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Published: August 15th 2006
Upon arriving in Nice and finding my "hotel" I realised i was staying the local ghetto which was pretty cool, but even there my "hotel" room shared with 3 others was 20 euro a night, with no common room or kitchen, the only thing it had going for it was the tiny balcony my room had that overlooked the street and a carpark behind a church (which btw was a miniature replica of the Notre Dame)
I found out there was a jazz festival on up at a natural ampitheatre so wandered my way up there though the narrow twisty streets, it was a decent hike and when i got there i discovered the entry fee was 40 euro, a little out of my price range. I walked around the event and found a nice spot on a street overlooking the main stage that i could listen to for free with a few others! I chilled there for a while and watched a few people unsuccessfully try to sneak into the event through the neighbouring historical ruins. I met a crazy frenchman who didnt speak english but with a lot of hand gesturing and shaking of heads he invited me back after the gig to his place to listen to some music. We jumped on his scooter and had an exciting trip to his tiny one bed room apartment. And i mean tiny, just enough room for his double bed, and when you stood up you were in the kitchen or you could walk out onto the deck. He had junk everywhere but we listened to some very cool french dub/reggae before he dropped me back to the hostel.
I needed some late night snacks and as i was walking back to the hostel i found a pair of girls desperately trying to find out from a frenchman where a certain street was, luckily i had a map on me and helped them out, but then i found out the real story, one of their friends (sleeping on the stairs) was too drunk to get home and her friends werent strong enough to carry her. Enter Superjosh to the rescue, a long walk, vomit, 1hr and one wrong 3 story flight of steps later had her back home safe and sound and me some new friends. A Swedish girl, a Swiss girl and the drunken Brazillian girl who we planned to see the modern art museum together another day. A pretty exciting first day really.
Tuesday morning the weather was perfect, i found a cheap fruit market (2 bananas, an apple, an orange and some apricots for just over 1 euro!!) and a patisserie place that set my breakfasts for the next week, you cant beat fresh french chocolate croissants! I decided to catch a train to Monte Carlo and got there just before lunch where i met Laurel a lovely American girl. We hung out in Monte Carlo, checked out the aquarium (pretty good but not as good as Kelly Tarltons) and had lunch and cheap wine in the sun on the beach before cooling off with a swim before heading back to Nice. Monte Carlo really is quite picturesque but tiny, you can walk the whole place in half a day, plenty of nice cars and big boats. That night we hung out at her hostel 15 euro a night AND it included breakfast but unsurpisingly booked solid. There was an aussie guy there that was chasing the summers and was basically a permanent resident. It was then that i realised 3 nights was not long enough to chill out and recover from the 'work' that seeing all the sights in London and Paris kinda feels like 😊
I noticed that in the car park across from my hostel there was a spot with a few trees and rails for seats that a bunch of guys regularly hung out at, so I started hanging out there too when i had a free moment. They didnt speak english either, but because they were there everyday with each other there was plenty of times where they'd have nothing to say to each other so i could blend right in. I found out that they were croations living in Nice, they didn't have jobs so had turning boredom into an art form! There was about 20 of them that would come and go throughout the day, bumming cigarettes off each other, sharing food and drinks, bikes, mp3 players everything, it was a very interesting culture. I'll come back to them in bit.
Speaking french is hard, i got the basics down but even then i still struggled, having to make new sounds isnt easy, and the older frenchies dont want to talk to you, i even had one old guy just wave me away in disgust! Anyone in the serive work can speak english though so its easy to get by, and even though the younger people say they only speak a tiny bit of english they can do pretty well if they want and if you make the effort.
Another day of perfect weather so Laurel and I went for a walk through old Nice, very narrow streets with markets for everything, then got lunch, cheap wine and headed down to the beach. The next day we went shopping in the morning (i bought some jandels and a singlet) then got lunch, cheap wine and headed down to the beach. Notice a pattern here? 😊 The next day i went to the Modern Art Museum which really was quite cool, arty types take note, then got lunch, headed to the beach and met Laurel for cheap wine. Its true, we were booze hag buddies.
So apart from the sun why did i go to the beach so often? It was rocky and uncomfortable so you needed something to sit on, but the amount of gorgeous french early 20something girls sunbathing and swimming topless made it all worth while. They say it gets old but maybe a week just isnt long enough! 😉 You can jump off the rocks at one end of the beach, and a little bit further along if you have the balls you can run along a platform, jump over the walkway and off the rail at full speed to clear the rocks and hit the water about 20m below, quite impressive. No i did not attempt it but had some sweet photos.
Thursday night was ladies night at Waynes bar, 2 euro all you can drink wine and champagne for the girls, or for any guys dressed as girls, i think you can see where this is going. After a few afternoon wines from our regular, the 'Discotheque' (a small indian dairy that blasted indian hardhouse 24/7) and some borrowed clothes later i proceeded to get written. But i paid for it the next day and sat recovering all day with my french gang making fun of me. It was this day after i taught them hackey that i became an Amigo, a friend. This now meant i could borrow their bikes whenever i felt like it and was included in any food/beverage/toy sharing.
The french fries in France are fantastic with mayo or ketchup, maybe jsut because they are made so fresh. But the best meal I had in Nice was a kebab with fries inside, next time you go to your local kebabery be sure to ask for one, get them to make it on request, i've had a few made for me in Germany since!
I met another American girl from my hostel, Becca, that night and we went for dinner and a beer with Juan from Venezuela. The next day Laurel had to sort out her next travel plans so Becca and i spent the day in Cannes, very similar to Monte Carlo but a bit bigger. Wandered around the place, met Mike another American and sat on the beach drinking Mimosas, swimming and i played some football before downing icecreams and heading back to Nice. I hung out with my gang again and played more hackey and i was now "frère", a brother, i had become a member of the gang despite our limited communication.
Sunday was pretty relaxed, sorted my travel plans and decided to stop for two nights in Milan on the way to Munich, despite the French rail people trying to send me back to Paris to get a connecting train to Munich for 140 euro, my train to Milan only cost 30 euro. Went to the beach for one last time and hung out with my brothers to say goodbye, and even though it had only been a week it was still quite sad knowing i would most likely never seen these guys again. I made a voice recording from each of them saying something, and i know it was funny but i guess i'll never find out what they said!
That night me and Bex hung out on the balcony and chatted and she also played me a song on her guitar that she made up on the fly which i also recorded. It was very special and she had never heard her own playing recorded like that which made it all the more so.
I had an early night and caught my train early the next morning to Milan. At first i was sitting with two pairs of Canadians an old guy and his even older Dad and a younger brother and sister, and all they did was talk politics, economics and bad jokes, painful. After stopping partway I was sitting with a Lebonese born/American/Italian guy (nice combo!) and his sister and italian friend and they introduced me to italian foccochia, yum! There was also an italian mother and her daughter in the carriage and when i busted out my Nintendo she went and got her younger daughter from another carriage who also had one! We played a wireless game of Mariokart and she kicked my ass in the first round, luckily i came back to win 2 and 3 before her battery ran out. Ha! Eat that 9 yr old Annina i win! (Though she was further through the New Super Mario Brothers than me :/) Yes, my secret quest to find someone else to play wireless multiplayer Nintendo with was complete and i was in Milan.
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jklp
non-member comment
Hey dude, Very impressed with your travels. I'm not sure how well I'd do all by myself with (basically) unlimited hours of unplanned activity. Real gutted about your gear getting lifted but your writing more than makes up for it. Would have been awesome to listen to some of the audio but would it have sounded as impressive if you had it posted than if you just told us about it? All the best bro :) Jurr