Today was Day #15, which means it is officially past the halfway point of our 29 day trip. So hard to believe...but yet when we think back to places like Florence or Venice, they do seem ages ago...
This morning we got in on the night train to Nice at 9:15. We were exhausted from a semi-sleepless night, but after finding our hotel by the train station, we still set off to explore. We made a beeline for the coast - which took a 30 minute walk down Nice's main street, which was completely under construction and had annoyingly rerouted sidewalks. Anyways...we found the coast - and now see why it's called the Cote d'Azur. The Mediterrainean was amazingly blue - stretching along the beachfront promenade for miles and miles. The sun was out, not a cloud in the sky, and it was finally warm! - as in don't-have-to-wear-coat warm. :) We walked down to the beach, which is actually all large pebbles, not sand, and just sat for awhile. We have arrived in paradise!!
Soon we were getting hungry, so we wandered over to the Old Town and the Cours Saleya street market - which was just blocks and blocks of fresh fruit and vegetable stands, spices, dozens of varities of olives, flowers, etc. It was really cool. We bought some fresh strawberries and "bled" oranges (oranges that are red inside), and some fresh bread, and walked up the steep hill overlooking the beach for a picnic lunch with a view. :) We people-watched in the park on the hill for awhile (our new favorite hobby), and admired all the cute dogs everyone has - makes me want one sooo bad! Then, we wandered the hill until we found the huge waterfull, which I think I have at least a few dozen pictures of now. :)
We made our way down the hill and through some fun back streets with shops and restaurants, to get to the Chagall Museum. There were several more art museums in town, but this one seemed the most interesting. His art was interesting, to say the least. Very brightly painted, surreal-type art, but we soon noticed a pattern - most all of his paintings had the same couple things in them: mules, birds, a bride and groom, a guy reading a book, and an upside down guy. It soon turned into a game - who can find the mule first?! Haha...
After the museum, we eventually made our way back to the beach...it's hard to stay away from. :) We hung out there until it was dinner time, when we went back to the Cours Saleya. At night, they clean up all the market stalls, and the restaurants set up their tables for outside dining. We found a place with a 15 euro tourist menu - I got chef salad, grilled fish with basil cream sauce, and coffee and chocolate ice cream. :) Katie got salad, escalope, and pistachio and coffee (lol) ice cream. It was so good, but we were soo full!
After dinner, we were too tired to do much else, so we started walking back to our hotel. On the way, I turn and see none other than Nicole Hance, a friend from back home in Fort Dodge, who is studying abroad in Spain, and on Easter break too. So random! We of course had to make plans to meet up the following night. Such a small world. :)
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