French Riviera
Barcelona > French Riviera
Day 10
Today was pretty uneventful.
It was another long day on the coach riding from Barcelona to the French
Riviera. With the whole credit card
situation still fresh on my mind, it seemed to skew the portion of the trip
where I was stressing…a lot more than I would have liked. We stopped in Arles, where, Zac explained,
was the place that Van Gogh was for about a year, right before he was taken to
the mental institution. I was always
appreciative of the artwork Van Gogh created, in the same way I am to any
artist that puts their heart into their craft, and liked that he was a little
nutty as well. It was in the National
Gallery, just about 2 weeks before arriving here, that realized how much I
really loved his work and colors and technique.
It is crazy how art can do that.
One day, it is just the starry night, and the next one of the most
incredible pieces you have ever seen.
Not that I saw it, but I still loved being able to walk around the place
that Van Gogh had set out to make his utopia, away from the chaos of Paris,
especially since I had had such a recent infatuation with him. The town was very quaint and they must have
had a farmers market or fish market of some sort right before we arrived there
because it REAKED of fish and there was a gentleman that was hosing off a
particularly fishy area. There was a
charming merry-go-round and it really didn’t seem like much, although Van Gogh
painted over 300, including a few of his more famous ones, here, using the
still standing cafes and scenery as inspiration. A few of the girls and I went over to a
little road off the main street to grab some food and souvenirs. I was not in the mood to eat, after smelling
all the fish, but I did buy a precious little lavender satchel to put in my luggage
(which about now did not smell like the clean laundry detergent smell it had in
the beginning). Grabbed my usual
postcards, a few which had Van Gogh’s paintings on them and went to sit in the
sun where the rest of the group was. It
was a very pretty sunny day, but I was literally having such a prissy moment
because I could not get over how bad it smelled. Back on the coach we did our usual sleeping
and chatting. The boys had recently
gotten REALLY into playing monopoly on Bethany’s iPad, which was pathetically
really entertaining to watch. We drove
around the coastline of Côte d’Azur,
which was breathtaking. This was really
when the phrase, “Just around the corner,” got its sarcastic meaning in the
group. Zac CONSTANTLY said it about the
location of landmarks and had said it about the location of the perfume factory
(we were set to visit in the morning) in respect to our lodging location… which
is, was NOT just around the corner. In
the past, he had said this about places we were walking to, so I had a bit of a
sarcastic fit, at the time thinking we were going to have to walk there in the
morning, which was easily a 20 min drive, and brought to the attention of the
entire bus that whenever Zac says, “Just around the corner,” that he is a big liar. This became a joke through the rest of the
trip. We arrived at our UPGRADED
lodging @ Hotel D' le Albatros…which was so beautiful and lovely.
It was a legit hotel and (I think because out room had been SO TINY at
the Chateau) Zac gave us a 2 story villa!
Emma, Kate and I were living the life in ours, which also featured the
coveted washer! We had a dry rack and a
balcony outside the second floor we could dry everything on. In the hotel, there was also free Wi-Fi, a
pool and wonderful service. After a
wonderful dinner, I grabbed my phone and headed to the lobby to try and deal
with the credit card drama. The front
desk attendant was French, but had gone to Sweden to learn English and told me
out front that all his French friends have no desire to learn English. He was super cute (he totally looked Swedish)
and put my soul to ease a little, talking to me about life when the Wi-Fi
started acting up and eventually shut down, even letting me use the hotel phone
to call home (which my parents, OF COURSE didn’t answer). I must have looked like I was loosing it or
maybe he was just the first kind French person I had met at that point because
he was such a breath of fresh air and although I didn’t get everything
resolved, I went right to sleep and slept well.
French Riviera
Day 11
We all got up and
quickly showered before breakfast in preparation for the day! Off to Nice to play in the Mediterranean Sea,
stopping only first at a real perfumery (the one that was just around the damn
corner, but I was happy we were driving there).
The breakfast, like everything else at this accommodation was
perfect. Normally before going to the
beach, I would have been fasting for at least 3 days, but the damn baguettes
and croissants were too good for anyone to pass up. The Fragonard Perfumery was actually very interesting. They make everything there and we got to see
the process in which they make essential oils, turn things into perfume (or eau
de toilette) and finally bottle or make soap.
They let us try 5 different perfumes and explained how real perfume is
in these aluminum cans, because it doesn’t allow the perfume to age, as opposed
to glass (if you ever have an old perfume or eau de toilette and it has turned
to a brownish color, it is because it is not aging properly and in the wrong
container) and see how the different fragrances change on a persons skin. I always thought I would like a citrus scent,
but it was the fruity one that was so nice on, and because the factory does not
market or is in any other store, perfume (usually VERY expensive) was the same
price as eau de perfume or eau de toilette (what most department store
sell). Score for us! I loved the scent so much, that even though I
was on the tiniest budget ever, I decided to get a little bottle (not the
smallest, but close) for 30 €. I wish I was able to get a bottle for all my
friends for Christmas, but who knows what it would have smelled like when it
was on their skin, so it is probably for the better. On the coach we headed down the beautiful
coast to the beaches of Nice. This was
one of the places, I really had no idea what to expect of, but it completely
blew my mind. Zac had suggested paying
for a lounge chair on the beach at a café, because the beach was pebbles. Well actually the beach was rocks. They were smoothed over rocks from the water,
but rocks non-the less. Emma and I took
2 chairs that were right next to the water and I had a lovely older woman next
to me that was topless and liked speaking to me…with her boobs staring right at
me. No biggie. I got a tropical little drink (although I
felt like I should have been drinking champagne, but who am I joking, like I
had the cash flow for that) and a cheese baguette sandwich. The setting was so beautiful; that it feels
like calling it beautiful is cheating.
It was so much more. It was the
first really warm, sunny, not-a-cloud-in-the-sky day. The water, although it was a little steep to
walk to and I ended up scooting on my tush to, was cold and salty. My first time swimming in the Mediterranean
and I could feel myself tearing up every now and then, because I had always
felt this sea calling out to me. The
water was crystal clear and was saltier than the Atlantic, Pacific or even the
Gulf. I tanned up and enjoyed the French
here, much more than in Paris (I think the sunlight made them happier people
here), and it is really the only reason why I had a good experience with the
people of France. After an afternoon of
sunbathing and playing around on the first day we really got to relax, we took
our happy butts back to the coach pick up to go eat dinner at the hotel, get
ready and head out to Monaco!
Emma,
Kate and I got ready in absolute record speed, even though we all had to shower
and get dolled up for our fancy night out in Monaco. I had received word from my dad, that he had
Western Unioned money and I could pick it up in Venice, which was our next
stop, so I decided I would splurge a little and spend the 25€ it cost to get
into the Monte Carlo Casino. I was on a
hunt to find a rich European husband here…or at least pretend to have money! The streets of Monaco were so windy and
narrow, but the bay was filled with bazillion dollar yachts, the girls and I
had fun pretending which was ours, like we were 5 years old, except we were
expressing how exactly we would get and KEEP a man with a yacht like that…if
you know what I mean. This coach ride
was when I heard for the first time about the conspiracies with the monarchy
there and Princess Grace’s death. Not
surprised that she was supposedly killed, but that I didn’t have any knowledge
about it before. We could see the castle on the top of the hill, looking over the harbor with our beloved yachts in them. We got off the coach and walked up the big hill till we were standing in front of the Casino. We took a group picture
in front of the casino, right at sunset, and the group split into the ones who
wanted to spend the money on getting into the casino, or the ones who wanted to
go into the free places. We were all
prepared to check our cameras before entering the casino, but it was a quiet
Sunday night and they did not make us check anything. The casino was so opulent and awe
inspiring. It is what people dream of
when they think of the word opulent.
There were chandeliers with crystals that sparkled and gold everything
and beautiful wall embellishments, even the bathroom were a giant mirror. Literally.
The doors, the walls, everything was a mirror. The toilets were even amazing! We all got some drinks (I got the cheapest
wine on the menu, only 7€, which surprised me) and went out on the
balcony. For some reason, I thought this
was the opportune time to ask Zac, “So do you think they conspiracies about
Princess Grace and the monarchy were true?”
I didn’t think it was possible for someone’s eyes to get as big and
expressive as his did, as he whispered, “Megan, you cant talk about that kind
of thing here.” I had a moment of, “why
the fuck did I say that here,” then a moment of absolute panic, thinking of microphones
in the columns I was standing next to, then fear of secret agents coming in and
tackling me off the balcony onto the beautiful $500,000 cars below me. Good move, Megan. Turn the dumbass comment filter on please. After that, I decided more wine and any other
alcohol I could get my hands on would be a good idea. If they were going to kill me, might as well
go out in style/drunk. Luckily, the
secret agents must have been on holiday, because here I am, still alive,
writing a blog. We ran into Bethany, who
had lost like 200€ in roulette and was at some slot machines, relatively calm
about it. I started playing the slot
machine next to her, and had a moment where the machine started making a lot of
noise and lighting up after I hit something and we all thought I was winning
the jackpot!...come to find out I just won like 10 credits. I felt like such a jackass, and Emma and I
walked our happy, tipsy asses out of there, down the hill in heels and onto the
coach for a long, quiet ride back to the hotel.
I needed some good sleep anyways.
Tomorrow was what I had been waiting on my entire life…Italia!!
Au revoir France.
Ciao Italia!
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