Nice and Monaco

---

With many of the other students traveling Italy, Seth and I decided it was a perfect time to visit Nice, France. We hoped to have just a nice relaxing weekend on the beautiful coast of the Mediterranean Sea. With rain Friday night when we arrived, I was worried it was going to be a wet boring weekend. Luckily when we woke up Saturday morning the sun was out and shining.

We started the day by visiting the local fish market, a must see in Nice. The market was full of fresh fish, octopi, and mussels. The market was huge; it spanned for at least 5 blocks. From here we started to walk to the water. The view was beautiful. The water was a perfect blue color and the waves crashed on to the rocky beach. It was so relaxing. Even though it was too cold to swim, we spent a good amount of time just admiring the view. We then left to hike up the mountain in the city. From the top you were able to see the entire city and all along the coastline.

Later the night we got all dressed up and took a 15 min. train to Monaco. We walked around the port and admired all of the yachts. There was even a “mega-yacht.” The yacht was owned by a Saudi Arabian businessman. The yacht was value at 330 million dollars and costs around 12 million dollars a year maintain. My favorite part was the helicopter on the back of it! From the port we headed to dinner where we had steak and red wine. Lastly we made it to the Monte Carlo casino. I knew it was going to be a lucky night for me when my first hand was a blackjack! The casino was indescribable because of the beauty and luxurious environment. The parking lot was filled with Lamborghini, Ferrari, and Maserati. If there was a part of the world where money grew on trees, it was definitely in Monaco. After playing blackjack for about 2 hours I finally decided it was time to leave as I walked away winning 155 euros! It was an amazing night.

Sunday morning brought on some difficulties. We planned to take a train out of the main station in Nice, however due to mudslides, all trains were cancelled to and from Nice. We were forced to take a bus to Monaco and pray that the trains were not cancelled there as well. Fortunately they weren’t, however we learned that they were delayed for 45 minutes. We thought we were never getting home! Luckily after all of the difficulties we made it back safely in Riva only two hours later than we planned.

---