I got up at 5:00am Thursday morning in order to make it to the train station on time. I'm not a big fan of getting up super early, but who is? Anyways so I got on the metro to head to the train station around 5:45 and the first thing I see is this giant pi
cture of this half naked man in body paint. It was an adverstisment for the world cup and it said "how deep is your (love)" but instead of love there was a soccer ball. I just looked at it and was like, yeah, it's not that deep. Sorry football fans. Anyways, so I got to the train station around 6:35 ish. I planned on getting there pretty early because I had never been there before and it my first time taking a train by myself so I wasn't quite sure what I was supposed to do. The day before I printed out my tickets but when I got to the train station I saw all these people with actually tickets and not a print out like I had. So I tried printing my tickets out of this machine but it said that it couldn't find my reservations. I found the information desk that had the same name as on my ticket so I figured I'd just ask them what I should do. The woman told me that I didn't need to print out a new ticket that they would just scan mine. So awesome, I had nothing to do but wait for them to announce what platform my train would be leaving from. She said they usually don't announce them until 20 minutes before the train is supposed to leave, so I had a while to wait. This picture is the ad that was in the metro. As you can see it was quite a sight at 6am.
cture of this half naked man in body paint. It was an adverstisment for the world cup and it said "how deep is your (love)" but instead of love there was a soccer ball. I just looked at it and was like, yeah, it's not that deep. Sorry football fans. Anyways, so I got to the train station around 6:35 ish. I planned on getting there pretty early because I had never been there before and it my first time taking a train by myself so I wasn't quite sure what I was supposed to do. The day before I printed out my tickets but when I got to the train station I saw all these people with actually tickets and not a print out like I had. So I tried printing my tickets out of this machine but it said that it couldn't find my reservations. I found the information desk that had the same name as on my ticket so I figured I'd just ask them what I should do. The woman told me that I didn't need to print out a new ticket that they would just scan mine. So awesome, I had nothing to do but wait for them to announce what platform my train would be leaving from. She said they usually don't announce them until 20 minutes before the train is supposed to leave, so I had a while to wait. This picture is the ad that was in the metro. As you can see it was quite a sight at 6am. I saw a sign for the bathroom and figured I'd better go now because I wasn't sure what the bathrooms would be like on the train. I had to pay 50 cents to use the bathroom, which I think is incredibly stupid. So I got out my 50 cents and I saw this slot so I put the coin in and it just spit it back out at me and then fell on the floor. There was a woman sitting behind this little plastic thing just staring at me so I figured I must have to give her my money. I was right. I felt like such an idiot because she saw my put my coin in there. She could've said something. There wasn't even a sign saying what to do. So she gave me this little coin to put in the machine and then the doors opened up. After figuring that all out I went back to the departure board and it said that my train would be leaving from the yellow salle (room). At Gare de Lyon trains leave from either the blue or the yellow salles depending on where they are going. I think the blue salle is for trains going north and the yellow is for the south...but that's just a guess. So I went up there and stared at an even bigger board. It was around 7:10 and they still hadn't announced what platform the train would be on. I was worried, I don't know why, but that's what I do about everything so I asked this women at the desk and she said they were going to announce it soon. 2nd time I felt like an idiot in like 20 minutes.....great. They finally announced the platform and everyone started rushing towards it. They scanned my ticket and I walked towards the end of the train and got on.
My seat was on the top part of the train in this 4 seater thing that had a table that could come out from the side. I put my backpack in one of the luggage racks and then sat down. Of course I wasn't the only one in those seat by me. The guy who sat next to me was a bit of an arm rest hog. That was kind of annoying. We left right on time which was nice. I really wasn't that tired for some reason so I started reading Atonement which I've been trying to finish since forever. I only had like 100 or so pages left. After an hour or so I got tired so I tried to take a nap but the seat wasn't very comfortable and I really had no where to lay my head except on the head rest obvs but who sleeps with their head straight back like that. I think I only ended up getting about a 30 minute nap in and then went back to reading. Arm rest hog decided during his nap that the sun was too bright so he closed the shade on the window while I was looking out of it. I just looked at him, like dude what are you doing? Don't you want to look at the scenery? and he asked if it was alright if he closed it and what was I supposed to say? No, you can't close it? So I said it was fine and just settled for looking out the window across from ours. I brought some snackys with me but I was kind of hungry and debating buying something from this little trolly that went by, but then I saw their prices and decided I could wait to eat until I got to Nice.
The train made a few stops before we got to Nice and the woman who was sitting across from me got off so I finally got to stretch my legs out because they were really starting to cramp up. We got into Nice around 1:30. I got off and went outside the station so I could try to figure out how to get to the hostel where we were all staying. Everyone else (Chaniece, Jacqueline, Krista, Diane and Colie) were due to arrive until 3:30 ish so I had some time to kill. I looked up directions on Google before I left, but I didn't have a map so I just started walking in the direction I thought might be right. I walked a little bit down this road and then I saw this giant sex shop and I was like this can't be right so I started walking the other direction. I got to this tran and knew that I wasn't going the right way so I walked back to the train station and came across a tourist office and went inside. They had free maps so awesome! After consulting my map, and my directions I realized that I was going the right direction the first time, I was just throw off my the giant sex shop. Anyways, so I start walking. Google said it was a 38 minute walk, but they lied. It took me like 45 minutes. Not to mention it was like a million degrees out. I finally found the road that the hostel was on but I couldn't go there because I technically wasn't staying there because when they reserved it they put 5 people and not 6....so I had to wait until they all got there. I walked down to the beach and the view was just amazing. I saw the Mediterranean Sea coming in on the train but the view from the beach was pretty sweet, not gonna lie.
I saw this bench on the boardwalk so I sat down. There were these guys setting up some metal tent thing on the beach that were creepin on me. That was exciting. I think they thought I was watching them but seriously...the view of the sea was better looking than they were. It was pretty hot where I was sitting because the sun was beating down on me. I let Chaniece know I was there and she said they would be there in about an hour. I thought about getting something to eat but there really wasn't where to go around me and truthfully, I was tired and didn't feel like getting up. She called me back an hour or so later and said that they were at the hostel and told me to come and find them. I finally found them and the hostel wasn't even a hostel at all. It was an apartment that this woman owns and she just rents it out to people. We were waiting for the lady to show up with the key and they all had food left over so I ate some of that because at that point I was starving.
We got into the apartment around 4:30 and i
t was so AMAZING. It was on the 11th floor (the highest) and looked out over the sea and the entire stip of beach. God, it was so sweet. There were 3 beds, plus a cot. So everyone got to sleep on a bed. I shared a room with Chaniece. There was a huge bathroom with a bedet, because everyone needs a bedet in their bathroom! The kitchen was a little sketch but whatever, it did its job. The balcony was by far my favorite part of the apartment. It was pretty big and there were these really comfy chairs out there too. I was pretty worried that the woman who was renting the apartment to us was going to be pissed because they said there would only be 5 people there but really, the apartment would have fit 7 comfortably. She didn't say anything about me being there which was awesome because I really didn't want to have to find a hotel room. After the woman left we all screamed like 5 year olds we were so excited. We decided to hit up the beach so everyone put their suits on and we left. It was like a 3 minute walk to the beach, no lie. However, it wasn't a sand beach, it was all rock. That sucked but oh well. I went in the water but it was really cold so I went as far as my knees and ran back to my towel. Colie and Diane literally swam. I don't know how they did it because it was so cold. They said they got used to it, but I don't believe them. The picture here is of the view from the apartment. Pretty sweet right?
t was so AMAZING. It was on the 11th floor (the highest) and looked out over the sea and the entire stip of beach. God, it was so sweet. There were 3 beds, plus a cot. So everyone got to sleep on a bed. I shared a room with Chaniece. There was a huge bathroom with a bedet, because everyone needs a bedet in their bathroom! The kitchen was a little sketch but whatever, it did its job. The balcony was by far my favorite part of the apartment. It was pretty big and there were these really comfy chairs out there too. I was pretty worried that the woman who was renting the apartment to us was going to be pissed because they said there would only be 5 people there but really, the apartment would have fit 7 comfortably. She didn't say anything about me being there which was awesome because I really didn't want to have to find a hotel room. After the woman left we all screamed like 5 year olds we were so excited. We decided to hit up the beach so everyone put their suits on and we left. It was like a 3 minute walk to the beach, no lie. However, it wasn't a sand beach, it was all rock. That sucked but oh well. I went in the water but it was really cold so I went as far as my knees and ran back to my towel. Colie and Diane literally swam. I don't know how they did it because it was so cold. They said they got used to it, but I don't believe them. The picture here is of the view from the apartment. Pretty sweet right?We left the beach around 7 and headed to the grocery store that was right around the corner from the apartment to get stuf
f to make dinner. Colie and Diane made dinner while the rest of us had a dance party to Jacqueline's music. They made pasta with chicken, salad and of course there was wine and Orangina. Dinner was so good and I think I picked out some pretty good wine if I don't say so myself. We also had ice cream for dessert. We went to bed pretty late that night. Here's a picture of all of us (minus me of course) from the first night's dinner. LtoR: Diane, Colie, Krista, Chaniece, and Jacqueline.
f to make dinner. Colie and Diane made dinner while the rest of us had a dance party to Jacqueline's music. They made pasta with chicken, salad and of course there was wine and Orangina. Dinner was so good and I think I picked out some pretty good wine if I don't say so myself. We also had ice cream for dessert. We went to bed pretty late that night. Here's a picture of all of us (minus me of course) from the first night's dinner. LtoR: Diane, Colie, Krista, Chaniece, and Jacqueline.The next day (Friday) I woke up at like 8:30 because the train runs right past the apartment and was really loud and the bed wasn't very soft. Chaniece was up because she's weird and can't sleep. I think we were pretty loud because everyone else started waking up like an hour later. We had a lazy morning and got out of the apartment around 11:15 and took the bus to the train station. I bought us all train tickets to Cannes and we got on the next train and got there like a half hour later.
I really LOVED Cannes. I think I liked it better than Nice. S
orry, Nice. Once we left the train station we were all were pretty hungry so we went looking for some place to eat. No one could really decide on anything so we ended up at the Monoprix and bought stuff for a picnic. Everyone knows Cannes is known for the Cannes Film Festival, we came across this big building that had a red carpet on the stairs leading up to the entrance of the building. I was like OMG....this is the red carpet for the Cannes film festival!!!! It was so cool. We walked passed it and then came across these things that you could put your face in and take pictures with. I saw Han Solo and Chewbacca so I OBVIOUSLY had to have my picture take with it. That's above! :) Han Solo is so cool. Once we got some pictures with Han (that was mostly me) we walked to the beach. Cannes actually has a sand beach which was really nice. However, there were 3 topless old women in our vacinity so that wasn't the greatest thing to look at when you're eating your lunch. Also, it was kind of cold that day and windy so I didn't want to change into my suit at all. Jacqueline, Diane, and Colie were brave enough to go into the water. The sun finally came out so I decided that I was going to put my bathing suit top on while still wearing my clo
thes. I've got skill, no lie....I managed to get my top on by myself without flashing anyone. I guess it wouldn't have been that bad if I did flash someone because the old lady next to us was already topless. Once I got my top on the sun went away and I was cold, so I changed back. We were on the beach for a while. Around 4 we decided to leave the beach and look at some of the fancy stores along the boardwalk. I saw a Longchamp store that sells this purse that I really want. I was like this close to buying it but they didn't have the color I wanted in the right size so I decided to wait. But now I really, really want one so I think I'll buy it from the store here in Paris. It will be a nice souvenir for myself. We walked back to where the theatre is for the Cannes Film Festival and I just had to take a picture on the stairs like all the celebrities! It was so cool, not gonna lie. They were actually setting up all the stuff for the festival because it's in a few weeks. After taking pictures on the stairs and looking at all the handprints on the ground from celebrities we tried looking for somewhere to eat for dinner. Of course no one could agree on a place, and we ended up going back to Nice and bought more stuff from the grocery store and ate at the apartment. I was fine with that but at that point I really wanted sea food so I was kind of bummed that we didn't eat in Cannes. The last picture is of me on the red carpet. My shirt matches, which is lame but whatevs, it was the red carpet and it was awesome.
orry, Nice. Once we left the train station we were all were pretty hungry so we went looking for some place to eat. No one could really decide on anything so we ended up at the Monoprix and bought stuff for a picnic. Everyone knows Cannes is known for the Cannes Film Festival, we came across this big building that had a red carpet on the stairs leading up to the entrance of the building. I was like OMG....this is the red carpet for the Cannes film festival!!!! It was so cool. We walked passed it and then came across these things that you could put your face in and take pictures with. I saw Han Solo and Chewbacca so I OBVIOUSLY had to have my picture take with it. That's above! :) Han Solo is so cool. Once we got some pictures with Han (that was mostly me) we walked to the beach. Cannes actually has a sand beach which was really nice. However, there were 3 topless old women in our vacinity so that wasn't the greatest thing to look at when you're eating your lunch. Also, it was kind of cold that day and windy so I didn't want to change into my suit at all. Jacqueline, Diane, and Colie were brave enough to go into the water. The sun finally came out so I decided that I was going to put my bathing suit top on while still wearing my clo
thes. I've got skill, no lie....I managed to get my top on by myself without flashing anyone. I guess it wouldn't have been that bad if I did flash someone because the old lady next to us was already topless. Once I got my top on the sun went away and I was cold, so I changed back. We were on the beach for a while. Around 4 we decided to leave the beach and look at some of the fancy stores along the boardwalk. I saw a Longchamp store that sells this purse that I really want. I was like this close to buying it but they didn't have the color I wanted in the right size so I decided to wait. But now I really, really want one so I think I'll buy it from the store here in Paris. It will be a nice souvenir for myself. We walked back to where the theatre is for the Cannes Film Festival and I just had to take a picture on the stairs like all the celebrities! It was so cool, not gonna lie. They were actually setting up all the stuff for the festival because it's in a few weeks. After taking pictures on the stairs and looking at all the handprints on the ground from celebrities we tried looking for somewhere to eat for dinner. Of course no one could agree on a place, and we ended up going back to Nice and bought more stuff from the grocery store and ate at the apartment. I was fine with that but at that point I really wanted sea food so I was kind of bummed that we didn't eat in Cannes. The last picture is of me on the red carpet. My shirt matches, which is lame but whatevs, it was the red carpet and it was awesome.Saturday was my last day in Nice so I thought it would be a good idea to walk along the boardwalk to the old part of Nice and hang out there. I had my map and I figured it would take us like 20 minutes to walk down there. I was wrong. It was like an hour long walk just to the old part of town. My feet were so sore because I decided to wear my new sandals and they a
re pretty flat. We also ran into a scary fist fight between 2 guys while we were walking. That was fun....The view from the boardwalk was amazing of course! I really enjoyed old Nice. There were all these tiny roads and cute shops. There was even an open air market going on when we arrived which was really cool. I saw a lot of restarurants that I thought might be good for lunch because I figured that going out for lunch would be much cheaper than going out for dinner. However, everyone wanted to go out for dinner, so I missed out of sea food again. :( I bought something for home...I won't say what it is, but I think it's pretty cool. We walked around forever looking for this H&M that Jacqueline wanted to go to but once we found it we discovered that it was closed because it was May 1st and I guess that's some big holiday here or something. At that point I really had to pee and my feet were hurting so bad. Me, Diane and Jacqueline got the key from Colie and left to go back to the apartment because we all needed to pee. It took us an hour to walk back because I walking so slow because my feet really hurt. We finally made it back to the apartment and I couldn't of been happier. This picture is of the old part of Nice. The streets were so small!!
re pretty flat. We also ran into a scary fist fight between 2 guys while we were walking. That was fun....The view from the boardwalk was amazing of course! I really enjoyed old Nice. There were all these tiny roads and cute shops. There was even an open air market going on when we arrived which was really cool. I saw a lot of restarurants that I thought might be good for lunch because I figured that going out for lunch would be much cheaper than going out for dinner. However, everyone wanted to go out for dinner, so I missed out of sea food again. :( I bought something for home...I won't say what it is, but I think it's pretty cool. We walked around forever looking for this H&M that Jacqueline wanted to go to but once we found it we discovered that it was closed because it was May 1st and I guess that's some big holiday here or something. At that point I really had to pee and my feet were hurting so bad. Me, Diane and Jacqueline got the key from Colie and left to go back to the apartment because we all needed to pee. It took us an hour to walk back because I walking so slow because my feet really hurt. We finally made it back to the apartment and I couldn't of been happier. This picture is of the old part of Nice. The streets were so small!!Everyone else got back an hour later. The plan was to hang out at the apartment for a little while and then go back out for dinner, but that never happened. Everyone was pretty tired so we just decided to get pizza from this shop down the street. It was pretty good but it wasn't sea food. I guess I did save money by not going out to eat but still....I really wanted some muscles! I went to bed around 11:30 that night because I had to be up at 4:30am to get to the train station on time to head back to Paris.
It was quite an adventure getting back to the train station. The bus didn't start running until 6:05 and I was afraid I would've missed my train which left at 6:35 if I took the bus. The sun wasn't even up when I left. I also had a hard time getting out of the gate of the apartment complex because it was locked. Luckily this guy was leaving in his car to go to work so I just left when he opened the gate. I ran into 2 drunk guys in their 20s who didn't have nice things to say but I just ignored them and kept walking. I also stepped in dog poop too. Great. I got to the station around 6:05....I left at 5:15. Needless to say, it was a long walk in the dark. The train left right on time and I had my own seat until the last stop it made in Avignon when this woman got on and sat next to me. It wasn't that bad because it was only like 2 and a half hours from Avignon to Paris. I read a lot.....117 pages of Eclipse, which I started reading again because the movie comes out 10 days after I get home....duh! We got to Paris around 12:10....a few minutes early. I was pretty tired and wasn't looking forward to the 30 minute metro ride back to the apartment. I walked home in the rain from the metro once I got to my stop. I wasn't very happy.
Norton flipped out when I opened the door. It was cute. When I got into my room I noticed that Renee mopped the floor and she bought me a plant. It's cute. The flowers are white and look like little bells. She clearly missed me. I tooks a shower right away because I felt disgusting and then did laundry and ate a quick lunch. I tried not to take a nap because I knew if I did I wouldn't sleep at night. I ate dinner and Renee came home around 8:30. She asked how my trip went and I told her it was good, but not very sunny so I wasn't as tan as I wanted to be. She laughed. She then said that Jean-Francois was coming tonight (again) for a week. Seriously, I see Jean-Francois more than I see Renee! He got here around 9 and said hi. I went to bed at 10:30 because I was so tired and fell asleep right away and didn't wake up until 8:45 when the construction noise started. They are working on the electricity throughout the apartment complex and it's very loud and annoying.
I ate a very fast lunch with Renee and Jean-Francois and then rushed to school to find out that my class was cancelled. It would've been nice to know that it was cancelled before I left, but they don't do things that way, you have to wait until the secretary (yes, we have a secretary) to put a note on the door at 2:05pm (class starts at 2) saying that class in cancelled. So, I left and went to Starbucks and then to the store to pick up some bread and then headed back to the noisey apartment. Renee and Jean-Francois were like what are you doing here? and I told them that class was cancelled. I also don't have class tomorrow so awesome.
Jean-Francois took another bath today....thought I'd mention that because it's weird. Now he's making dinner and it smells so good. This week is going to be super crazy. I have a test Wednesday, going to the ballet at the Opera on Thursday, and then Saturday and Sunday I'll be in the Loire Valley looking at my future homes.....Chateaux. hahah. I'll try to update, probably on Friday so keep an eye out for that.
Sorry this post was so long....I had a lot to explain
Bisous!
also, I didn't proof read this because it's too effing long to read again. Sorry if stuff is spelt wrong
No comments:
Post a Comment