Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous

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Having planned a weekend in Paris to see the Chili Peppers and an impromptu weekend in Rome to meet up with my friend Claudia (upcoming blog), I was only left with one weekend in Nice. So, what did I do? I left Nice, of course! Well, in a different way though. I went on three day trips—Cannes, St. Paul de Vence, and Monaco (Friday, Saturday, Sunday respectively).

First stop: Cannes. Four of us from school decided to go to Cannes for the day, enjoy the city and the beach, and then go out for dinner. Well, of course, every other day that week (coincidentally enough, all of the days I had classes in the afternoon) had absolutely gorgeous weather, but the afternoon I have off and the afternoon I decide to go to Cannes... cloudy and even a bit rainy. So typical! Anyway, despite the wind and the clouds, we enjoyed Cannes. My personal opinion is that it’s a smaller, but more expensive, version of Nice. The beaches are nice because they’re sand (Nice has rocky beaches), but otherwise, it was pretty similar. I guess Nice doesn’t have as many fancy shmancy designer stores catering to the rich and famous for two weeks a year, but, apart from that, I couldn’t see too many differences. I can see how the city would become much more alluring and sexy at the end of May for the Cannes film festival though. After walking around the city for a bit, we decided to find a restaurant to go for dinner. Well, that was quite an adventure. At first, we couldn’t find any (tres bizarre!) and, then, when we finally found some, they were quite pricey. We thought we had found one that seemed reasonable (according to the specials on the front), but after being seated, we opened the menus and our jaws dropped (backgounder for why we had a hard time swalling the prices: there were two Canadians, a girl from the Czech Republic, and a Kiwi...we’re not used to the expensive French Riviera). So, in good style, we bolted the minute the waiter turned his back. We finally found a reasonable place after asking a local for a cheap restaurant (in French, I might add!).

After a quick drink by the train station where we were oh-so-lucky to have a chat with a couple of very, very drunk French homeless people who, sadly, spoke better English than I speak French, we caught the last train back to Nice. My night ended on a very funny note when Helena, the Czech girl, woke up from a little train snooze, turned to me, and said “James, dflk dfjd ewrkj bodk”. I, of course, stared at her blankly. She repeated the same garbled sentence and looked back at me as if I was the stupidest person on the face of the Earth, and then burst out laughing, “HAHA, I just spoke to you in Czech instead of English. I said, “James set the alarm on his mobile.” I was wondering why you weren’t understanding me as it was a very simple sentence!” I guess it goes to show you that as much as you concentrate on a new language, sleep will betray you and creep back to the language you are most comfortable with.

Second stop: St. Paul de Vence. On Saturday, I woke up early and went to St. Paul de Vence via a one-hour bus ride. You wouldn’t think the landscape would change much in a one-hour bus ride, but it definitely did. Leaving the city and sea behind, St. Paul de Vence is up on a hill that overlooks the Alps and the sea. It’s miles and miles of lush greenery spotted with cute French countryside homes. St. Paul de Vence itself is a fortified village perched on the top of the hill and is a little city of narrow, winding streets filled with funky art galleries and boutiques. Again, the rain decided come down on my parade, but I was too awestruck to care about my shirt and hair getting soaked. Although I love big cities, as they offer innumerable things to do, I really do love visiting tiny villages like St. Paul de Vence. Although St. Paul was definitely touristy, I still find that touring these small little towns and villages offers one a better opportunity to really see how locals live.

Third stop: Monaco. Speaking of how locals live, going to Monaco was quite an experience. The locals live a life that I will never know. For one, I don’t think you’re allowed to drive a vehicle there if it’s not a Mercedes, BMW, Porche, Ferrari, etc. Second, I don’t think you’re allowed to live there unless you have a yacht the size of a two or three large homes. And, third, you’re not allowed to live there unless you’re dressed and tanned like George Hamilton. However cheesy some aspects of Monaco were, it was still amazing. I went to the Oceanography Museum (which should just be called an aquarium) and felt like I was 10 again and visiting to the aquariums at Disney World! I also went to the palace and had a chat with Prince Albert about his newly discovered illegitimate daughter 😉 I then went to the famous casino, but was kindly turned away when they discovered that I wasn’t so inclined to pay the $15 entrance fee. Rather, I walked across the square to the free casino and decided to play the slots just so I could say I gambled in Monaco. Well, who knew that four hits later, I would win $50 off a 25 cent bet?! Very nice. I promptly cashed out and went on my merry way. Too bad that my new riches probably couldn't even buy me a buoy for one of the yachts!

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Comments

[Jac]

I think
that I need an all expense paid holiday in monaco......je suis jalouse!! Au contraire je suis ici avec beaucoup trop de faire avec le maison et mon cariere.....mais je deviens plus excite par ce que le fin n'est pas distant.....