Antibes (Juan Les Pins), Cannes, and Nice at Night

For our last day in Cote D'Azur, we went to more sandy beaches. Our hotel receptionist, Sofie, told us to check out a beach called Juan Les Pins instead of Antibes.


After another beautiful day, we continued on the train to Cannes which is actually pronounced like it looks (Cane-s) not (KAHN). Cannes was very cool. It was very city-like like Nice. We saw the studios and theatres for the Cannes Film Festival, the hand prints of some famous people outside of the theatres and even walked the red carpet (well it was more like magenta).

We walked throughout the town and saw the Eglise Notre-Dame de l'Esperence (church) & enjoyed the beautiful views from the castle in Cannes.

Then we checked up and down Rue de Meyernaider where Ryan recommended an Italian restaurant. I am not really sure if this is the restaurant you were talking about Ry, but check out the picture. It was the strangest experience we have yet to have at a restaurant. First, our waitress spoke zero English to the point she didn't even know which language we were speaking. But that's really no big deal. They brought out my salad about 15 minutes before the brought Giorgio's and then brought Giorgio a tomato & mozzarella salad instead of a Greek salad. After the wait time, the salad had hair in it, GROSS!! Meanwhile, there is one, maybe 2 chefs, but one walked out of the restaurant at the time we were sitting. There were 3 or 4 different waitresses that would come in put there stuff down and change. Unfortunately, we were seated inside and could see what was happening in the kitchen. And from Giorgio's word (since I had the outside view) "You just aren't supposed to see the kitchen." The food was actually really delicious.


We decided to head back to Nice so we could relax before hitting the town one last time. We wandered about the streets towards Old Town and saw lots of street performers including break dancers, musicians, the real life statues (which freaked me out). After seeing miles and miles of food along these streets, we decided to eat again for no good reason at all. We tried milk shakes from Pinnochio's, where we got our gelati the night before, and it was no good. Milk shakes in France essentially taste like flavored milk. It was 11:15pm so we found a restaurant that surprisingly served.... PIZZA!! Giorgio tipped a small group of musicians to play Hotel California and instead they serenaded us with something that wasn't hotel california.

This morning we will head on a long, out of the way journey (2 very unnecessary stops making this trip 7hrs by plane).... to Barcelona!! If I ever make it back to Nice.. I definitely would liked to have gone to eat at Boccoccini, La Favda, (the food at those two places looked incredible yesterday) Chez Theresa (they apparently have pancakes & pizza (of course) made out of chickpea flour, and Olivera (apparently the best olive oil in the Mediterranean)-- does anyone know how one would go about transporting olive oil over seas??

Random Observations of the Day:

• There are a lot of Aussies here (do any of them work!?!?)
• Everybody carries around a loaf of bread... its there substitute for bread
• Nobody picks up there dog crap off the streets
• Do not order milk shakes or smoothies in France
• Overall, French people are very friendly contrary to stereotype

AU Revoir France.....

Xo Kel

Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous in St. Tropez

I'm giving myself 10 minutes to post this blog so I can go to the market to get grapes.

Yesterday's excursion included a long bus ride and a boat tour to St. Tropez. At the meeting place for the tour we met an Aussie named Edan (pronounced e-dahn) (Noting this because it was a really sweet name.) Anyway, it appeared that at least 40% of the people on this cruise/tour was from Australia and we were the only Americans...weird. Anyway, after about an hour bus ride southwest, we stopped in Port Girmaud and experienced our first sand beaches since being in France. They were great until this huge rain cloud came and stole our sun. No rain really though. They also had this sweet village which was possibly the highlight of my day where I spent my last remaining money on 14Euros worth of candy. So worth it.


We hopped back on the bus for an additional 10 minutes to the port to board our cruise ship. One man was left behind in port grimaud because he didn't find the bus in time. We then cruised through Millionaire's Bay where apparently Bryan Adams has a home. Who knew?!

And finally to St. Tropez.

We didn't spot any stars, just a lot of people playing Bocce Ball in the park/ city centre. After taking a usual 30 minutes to decide which restaurant to eat at, we finally choose Le Sportie (on the main street). On our way back we saw a huge bonfire on the beach. I only have a crappy picture of it, but a sweet video where you can actually see it. Really really sweet and wish i was a part of that...


Relaxed a bit at night and had some gelati... Yum!!

Other observations:

• They have pizza and ice cream every 10 feet
• We have never seen MORE and more massive Yachts in our life
  
• The biggest car on the street is an Audi semi suv if you could call it that
• and you can drive anything on the streets here (ie 4 wheelers, golf carts, go carts, mopeds)
  
• "Shit Happens" is a universal phrase

PS... no grapes today =(
Xo Kel

The Wizard of Eze

Yesterday was HOT! so hot! Too hot waiting for our bus to take us up to the village of Eze. However it was well worth the extra 20 minute wait. The beach had beautiful views as every other beach in Cote D'Azur.

We were intimidated by the amount of steps and up hill climbing we would have to do, but when we saw the 85 year old man ahead of us hiking up with no problem we decided we should quit complaining. Turns out it wasn't that bad at all. We hiked up hill more in Monaco then we did here. So we hiked up the Chateau and then paid the well worth it $5 to get to the very top of Eze & it was breath-taking.


We even managed to find my favorite place of the village/ chateau... The tanning deck. It wasn't even just my favorite place because you could tan there, its just unbelievable.


The bus in Eze runs up and down about once an hour, and it takes about 10 minutes to get from the train station up to Eze Village. It seems that there is only one bus 83 and it just does a 30 minute route there and back. We were planning on taking the last bus out of Eze at 550pm, and we didn't want to miss it so we got there early. We waited from 450 to 550. No bus. 550 to 650 still no bus. As we were waiting, we made friends with two people from South Africa and a girl from Bulgaria and unanimously decided that the bus was not coming. The interesting observation of interacting with these other tourists is that they all speak English very fluently. It truly is a universal language. Anyway, we know that cabs are notoriously expensive in Europe, with good reason. All of there taxis are Mercedes-Benz. So a Mercedes-Benz minivan (didn't even know those existed) picked us up and drove us 10 minutes down the mountain for a whopping 45Euro! Oh well, it was worth it to finally make it out of Eze.



We had dinner at V.I.P on Rue de Maccarani (or something french like that) and the waiter spoke the best English that I have heard while being hear. That was convenient so that I could be difficult and order off the menu (grilled vegetables) which ended up being the perfect meal.

Other interesting observations thus far in France:

• People don't drive on the left side of the road
• Everybody in the world eats McDonalds and Subway apparently
  
• The men and women's bathrooms are not always separate
  
• Everybody smokes (even the women police officers)
  

Does it get any better?

I don't feel like I've had any trouble adjusting to the time change, but that's because as Giorgio pointed out, I don't sleep anyway. Giorgio was up at like 6am. It was one for the record books! So we started our day early and conquered a lot in France yesterday. There was a lot less English speaking people, but we managed. The first stop: The train station. A man in the information booth started screaming at this other American and was pointing to his muscle threatening to him in broken English and crazy French (I didn't know you French could sound so angry). We decided to ask the women next to him for advice.Some man helped us figure out the all french train tickets and of we were off to Cap D'ail. Though we still can't agree and be sure on the pronunciation of this place, we can agree on its beauty. It is a very secluded (not private) beach that is just maybe the prettiest place on earth.
It took a lot of hiking upwards, and the climbing back down to get there, but it was worth it. (We did feel like we were on the RW/RW Challenge at one point.) This area in the Mediterranean was much cooler in the sea. Yes, I actually went into the water, but was too scared to venture out past my chin. =)

(Our nature walk)

After hours of sunbathing, swimming, and strawberry daquiris (yum) we continued forward on the train to Monaco. It was actually really dead on the streets, assuming because it was a Sunday, aside from the crazy England maniac futbol fans in the miscellaneous bars. We saw my future home-- the palace-- Made for Princessa Kelly (aka some Grace woman). There were tons and tons and tons of boats. More like Yacht city. It is unbelievable and disgusting how many of these gigantics yachts exist in this port. It also happened to be the Rendezvous of Monaco-- celebrating Yacht life for super yacht owners. We walked around til we couldn't anymore and headed back to the train station.

(look at all those yachts)!!

(my castle)
Lessons learned about the train/France: 1)You need to have change. It is important... 2 euros and 1 euro coins are necessary for train tickets. 2) European credit cards have a chip in them, so you can't use the American ones everywhere (like the train), but most other places take them. 3) You don't really need a train ticket.. its on the honor system & no one ever checks. (However, Giorgio read that if you don't buy your train ticket you will end up in jail, no questions asked. That is not on my list of things to do in France.)

We thought the whole town would be dead, due to it being Sunday, when we arrived back to Nice. We lounged for a little bit and then went on a hunt for ice cream. Thank god we did because the town was hoping. Today they held the Iron man in Nice, which apparently is a huge deal. The last few people were still finishing when we walked out by the beach at about 9 or 10pm. After the last man finished, they set off amazing fireworks (put Wheeling fireworks to shame =) ) and I appreciated them considering I doubt Barcelona will be setting off fireworks on the 4th of July. Such a perfect ending to a perfect day.

Found a way to upload my pictures!! Genius =)
Stay tuned for more adventures!!

Love you ALL!! MUAH
Xo Kel

(P.S. for those of you who are new to reading a blog, there is a comment button the bottom you can use, or you can email me at any time since I have free access to the internet from my computer in my room.)

The beginning & the end

Well, it didn't take long for something to go wrong.... I managed to get Giorgio's memory card stuck in my computer. So this might be the last of the pictures posted on the trip. I am going to attempt to unscrew the back of my computer to remove it, but if that doesn't work then I am probably out a computer also.

After a short delusional nap we strolled down to Old Town in Nice and there is just so much to see:







After lots of strolling around, we finally decided on a restaurant in Old Town which I don't remember the name of already... something Poss and maybe "Mediterranean" in there somewhere... Maybe we'll figure it out by the end of the trip. Anyway, (DAD) you will be happy to know I actually ordered SEAFOOD!! I loved the grilled salmon and this other wish that may be called something like dalah ?? Idk, the waiter didn't speak English. There were two things that made me want to vomit, and I attempted the super intimidating shrimp, but the texture was just way too much for me. Giorgio really ventured out and ate Pizza Marghareta. He's real daring =) Both were delicious though we argued over the "included" tip for a good 10 minutes after the meal haha.


Xo Kel

We MADE it

We made it to our hotel in Nice with no trouble at all (minus the nail polish explosion in my bag). Everyone conveniently speaks English besides the bus station people. It is unbelievable here. So now on a couple hours of sleep we are hitting the beach.



Note Giorgio's Pink bag (hehe)






Xo Kel

Bon Voyage

And the day we thought would never come is finally here. Thus begins my month journey through Europe for a highly anticipated super cool experience. As long as the initial flight goes accordingly, I will be arriving in Nice, France at 10:10am (European time--which is 7 hours ahead of Chicago). For those of you who enjoy living vicariously through me, and for others of you who are stuck behind your desk and need a distraction at work, and for the stalkers in which facebook does not quite satisfy your 'gossipgirl' cravings, I will attempt to at least post pictures up at the end of the day or every couple of days so you can come along for the ride. I will post full albums of the trip via facebook, but I will blog the the quick, up-to-date highlights of the day here.

In case you haven't heard where I'll be for the seventeenth billion time here's my tentative itinerary. (It is questionable, though, if I will make it past Barcelona):
Nice (Monaco, Antibes, Cannes)-- Barcelona--Naples to the Almafi Coast (Sorrento, Positano,
Capri) --Rome -- Florence (Venice, Lake Como)-- Valencia & Madrid.

I'd like to say I miss you already, but I'm too excited right now for that!! Give me a couple days.

Xo Kel