How Nice...

So I thought that Paris was the best place in the world. Then I went to Nice....and oh man! It was incredible! Okay okay, so I do love Paris, but I guess both places have their own amazing qualities. Paris is more of a tourist/monument/museum spot, whereas Nice (pronounced "niece", although when it is pronounced "nice" it provides many punful opportunities) is more of a vacation spot.
We left early on Thursday morning (woke up around 5:30 am!) to arrive at the Gare de Lyon on time. Once we located our friends, we hopped on the real TGV and headed down to the coast! The landscape was rather diverse. I fell asleep to a cold and dry Paris, woke up in the middle of a winter wonderland, fell asleep again, then woke up to a sunny and warm-looking beach.
We walked from the gare in Nice to our hostel where we lucked out. We paid 15 euros a night, were about a 3 minute walk from the beach, and we were located in between a Louis Vuitton and an Armani. I don't know if the regular rooms were full, but the hostel manager decided to give us 4 girls 2 different private rooms that run at 60 euros a night per person. And on top of that, Karin and I got to take our first real shower! We been getting really tired of this whole bath thing. :)First things first...we put on our swim suits, shopped around in Old Town a little bit and ran down to the beach! It was too cold to actually get into the water, but it was more the principle of the matter. It was really only about 50-60 degrees, but that is so much better than the snow we've been having in Paris! After playing in the rocks, we located some ruins on the top of a big hill and climbed up it. What a day!
The next morning was February 13, but Chris (the only guy with us...lucky him) thought we'd celebrate Valentines then since we'd be on the train on the night of the 14th. He woke all four girls up with pain au chocolat in bed! What a sweetheart. We then got our gear on to go biking on the boardwalk! After about a two and a half hour struggle to get food, medicine, and to spend some time laying in the sun and skipping rocks, we finally made it to the bike rental shop! We had a few hold ups, such as a little bike tumble with an old man, but that didn't stop us. It was at about this time that Karin and I giggled with glee at how wonderful our lives are. We were riding bicycles on the boardwalk along the Cote d'Azur in a happy French town on the Mediterranean Sea. Does it get better? I think not...We returned to the hostel to change into warmer clothes for the evening and were pleasantly surprised at what our little Chris had done! He took it upon himself to have 4 Valentines this year. While we had all been sleeping in that morning, he had arranged for the concierge (I don't really know what else to call him....the hostel man) to leave a rose and a box of chocolates on all of our beds. And then Chris took us all out to dinner! We love him. And we definately think that he put up with a lot this weekend...I mean 4 girls! I think he felt like our dad the majority of the trip. But we're grateful for all his hard work keeping us safe and sound. :)
That night was the beginning of Carnival in Nice also! It was lots of fun. We walked right out our hostel to the middle of the parade. It was quite the party! We got silly string attacked about 30 times each, and covered in confetti as well. We went back to the hostel and spent our night being astounded and Chris' card tricks. Yes that is right. He had four girls all to himself for 3 days...and he showed us magic tricks.
On Saturday we rode the ferris wheel at the carnival. I thought I was going to have a heart attack, or throw up. Good thing I had my sun glasses on so no one could see tears start to form in my eyes. I inherited this incredible fear of ferris wheels from my mother. But I was okay the second time around! Still thought I was so nervous I might puke though! This picture is just as we started to go UP! I couldn't bring myself to smile...We spent a little time at the carnival watching some puppet shows and other fun things (shopping included, of course), then we spent about a million hours deciding where to eat before we hopped on the train. We had quite the adventure of a train ride as well! Not only did we luck out and get the smelliest footed person in the world to sit behind us, but we also were so fortunate as to experience what happens when he takes his shoes and socks off and sticks the big smellers into the aisle. Yuck! We took naps, read our books, and played a hilarious game of charades on the trip!
We got home rather late, but we got home safe! It was such a fantastic trip and we are so happy that we chose to go to Nice for our optional travel time. It is a beautiful city and I'm determined to return at some point in my life.