Les Sandwichs au Jambon: The French Riviera

I am going to warn you now; this is kind of long, but the pictures at the end will make more sense if you read it all. But you can just look at those if you want. I don't really have a way to control you. And even if I did, I don't know if I would. I support liberty.

This past weekend, the Davidson group took a trip down to the Meditteranean. We left on Thursday morning on a train headed to Marseille. After about 30 minutes on this train, we found out that it was not heading to Lyon for our change, but instead, going nowhere near it. Cool. Kruger asked the train guy what was going on, and he explained that because of the strike on Wednesday, the trains got changed around, and now we were supposed to make two changes in order to get to our last train a couple minutes late. So there we are, going from train to train, hoping that somehow we will make it on the train from Lyon to Marseille. Lucky for us, that train actually ended up being a half hour late, giving us a little time to eat what food we hadn't already demolished. We hopped on the next train, and enjoyed our ride past the mountains and down to the sea. Getting to our hotel from the train station was simple, essentially, all you do is go downhill, because our hotel stood next to the old port. Because we got there a little later, we were able to explore the old part of the city as the sun was setting, and everything was really pretty. For dinner, we just kind of wandered until we found a restaurant that served Marseillais specialties. I did not go for the fish soup, a local delicacy, instead, I got the veal with a side of spaghetti, and it was amazing. After dinner, we went back to the hotel real quick so we could warm up before heading out for desserts! We went to a little creperie with around 72 different flavors and possibilities. I ended up getting 155, aka a crepe with mint chocolate ice cream, chocolate sauce, and peppermint liquour drizzled overtop. Then we went to bed. On Friday morning, we woke up, ate breakfast in a little cafe outside the hotel where I had the most delicious orange juice I have ever had in my entire life. It literllay tasted like I bit out of an orange, just with less solid stuff. After that, we took a bus up to Notre Dame de la Garde which allows you to see a panoramic view of the city and surrounding mountains and sea, but it was cloudy and cool, but not as breathtaking as it could have been.
Fast forward a couple hours. We are on a train heading to Nice from Marseille. The entire time, we are able to look out the window and stare out over the Medditerranean. Upon arriving, we just walked down one street for a while, and there we were at the hotel. It was the Windsor, and it was pretty legit. Blake and I had to be roommates, go figure (we are the only guys), and our room was simply designed. Each room had a different artist theme, and ours was just some guy, and the stuff in the room was labeled. That was our theme. It was stupid. After a little bit, the group met back up in the lobby so we could leave the country for the first time. That's right; Monaco. It was awesome. I am going to skip the part about walking around the town, and get to the good stuff. Monte Carlo. Three words I would choose to describe the casino: fancy, giant, intimidating. Those seem kind of negative, but just walking through the casino was so much fun, and I am proud to say that I played slots (and lost 5€) and roulette (and lost 5€) and took away a 5€ chip as a souvenir. Is that allowed? Oh well. It is in my wallet and will stay there forever. Also, I suited up to respect the amazingness that is Monte Carlo. After finding a new vice, we headed back to Nice for dinner. It was at a restaurant called Koudou, where we ate African based dishes. I had more veal, in a mushroom sauce, with potatoes on the side. It was pretty delicious. For dessert, I had a sorbet sampler and got to try peach, mango, pear, blackberry, and raspberry sorbets. All of which were amazing, but the mango was kind of dissapointing. That night, we went back to the hotel to hang out in the biggest room which had a massive jacuzzi bathtub.
Saturday morning. Go downstairs to eat breakfast in the hotel: petit pain au chocolat, baguette, confiture, chocolat chaud, and cereales. So good. That morning, after fueling up, we were super touristy and took a bus tour around the city and got to see some amazing views. I loved it, and even though it wasn't quite summer temperatures yet, I wore shorts and a t-shirt to celebrate our vacation to the sea. During the tour, we stopped at a museum that showcased Marc Chagall. It was nifty. Then we went back to the hotel to change into our swim trunks and head down to the Mediterranean. Yep, Quincy, Sara, Jane, and I swam in the Mediterranean Sea. It was fantastic. I can't wait to do it again, but that will be another story for another day. (Probably my next post) The Mediterranean amazed me so much it was able to replace my desktop background of for the last year. After swimming and tanning, we dropped off our stuff at the hotel before La Bataille des Fleurs. This is basically a lot of different types of floats going around a circuit throwing flowers like beads at Mardi Gras. It was awesome. Paisley, Jane, Blake, and I headed out of the stands to go catch flowers closer to the road, and it was easy to get the attention of the girls on the floats being the only ones who weren't parents or old men. Needless to say, I got a good batch of flowers including roses and carnations. They were lovely. After this, we meandered our way to an ice cream store in old Nice. I can admit that this place is one of the best if not the best ice cream I have ever had. Not because it was just that good, but it was really good, but because they had something like 96 flavors including the normals, all sorts of sorbets, and rose, violet, lavender, and cactus. My two scoop cone consisted of a sort of cookies and cream and cactus. I couldn't resist it. And it turned out to not be too bad, in fact, I would recommend it if you want something light and sweet, not too strong of a taste. Anyways, this was near the restaurant we had reservations for, where we got to sit in this kind of igloo/stowaway little area around a big round table. The waiter was funny, and they played good music. I split some fried calamari with Quincy, then each of us decided on bunny for dinner. That was an experience. I had never tasted "lapin" before, and had no idea how to eat it, but I kind of figured it out by the end. I would like to have it again in a more manageable manner so I can focus more on the taste instead of how to eat it. After this was the nighttime part of Carnaval. This meant going to the third row of seats in a big square to watch the 30ft floats/inflatables go by with loud music and bright lights all around. It was something unlike anything I have ever seen before. I loved it. Then I went to bed.
Now it is Sunday, and I eat the exact same breakfast before going to the open-air market where we saw tons of flowers, fruits, paintings, soaps, meats, cheeses, and breads. It was so cool. My mouth watered so much looking at all of the fresh fruit that is now coming in season, it was ridiculous. I ended up buying a large baguette type thing and a demi kilo of strawberries for my lunch, and it was scrumptious. Some of us also headed up the hill/mountain in Nice to see the old chateau up there, but I mainly wanted to see the waterfall I had spotted during the Bataille des Fleurs. It was worth it. The vies of the city and sea were beautiful. But after just a short amount of time we had to run back to the hotel to get our bags to run to the train station to hop on our train back home. And that is where my story ends. But now, pictures!!!