Nott What You'd Expected...

Nice is Nice.

Cannes is Nice. But Nice is Nicer. Nicer than Monaco even. Really Nice.

I had a bit of a lazy spell in my journaling, so most of what i reocrded was in restrospect.... very very retro- most of which coming while recovering from a long day of travel from Nice to Firenze (Florence)-

The Girls left for Sienna after our night of re-bonding as flatmates, and I fell in love with AlJazeera International- a news organization so organized and indepth, it makes CNN look like a middle school Industrial Tech class. I'm beginning to think about possible non-teaching internships in between summers or before actually heading into the profession, and ALJ TV would be an amazing opportunity.... so we'll see.... Apart from ALJ, there were stations for Jordan, Syria, Romania.... the cable in Nice is strange- not completely absorbing or taking away from our travel experiences by making us lazy, but thought provoking...

We hit up the famous market, oogled at the spices - including giant bowls of white peppercorn (Mary Cronin, that was for you) and saffron- the seafood was fresh, the pineapple was pluckable, and the oranges apples and pears (oh my) were all amazing- huge, juicy, and fresh from Espana.

After the market, we made our way back for a nap, before Paella on the beach and rock throwing contests that lasted late into the night.

The next morning, we headed to Monaco- land of casinos, Prince Alberts, and the Monte Carlo Grand Prix....

The bus ride was long, and Brandon's loud snoring thorugh muffled snotty breaths made the ride seem longer. We passed through mountain vistas, beautiful small French resort towns, and saw palm tree after shady palm tree as we passed through bumpy terrain.

Monaco on first glance is overrated. On second glance, it's pretentious, and by the third glance, you're wondering how much a yacht costs and why people come here if everyone is more wealthy than them... Who's showing off for who? (or is that whom....)

We wandered the tiny principality, saw the guards at the palace, ate some gelato, got thrown out of the casino, and got back on the bus.... Traffic slowed us a bit (2 times longer than to get there), and we returned to find Nice a rainy, chilly mess.

The next morning we hiked to the top of a lookout, where I swore I saw Matt VanHuevelen (HS buddy), along with glorious views of the Nician beaches....

We laid out all day, burning ourselves to a healthy Eurocrisp, and finished the night with burgers marinated in red wine and cigars. So classy sometimes.

My last night in Nice was spent frantically washing and hang drying clothes with the aid of a hair dryer, and packing up for Florence in the morning.

Our long journey took us to Genova (bird shit capital of the world, home to Cristobal Colombus), and Pisa (probably prettier near the leaning tower, which remained unseen)- and dropped us off in the bustling train station of Fierenze.

We managed to find our way to the B&B (Hil and Aaron and I, although Emily, Mary and Brandon are also in the city), only to be locked out- hostelworld.com was a little shady in their lack of reserving our place, but the owner was more than happy to oblidge and give us a room.

Florence so far has been a touristy clusterfuck of people- more Americans than we've seen in once place in all of our travels, along with pilgrims, old people, and tour gorups alike...

Easter in the uberCatholic city will be an experience, and pictures will surly follow....

Ciao.

posted by Kevin @ 10:56 AM