Un weekend magnifique!

Salut tout le monde !
Long time, no entry. Classes have been going well, keeping me busy. And things are good with Marie-Do. Tonight she’s coming back from Corsica, where she went with her brother for a family thing. So I’m on my own. But that’s okay, I have a lot to write about (you’ve been forewarned).

This weekend was the first Abroadco excursion, besides the daytrip to Marseille the first weekend, and we went to Nice, Monaco, and a small village called Eze. It was an amazing trip, and I already want to go back to Nice. I’m thinking maybe I can convince my mom and my aunt Missy to go when they visit. Shouldn’t be too hard, right? Beaches, sun, good food.

Anyway, we met early Saturday morning to get on our charter bus. Also on the bus was the CEA group. CEA is another study abroad company that has a group of American students here. Actually, two of the Abroadco girls live with the CEA program director, Karen, and the two directors know each other very well. It was interesting to have the two groups there. CEA has about 25 kids and there’s definitely a different dynamic, besides the difference in size. But more on that later.

The drive to Nice was beautiful, especially after we passed Cannes, where we started seeing the Mediterranean and the Alps further inland. The geography here is really amazing, I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s very hilly, or I guess mountainous, but not like the Adirondacks or the Alps I saw in Switzerland. It’s all sandy-colored and very jagged. I guess you might call them bluffs. And I don’t even know how to describe the trees. I’m sorry, usually I’m good at describing nature-y stuff, but it just shows how utterly new this environment is for me.

When we got to Nice, we were dropped off at the Promenade des Anglais, the walkway that runs parallel to the shore, about 20-40 yards back from the water. One of the CEA directors pointed out where Angelina Jolie gave birth to her twins. I still don’t approve of her, especially since she and Brad Pitt chose these really pretentious French middle names for the twins. Just because you own an estate in the French countryside….

Well, then Pamela led us to the “vieux marché” or the old flower market. Now, it did happen to be Valentine’s Day, but I didn’t really notice many arrangements specifically for the holiday, maybe more roses than usual. But the market was huge and had all kinds of vendors, not just flower stalls. There were spices, savon de Marseille (a very famous soap), fruits and veggies, cheese, baked goods, and wonderful marzipan creations of everything from cherries to crocodiles. It was incredible. That and, even more than Aix, Nice has very colorful buildings. I’m no art major (I think my parents are thankful for that, at least), but from what I learned last year in Nantes about the French impressionists and now seeing what they painted, it’s no wonder you see such clear, vibrant colors. Especially the yellows and oranges and blues. The typical provençal building is a warm yellow or orange with bright blue shutters and the hacienda-style orange, tiled roof. I love it! It makes everything seem so much happier.

After thoroughly exploring the marché with my friends Annie (just spent 4 months in Uganda for the first half of her gap year before Princeton) and Allison (almost graduated history major at Auburn) and buying a picnic lunch, I walked up to the top of a hill that had these wonderful views of the city. We ate and then waited for the sun to peak out from the temporary cloud cover before taking many, many pictures.

Next was the Bataille des Fleurs, the Battle of the Flowers, for which Pam had given us tickets. Every year Nice has this parade on the main drag next to the Promenade des Anglais, and it’s to celebrate spring, specifically the blooming of the mimosa tree which is said to usher in the season. Apparently there is a mimosa flower in the American South as well, but it’s very different. The Mediterranean mimosa is yellow and has very small, fluffy, almost Seussian blossoms. They have a very sweet smell as well. So anyway, during the Bataille des Fleurs, the costumed actors on the floats throw sprigs of mimosa, and eventually the other flowers that absolutely cover the floats, to the crowds. This year’s them was “Masquerade”, so the floats and the costumes revolved around masks, deceit, trickery, et cetera. It was a great experience, I couldn’t believe the floats and the costumes. There was a balloon suspending this incredible trapeze artist who was doing tricks while being pulled along the parade route over the crowds. Also, there was a huge mechanical dragon that swung its head and tail and blew smoke. I took about 200 pictures of it all.

We left Nice after the Bataille and a walk along the beach and arrived in Monaco around 6pm, so it was already pretty dark and a bit brisk. By the time we went to the open-air restaurant for dinner (funded by Abroadco, thank you), it was positively chilly. But we were right next to the port, so we could see all the yachts and fancy sailboats. Dinner was great, if a bit slow; we didn’t leave until after 11:30pm. Appetizers were tapas-like, and the entrée was chicken with a creamy mustard and caper sauce and roasted potatoes. Dessert was a kind of apple crumble and chocolate fondant combination with whipped cream.

It was really enjoyable, but we were there with CEA, and wine was included in what the two programs had paid for. So it was really then where it was clear how the two groups differed. In our smaller group there isn’t an anti-party person, but there is absolutely no pressure to go out. Maybe there isn’t any pressure within the CEA group either, but they were rather fish-like when provided with complimentary wine. That’s okay, but I definitely did not appreciate it when they decided to start singing the national anthem. Luckily, no one else was at the restaurant but the 45 of us. I guess I’m just glad I’m with Abroadco, not just because of the different attitude towards socializing but also the dynamic in the smaller group.

After dinner, a few Abroadco girls went to the American bar, but the rest of us went into the entry room in the Casino, which was gorgeous. Two of the girls went into the blackjack room and said later it was really cool to watch. Pamela also snuck us in to the Hotel de Paris, this gorgeous hotel. There were only about seven of us and we were decently dressed from dinner, so we managed to look nonchalant enough to wander around for a couple minutes before being asked if we were staying there. Then it was back to the hotel, since I was very cold and exhausted.

The next morning, after breakfast at the hotel, we went up to ‘the rock’ where the royal palace and the cathedral are. There were gorgeous views and I don’t even want to know how expensive it is to rent an apartment up there. Annie and I went to the Museum of Oceanography, well really just the aquarium part. Because we did that, we didn’t have time to see the exotic gardens before going to see the changing of the guard at the place. But, I must say it was still worth it. They had an impressive variety of species and I actually got some decent pictures.

The changing of the guard was interesting. The Grimaldi family has been ruling for the last 700 years, which isn’t that long in comparison with ruling families from centuries ago, but today it’s bizarre to think that a 700 year-old monarchy is still kicking.

On the way back from Monaco, we stopped in the village of Eze, where we visited the parfumerie Galimard. We took a tour and then had a little lesson on how to try out perfume. And they actually had perfume, as opposed to eau de toilette or eau de parfum, and it was cheap! I bought a 30mL bottle for 33€. Then my friend Danni (goes to Chatham, just 10 minutes down the road from Pitt!) and I walked up the hill to the town on top of the hill. It was a gorgeous view, the houses looked like they were about to fall off the mountainsides into the Mediterranean.

All in all, great weekend! Already I’m thinking of ways I can get back to Nice. That was really my favorite part, and not just the Bataille des Fleurs either. The whole place was colorful and interesting. Also, full of older people…but whatever. That’s it for now (as if it wasn’t plenty). Here are the links for photo albums. There are four albums up on Facebook, but I’m still working on getting the second half of the pics up on my Google web albums, so check it later if you don’t see the Monaco and Eze albums.

Facebook links (for anyone):
Nice 1
Nice 2
Monaco 1
Monaco 2/Eze

Web albums here.

A bientôt!
Maggie B.