The French Riviera

Bonjour.
Merci.

THIS is the extent of my French. No more, and no less.

This past weekend I went on a trip to the French Riviera through my Study Abroad Program. It was an already planned trip that was included in the price of the program which really helps, and the euro is rapidly creeping up on my bank account (BAH!). Anyways, we took a weekend trip, by bus, to Monaco, Monte Carlo, Nice, St. Paul de Vence, Cannes, and Eze. We covered a lot of ground in only three days and were always on the go-fast paced, just how I like it.

We started out in Monaco with extremely unfortunate weather, but moved on to Monte Carlo as the rain began to slowly fade away. Nevertheless, both places are extremely beautiful and very extravagant with huge casinos and palaces lining the French Coast. We then drove to Nice where we stayed the night. We stayed in a very nice hotel and dined on a three course meal inspired by French cuisine. It was a refreshing and delicious change from Italian food. In nice we were able to take a couple picture on the beach, stroll through the world renowned flower markets, and pretend to play blackjack in the casinos. At this point in the semester none of us can afford to loose any euros. Every penny counts. We ate late night nutella crepes with gelato (healthy, isn't it?) and went to bed for our early bus ride.

On sunday we headed to Cannes (known for the Cannes Film Festival) and lucked out with great weather. We walked along the boardwalk and then went to St. Paul de Vence, one of the worlds most preserved medieval towns. It was a very quaint and beautiful town located on the top of a hill that looked over all of Provence, France. Our final stop was in Eze known for its Perfume production. We went to the Fragonard Perfumerie and learned about how perfume was made. It was a really interesting tour and we got to smell a variety of different perfume samples. A great end to a wonderful trip.

Things are really starting to get busy with midterms approaching and spring break on the way. Final bookings for hostels and planned day trips consume most of my spare time. More updates to come!