Did I Ever Tell You About that Time in Nice?

Nope, I surely did not. It's a wonder I haven't - I even had a week of break from classes to update and I didn't. Just goes to show how lazy I can be! Oh well! I'm updating now.

Nougat tasting

We left for our trip to St. Tropez, Nice, and Eze on a Friday. We hit the road pretty early, and our first fun stop was in Montélimar, where we went to a nougat factory and watched a demonstration of how nougat is made. Then, of course, we got samples! We made a quick lunch stop later on down the road and then arrived in St. Tropez. This place is full of wrinkly, bronzed old ladies sporting outrageous outfits, big hair, and bright makeup. And yachts - lot's of yachts with funny names like Funky Town from London.

Carrie, Me, Stephanie N.

Shawn, Allison, and I went with Marie to a little museum and saw lots of lovely pointillism paintings, and then went up to the city's big hill. We made our way up the little steps, and got to the top where there was an old citadel. By this time we had met up with Carrie and Stephanie, too. There was a fee to get in so we just went around it and found our own little piece with a great view of the sea. I picked wild poppies there! It was great!

It was then time to get on the bus to Nice, and once there we parked at the hotel and went our separate ways - which really just means that everyone went to the beach and then out to dinner. It was a beautiful night!

Saturday morning we had breakfast and then went out to see the Matisse museum. Now, I appreciated the opportunity to go there - I've just never been the biggest Matisse fan. I enjoy the colors he uses but other than that... Ok, here's the deal - if it looks like art I could have done when I was four, I don't particularly like it. There's an element of talent missing. So now you know how I feel about Matisse and Mrs. Guerry is probably going to give me a proper lesson when I get back.

We then went to the famous flower market that's open year-round and browsed all the goods and foods, and (of course) flowers. We then went to the beach again, where Carrie got in and splashed around a bit. Seemed a bit cold though, so I stayed on the beach and collected some rocks. We met up for a tour of Old Nice (where Shawn and I made a game out of touching old things we weren't supposed to. We've been here long enough. We can allow ourselves a breach of conduct here and there.) which was very interesting. We were allowed free-time afterward so Allison and I went on a hunt for ice cream (I got lavender flavor as Carrie and I had been hunting for it all year - you might recall) and a table cloth. Both successful endeavors! Oh, we bought some olive oil too (I got some regular extra virgin, and... lavender!), because Marie said that it was absolutely the best.

Beach Party

We went back to the hotel to rest in the lobby for a while and watch Glee. Not at all my favorite show, but we didn't see the remote control until well into two episodes. You're tricky, Nice. I got a kebab in town and ate it in Shawn's room while we chatted with Carrie. We then went to the beach for what turned out to be a party with most of the API kids. We had a rock throwing contest to see how far into the water we could throw them. Everyone had a sore arm the following day.

Eating by the church.

Sunday we had breakfast and tried to head off to Eze but got blindsided by a marathon in town and had to stay put in the lobby for a bit. Once in Eze, though, we went to the Ragonard perfumery where we got a little lesson and then bought things in the gift shop. I'd been wanting to get some soap in town but Marie said that the best ones were made at Ragonard. So, I bought three there: honey, lavender, and honeysuckle. Shawn and I (Anna came too but left us to eat) climbed up the hill afterward, to see the old streets and buildings and tacky tourist shops, and stopped near the church to eat our lunch. We saw the lower part of a cemetery and then climbed some stairs to find another section of it overlooking the sea. It was so beautiful we could do nothing but say all the combinations of profanities we could come up with. Such are the lives of young adults.

By then it was time to go, so we headed down and eventually got on the bus for our long ride to Grenoble.