Ahhhh, the French Riviera. Oh, but wait. While on the train this morning, I discovered I left my ipod at the hostel in Carcassonne. I know exactly where I left it, too, on top of the storage cupboard next to the top bunk I was on. Now what? Well, I could have them mail it to Rome - my home base for the holidays, but then I won't have it for the next month and I don't know where I am staying yet in Rome (the nice part of traveling off season, no need to make reservations anywhere). I could just buy a new one, but my itunes is on the laptop in Colorado and my tablet won't let me download itunes, so that means Mom would have to download the music from my laptop to the new ipod and then send that out to me. Or I could spend and extra day taking a train back to Carcassonne after Nice, before I head to Lyon. I decide this is the best option. Now to enjoy Nice.
The hotel I wanted to stay in was closed until January, so I went to the hostel instead, which took me through some rough looking neighborhoods. Not what I would have expected to see in The Riviera. I had envisioned the whole Riviera as a ritzy, glam area. While there is that, for sure, it also has its rough spots. I just made sure to find the bigger streets to get to my destinations after dark.
I took a stroll up and down the main drag which is lined with shops I expected to find here - Hermes, Louis Vuitton, Cartier, etc. Then I headed for the promenade. I walked most of the 4 mile stretch just taking it all in. The beach is very different, all rocks and no sand, so I stayed up on the promenade.
The next day was a day trip to Monaco. I started in the area known as Monacoville (a relation to Whoville perhaps?) where I got to see the Prince's palace, then the cathedral. Yes, I have seen a lot of cathedrals, but this is the one where Grace Kelly wed Prince Rainier. The current prince of Monaco is their son, Albert. I walked through a cool garden on my way down the hill to the waterfront. No beaches here, just a harbor filled with some really big boats. I walked through the Christmas Market on the waterfront. Lots of good food to choose from, then did some people watching at the ice rink that had been set up. There were a few pretty good skaters out there, teenagers mostly, which made me wonder what their school schedule is like, seeing as it was 1:30 on a Wednesday afternoon in the beginning of December and the rink was filled with young teens. Hmmmmm?
Next up was to check out the casino. You can't come to Monaco and not see the casino. Although, due to the dress code (I dressed as nice as I could, but living out of a backpack limits my choices) and the fact that I am not a serious gambler (one look at our friendly poker nights with friends will attest to that) I just stayed in the front area with the slots. Besides, it was way too early for the big spenders to be playing in the back areas anyways. Besides, you had to pay a cover charge to get back there, even just to look around without gambling. After losing my 20 Euros (the limit I had set for myself) I was forced to call it an afternoon and head back to Nice.
Once back in Nice, I took a short stroll down the promenade to watch the sunset. I love seeing sunsets from such wonderful places. The next day it was back to Carcassonne to collect the ipod, stay the night, then head to Lyon, my last stop in France.
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