French Riviera

This one was a very long train ride... I don't know how Colette does it, maybe she is narcoleptic, but she falls asleep within the first 20 minutes of any ride on any moving vehicle! Me, not so much. I doze, but it is never a good sleep. Grrr. When we finally made it to Nice, our first reaction was our misery in the absence of Italian gelato. There are ice cream shops, but we won't eat it. Oh how I miss thee gelato.

So we wandered, found the beach. It was 4 in the afternoon, so we decided to wait until the next day for that. Instead, we found the ancient city, and a park including waterfalls. I love waterfalls, they're just fascinating. This one even included a fun path that led behind, looks like it used to lead to a secret tunnel, but it is blocked off now. Later we met some girls in our hostel that are also from Edmonton, and they took us dancing to a little place called Waynes. Live music and dancing on tables - alright!

The second day started with our immense excitement for the beach, but we had to stop at the reception on our way out. Here's the fabulous thing about France - Colette speaks the language!!! I'm still lost and look like a fool, but at least somebody understands. So little miss bilingual starts chatting it up with the receptionist (male - you flirt) and BAM we have a free room upgrade to a private 2 bed ensuite. SWEET!!!

So eventually we made it down to the beach, and you'd think it would be after noon by now, but apparently our bodies have semi adjusted, because we are up by 9 am most mornings without an alarm. (That's 1am at home - oh jet lag I do not look forward to you) We spend the day lying in the sun, and swimming in the Mediterranean. It was cold and salty, but once you got in there and kept your mouth shut, it was fabulous. Now we figured we were smart and put sunscreen on several times throughout the day. However, apparently we suck at putting it on evenly and thoroughly. Yes ladies and gentlemen, we got burnt - bad. Perhaps the surprising part is how much worse Colette is burnt compared to me. So the last few days after the fact have been a little slow as we despise putting on clothes, and waddle down the street.

Later that evening, while we were cooking ourselves up some grub, we met... drumroll please... our swedish boy!!! His name is Dan and he was very funny. We also met a couple aussies, and a young lady from England/South Africa. So we partied the night away with them, and even ate a whole apple pie (only shared a little :p)

(In the picture, Dan is in the yellow, the one in white is Ben, one of the two aussies we met)

Now we're in Marseille, and honestly wishing we were back in Nice, and hurting a little, but still having a good time. We do alot of wandering, eating, and more wandering. We eventually found a map and some aloe lotion for our burns, so the evening improved. We spent alot of time wandering around the Old Port, which is basically the origin of the city, complete with fortresses guarding the entrance. Marseille is the second biggest city in France, second only to Paris, with alot less to see - unless you are still in the mood for endless museums and cathedrals. In France we discovered an appreciation for bakeries and pastry shops - this afternoon we ate an entire strawberry tart to ourselves. But keep in mind that this tart was likely intended for 6+ people. Later we plan to eat (we're gonna get fat) crepes, and have seafood & crème brulée for supper. We justify the large quantities of food by the large quantities of walking (or waddling) we do each day.