More details: France!

Last post for EuroTrip 2009,

Nice, France:

Well after our last night in Italy we woke up and went to the train station. We took a train to the Italian border, and were going to switch to a train to Nice....the only problem was, the French had been striking for 3 days, and there would only be ONE train that went into France all day (and it wasn't leaving for another 4 hours!). We stood in line at the information desk to try to find out if there was a bus or anything else. There wasn't - even though Nice was only 30 minutes from where we were stuck!

While I was trying to talk to the Italian information people. Taylor struck up a conversation with a German man in line. He was trying to get to Nice with his wife, and they were stuck, too. When I found out the only option was the train, we gathered up all our bags and started walking toward the train platform....I thought there was nothing to do but wait and wait for the only train. But just as we were walking away, the nice German man and his French wife invited us to take a cab with them into Nice. I was all too eager to, but trying to be polite I warned them that we didn't have much cash on us and couldn't really pay for a super-expensive international cab ride.

They didn't care and we all piled into a tiny little cab and drove into France. We passed right by Monaco, and had an amazing view of Nice and the water from the road. When we finally got to where the couple was staying, we all got out and they directed us onto a bus to the train station near our hostel. Unfortunately, they were a little off and we ended up at a train station waaaay outside the city. By the time we figured it out, it was too late, and we had to wait at that station for the next local train back into the city (at least they were running!).

We made it into Nice, dropped our bags at the hostel, and walked around the city. We had a greta picnic of brie, bread, and salami down by the ocean, and then explored the Old Town of Nice. There were tons of adorable shops and a huge market that in the afternoon turns into more of a flea market with jewelery and junk. We took note of some cool cafes, and headed back to the hostel to clean up before dinner.

We got back to the "Chez Patrick Backpacker Hostel" only to find there was NO hot water....I was pretty hot and sweaty, so I decided to brave it anyway. It was FREEZING!! I could barely take it, but somehow I cleaned up enough to feel better. We finished getting ready and went back out in search of crepes! But first, we had to hit the casino. My Dad had requested that we bet 5 euro on red (I had no idea what that meant, but Taylor assured me he could handle it) so we searched out the beachside casino in the heart of Nice. We found it, and after they checked our IDs at the door, they let us in. Upon entering they gave us these little scratch off cards - we scratched it off only to find some French words with no idea what they meant.

We saw a few other people handing their cards over to the bartender, so I gathered my courage, walked up, and slapped mine down on the counter. The bartender looked at me, looked at the card, and hurried away. A minute later he returned with an ice cream sundae. Apparently, I won?! We ate our ice cream and then looked around for the roulette tables, which is what Taylor claimed Dad was referring to.

We were walking up to the tables when we were stopped and informed (in French and pantomime) that we were not wearing the proper foot attire to be allowed near the French people gambling real money. We were a little surprised that there were such strict rules, considering in Vegas you can practically be naked as long as you're forking over cash!

We found a video roulette game, and put our 5 euro on red and won! After doubling our money AND winning an ice cream sundae, I decided we should cash out. Taylor tried to convince me to at least play our winnings, but I'm not a gambler and we left the casino in search of food.

I really wanted a savory crepe for dinner, but after and hour of wandering all we could find were sugary ones. We finally found a tiny-little-hole-in-the-wall place serving them and were too hungry and tired to search any further.

We were really pleasantly surprised by the awesome crepes! Taylor had ham and cheese (fromage and jambon!) and I had one with mozzarella, tomatoes, chicken and pesto. It was fantastic! We were super full, but the cook talked us into having a flaming Grand Marnier covered crepe, and he was too convincing to ignore. I even got a picture while it was still on fire!

It was almost 11:30 by the time we got out of there, so we went back to the hostel and passed out. We woke up and went straight to the market to find some fruit and croissants for breakfast. We strolled through all the booths and found some great fruit - but what I was really looking for was French baked goods :) We found the most amazing chocolate filled croissant and an AWESOME chocolate bread with chocolate chips....MMMmmmMMM chocolate for breakfast!

We munched our breads and walked to the old Chateau that overlooks the whole city. We decided to be lazy, and paid 1.20 Euro to ride an elevator all the way up the 90 meters to the top of the hill where the old ruin of the chateau/fort were.

The view from up there was phenomenal. You could see all of Nice! The beaches, the crystal clear turquoise waters, the red tiles roofs, the old port, everything! It was cool to see the whole area from that angle.

We walked around for a bit, and then headed back down the elevator and grabbed our bags on the way to the train station.


Cannes, France:

Since the French train strike was officially over, we made it to Cannes with no real problems. Our hotel was right on the main touristy shopping street, really close to the station! We again dumped all our stuff and headed for the French beaches to relax on the pretty sand beach.

We passed by the giant theatre where the Film Festival was just held a week ago (and got a picture on the red carpet). The beaches were really pretty, but also pretty crowded, but we found a good spot in the sand and laid around for a couple hours. About 1/3 of the women were topless....and I won't confirm or deny if I joined them!

After getting good and crispy we returned, had a real shower with hot water, and went out for dinner. But again, nothing even looks open for dinner until about 8pm, so we had drinks by the ocean to stall until dinner. We found a cool place with a delicious sounding fixed price menu on this tiny little block. We each had a 3 course meal (I had 2 different kinds of mussels :) and it was great! And chocolate cake and something like flan for desert....yummy!

It was a perfectly relaxing day, and we even had airconditioning in our hotel room, so we went home and got a good nights sleep before my birthday!!!

Aix-en-Provence, France:

We woke up on my birthday to another day of perfect weather in the South of France. We meandered around and looked for a bakery, had a birthday croissant, and headed for the train again. We got to take a high speed fancy train to Aix, and it only took 2 hours instead of the 3.5 hours the local train took. Plus, the seats were really comfy, and it was a double-decker so the view from our 2nd floor seats were awesome!

We got into Aix and had to take a bus from the station ot the main city center. After 20 easy minutes we were there! I decided I did not want to schlep bags on my birthday, so we splurged on our first real cab during the whole trip. We got to our cute little room in our hotel, and as always, dumped the bags and began our quest for food.

More crepes! And a nutella-banana dessert crepe :)

After food we took a lap around town. Its a college town, with a university and not a lot of sights to see, so after an hour or so we had pretty much seen all there really is to see. But the town was pretty, with a huge tree-lined boulevard with expensive shops and restaurants in the places where the nobility used to have mansions.

There were cool mossy fountains, and some sort of demonstration on the street. Hundreds of people were taping together tons of big cardboard boxes into some sort of structure. We went back later in the night to find out they constructed a huge arc over the road using only cardboard boxes and tape! It was pretty neat.

Since it was my birthday and we had been moving around so much lately, I decided I wanted a nap :) So we went back to the room for a couple of hours and relaxed. The only problem with pretty super-old towns on a weekend is the number of churches that insist on chiming their bells every 15 minutes! But we re-cooperated and went out to find a good place for a birthday dinner.

We wandered for a while and decided on a place that was in my guidebook - it was supposed to have pastas from all over the world. Well we sat down and ordered drinks when the host came up to our table and asked if we had reservations.....of course we didn't! He actually kicked us out of the table and told us he "might" have something open up later if we came back (mind you it was already around 9pm).

I flipped out because I was hungry and embarrassed (who reserves things in sidewalk cafes in France!?) and we slunk away dejected. Taylor did his best to cheer me back up, and we found a cool restaurant and got a legitimate table and sat down to eat :)

We had a great meal with wine and dessert (ice cream filled profiteroles, covered in hot liquid chocolate, floating in a delicious sweet cream sauce...MMmmmMM) and I forgot about the mean French guy that kicked us out!

It was a great birthday and it was nice to be able to just spend a relaxing day in France and be able to have no real responsibilities all day long!

Last City: Marseille, France

On the last full day of our trip we woke up and had breakfast in the hotel garden. Of course, breakfast still meant bread and butter and jam and tea....It was a beautiful day, and we were anxious to get back to the ocean and see Marseille.

We walked all the way back to the bus station and hopped on the bus to Marseille. We got there in about 25 minutes, found our hostel/hotel within 5 minutes (we never got lost finding a hostel, I find that amazing!!) and went out to sight see.

It had been a few cities since we actually had done any sight-seeing, so we were happy to wander around the Old Port, and find the giant churches, and stare at the huge ocean side forts around the bay. We wandered and found an awesome little seaside restaurant hanging on a rocky cliff overlooking the beautiful Mediterranean.

Since it was probably going to be our last big meal in Europe, we went overboard and ordered a crunchy goat cheese salad (goat cheese inside little crispy dough pasteries that had been fried golden brown :) and more spaghetti with pesto, and a huge pot full of mussels. It was fabulous and great to get to eat it all while staring at the view of the harbor islands dotting the bay of Marseille.

Full and happy, we walked back into town with the goal of finding the church with the awesome view (Notre Dame de la Garde), we took a quick detour into a Internet cafe to check on our flight times. While we were in there a downpour started! Rather than get caught in the rain, we decided to make a beeline for a bakery and get our last French pastries for a while :(

I got an amazing fluffy looking Napolean and Taylor grabbed something covered in chocolate, and we headed back to our hotel to relax on our private 5th floor terrace and watch any other rainstorms that might come by.

It was sunny for the rest of the afternoon, and we finished our books and lounged around, enjoying our last view of France. We even fit in a little nap, but I woke up wanting falafel (Marseille has a huge African and Middle Eastern population, so I knew we'd find some) and sure enough our guide book listed a place to get authentic Israeli falafel.

We set out to see Marseille at night, and found our falafel place. It was amazing! Some of the best falafel I've ever had, and the hummus was great too. We strolled back to our place knowing that it was our last night in France and Europe, and were both sad and looking forward to be going home. I wanted my own bed, real breakfasts and American towels with fabric softener, but I knew after a couple of months I would be anxious to travel again.

We got up early, took a bus the half hour to the airport, and got on our plane. We flew home through Amsterdam and then Minneapolis before arriving in San Diego around 11pm. It was a long (over 24 hours) day of traveling, and we were happy to finally make it to our comfy American beds.

Overall it was a great trip, and even though it was short, I was totally glad we spent the time and money to jet away :)


Fun Stats from our trip:

-Number of countries: 7 (We visited Germany, Switzerland, Italy and France, drove by Monaco, could see Austria from the castle in Fussen, and stopped in the Amsterdam airport in the Netherlands :)

-Pounds of luggage when we started:
Kristyn - 20 pounds in my back pack, 10 pounds in my daypack
Taylor - 20 pounds in his back pack, 8 pounds in his daypack

-Pounds of luggage when we returned:
Kristyn - 31 pounds in my back pack, 8 pounds in my daypack
Taylor - 25 pounds in his back pack, 7 pounds in his daypack

(I have no idea where I picked up weight! I didn't buy anything!! One t-shirt?)

-Distance covered in Europe: 1751 kilometers (1088 miles)

-Number of trains ridden: over 17

-Money spent: About $2800 per person, or $175 a day on average ($590 plane ticket, $415 train ticket, and $1800 spent on the rental car, food, lodging and fun while we're there)

We had a great time - Can't wait for the next adventure!
~Kristyn