"As we stumble along on life's funny journeys": Spring Break Part 2

Hi everyone! So its definitely been too long since I've written, but I've been very busy, so that means once I finally get around to updating my blog it will be full of interesting stories and experiences. For now I'll finish up writing about Spring Break, and then, hopefully soon, will fill you in on everything I've been up to in Prague since then.

My friends Collin and Mike (with whom I spent the rest of break) and I left Paris around 8am on a train to Nice. First class tickets were only 4 Euro more than second class, so we had a very luxurious experience! The train was about 5.5 hours, and I had a single seat by the window, so I could look out at the beautiful views of France.

When we got to Nice, it was gorgeous out, and we headed to our hostel. The only public transportation in Nice is one tram with a single line, and that was only installed last year! The tram was kind of funny because some of the stops were extremely close to each other, and also because the announcements for each stop were made in different voices, and some of them even had funny music and sound effects played in the background! Our hostel was really nice, with great staff, and we dropped off our stuff and went to explore the town a little bit. It was a lot more crowded than I thought it would be, since it was still kind of the off season, but it was really open and pretty, a very nice spring break location! We saw the main square of Nice:



and then wandered down to the beach, just as the sun was setting. The beach was really rocky (and we picked up some rocks to take home...dont tell!) We walked along the boardwalk for a bit and enjoyed being on the beach:



We then headed to a restaurant that served provencal food, in order to try some local cuisine. We shared an appetizer of sardines (which were really gross) and then I was brave and ordered tripe (intestines!) as my entree. It was definitely an interesting experience that I'm glad I had, but wouldn't necessarily repeat :p After dinner we walked around outside some more, and saw the square all lit up. It was really interesting because its lights were lit up people sitting on top of posts, that changed different colors:



The next day, we decided to go to Monaco. Monaco is the second smallest country in the world, and its between France and Italy. It is also the home of the most famous casino in the world, Monte Carlo. Moreover, and even more important, the bus to get there was only one Euro! We hopped on it, and after a brief stop in an old village, arrived in Monaco after about a half hour. It was indeed very small; we walked across it a few times in the course of the afternoon and evening. Here's a beautiful fountain, with Monte Carlo in the background:



We gambled in a casino across the street from Monte Carlo that didn't charge a cover to get in, but unfortunately none of us won any money. After finding somewhere relatively cheap to eat lunch, we walked up some very steep stairs to get to the castle. The royal standard was flying, so apparently the Prince of Monaco was home, but we didn't see him. We did see some very beautiful views of pretty much the whole country:



Yep, thats pretty much all of it. It was really cool and interesting to go to Monaco, and we enjoyed it very much.

However, that was pretty much the last awesome day of our trip. The next morning, as we were on our way to check out some of Nice's museums (it has the second most museums in France!), Collin got sick. We had checked out of the hostel since we had planned to take an overnight bus to Milan that night, so we went to the couches in the lounge to rest a little more. After a few hours we decided to venture out again, but that was not such a good idea, as Mike and I started feeling sick and Collin had not gotten any better. We went back to the hostel again and spent a lot of quality time on the couches:



At least it was a pretty room! Since the three of us could barely move, we had to change our travel plans and stay another night in the hostel in Nice before going to Milan. The next day after lots of sleep, we felt better, and got on a train to Milan.

We only spent about a day and a half in Milan, and it was really interesting to go to Italy. I'm glad I went, but Milan definitely wasn't my favorite city. Its known for being a fashion capital, but it just came off as really dirty and crowded to me. There were lots of Romas (Gypsies) who kept trying to sell us things, and the people seemed pushier than New Yorkers! We did see the Duomo, the third largest cathedral in the world:



We also got to have some pizza and gelato (even though I didn't really have much of an appetite from being sick) while we were there, so that was yummy! That night, and the next day, we spent some time at the castle:



It used to be an old fort, and it was complete with drawbridges and a beautiful courtyard. And also, lots of cats who hung out in the grassy moats. After some quality time laying out on the grass in the sunshine and reading (me) and napping (the boys), we headed to the airport and took our flight back to Prague.

Spring Break was fabulous and full of new experiences. I had a great time, but was also really excited to come back to Prague for my last month in the Czech Republic. More on that to come...