we also walked a kilometre in the wrong direction. Uphill of course, and in the boiling heat - well, hot compared to elswhere we've been.
Happily, we were given breakfast upon arrival, thus marking the start of a fantastic phase of the European Adventure. John Cleese (the hostel manager, don't know his real name but just think Fawlty Towers and Don't mention the War!) is overly eager to help you out. Telling you ways to scam the bus system by 10 euro cents and giving you so much information you think your head will explode. Lookalikes are everywhere in Nice though.
The drop
It'd freaking hurt. The other guy that works here is a clone of Nick Benjamin. I swear it is freaky. He is Australian too. The first day we followed John Cleese's advice somewhat and headed down to the port. Look at the pictures. Enough said. After following the path around the cliffs, and witnessing random upchucking, we stumbled upon the beaches. Spectacular. Crystal clear water, bright sunlight, beautiful blue sky and old women suntanning topless?! People here seem to think that Orange is the height of fashion in skin colour. New slogan - Orange is the New Black. Think Donatella Versace in all those hideous 'worst bikini bodies' tabloid pics or Magda, from There's Something About Mary. Well apart from the half naked grannies you cant really put much else wrong with Nice.
After hitting Nice central for a few hours, we wandered - more like climbed really - back to the hostel. Deciding that we should really socialise more we came down to the common room - which is very cool - an old chapel modernised complete with stained glass windows. The NZ girl staying in our room is cool, so we came and had some wine (well a few bottles.
They're 4 euros each how could we not?) and chatted. It was good to meet another English speaking person as I think Lauren and I are probably sick of each others voices by now. It was also good to get our teeth into some new blood - I think we asked a thousand questions. While hanging out down in the common room, we also formed an attachment with a weird old lady who does nothing with her life but travel and wear lopsided oversized tinted sunglasses. Bizzare. She was nice though - telling us about the 4 euro wine (For a litre and a half!) She also told us how to scam free lunches and stuff but all in all she was just a little too creepy for our liking. And those lopsided specs drove me nuts. At least when she left (with her bottle of wine in tow - which i suspect she had already had a few of) she provided me, lauren and Christina (NZ) with a bucket load of laughs. We're not ageist but hey its called a youth hostel nanna! Not eventide. Oh crap Im going to hell for being so mean but she was so
More boats
Adding to our dreaming damn funny. In a weird way.
We called it a night pretty late, and with a new friend made, we're off to Monaco tomorrow.
Till then, and with lots of anticipation I'm sure, we leave you with our
FIVE THINGS! * When asked if you wish to book a sleeping carriage on the train, say no. Spending the night with 5 other people suspended 6 feet from the floor in what resembles a bomb shelter is not a pleasant thing to do. If I wanted a 1m x 1m cell I would fricken steal something and go to jail.
* Never. I repeat NEVER, carry your backpack up a giant freaking hill. Especially for longer than you have to.
* If crazy nanna with lopsided glasses approaches you at a hostel, plead ignorance and pretend you are from zimbabwe. (What its belivabe! We could of converted?)
* While John Cleese is hilarious on TV, in real life he's a little OTT. Beware. And never, never mention the war. Or touch the back of the computer. We got roused on and now a sign is getting made to keep other delinquents away. Sorry, John.
* The bus
The view
Yep Jacki sure can take great pictures. into town is 1 euro freaking thrity, okay? Thanks John, for the hundredth time.
Until Monaco and next time,
Love and hugs,
Jacki and Lauren x o x o x o x o x o (<- share them around)
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Stevezkewl
Steve
merci
Thanks for letting us live vicariously through you. Have fun!