Cannes!
Rainy Day in Cannes
Monte Carlo!
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Monte Carlo Casino
Monte Carlo Casino
Harbor in Monaco
Beautiful beach in Nice!
Christmas Tree!
Chateau de Vincennes
Chateau de Vincennes
Tennis Match
It is has been a couple of weeks since I caught up on my blog but I am finally sifting through pictures and thoughts and have time to post. I went to the French Riviera this past weekend, but before I get into that a few Paris stories first.
I was sitting in class with a friend who told me he was going to the BNP (The sister bank to BofA) tennis match that night. I had seen some billboards in the metro but since it was a BNP Paribas Masters Tournament, I assumed it was outside of Paris and very expensive. I grabbed my Juliette that night and we went only one metro stop away to Paris Bercy to the Palais Omnisports stadium. We decided to check what ticket prices and availability were for the match. It was only 10 euro for a decent seat and we would get to see two matches, one being between Monofils, Berdych, and two others. We saw two exciting matches and later in the week tennis champions like Federer, Roddick, Nadal, and Soderling played.
The next night a great family friend named Lisa came to Paris before a trip to Africa! We all went to a lovely French dinner that was delicious! Foie Grois, Escargot, and red wine...just about my favorite french foods! It was great to see a familiar face in Paris!
The following night I had another treat and went to dinner with my good friend Flannery, her mother who was in town, and Juliette. We had been wanting to go to Cafe de Flore, as it was once the center of philosophical debates in Paris. We had an excellent dinner and enjoyed getting to know Flannery's mom as well.
That week I also visited L'Orangerie, a museum adjacent to Jeu de Paume at the end of the Tuileries. It was by far my favorite museum that I have seen. It features a lot of impressionistic art from Monet to Cezanne, Renoir, Matisse and even Picasso. Monet's water lillies sprawl out over the entire wall space of a room. So beautiful! There is a Monet exhibition at the Grand Palais that I have heard is incredible. I booked my ticket over a month ago and manged to get one final slot that had not yet sold out for my last week in Paris. L'Orangerie made me very excited for the exhibition.
Last week, I went to Printemps and Galeries Lafayette which are decorated so beautifully for Christmas! The window displays are so festive and stringed lights hang from the overhead of the department stores. Inside the scent of eau du parfum floods the many floors of the stores filled with beautiful clothes, shoes, accessories, and of course macaroons and champagne for the hungry shopper. A large Christmas tree in the middle of the department store extends all the way to the top encouraging Paris to get into the holiday spirit.
I also decided that I wanted to go to Chateau de Vincennes with my friend Jonathan while there was a break in the rain. It is a castle on the last metro stop of line 1 and it was so fun to see one in Paris. It had a moat, draw bridges, a chapel, and a lookout to see all of the grounds. It was lovely to finally see it!
Now, finally...The French Riviera! Even though it is the off season, I have also wanted to see the southern French coast. I went with one of my friends from UCI also studying in Paris. We flew into Nice and laughed at hour similar the airport was to John Wayne in Orange County, small pretty, and lined with palm trees (minus the Hermes and other luxury good stores in the Nice airport). We took a bus with directions to our hostel stating "we are between the Louis Vuitton and Armani stores." We knew we had picked a good place. We drove by the beach before heading into Old Town and it was absolutely beautiful! We caught a beautiful sunset before arriving at our hostel which although was advertised as such was actually simply a very affordable hotel. We were about two blocks from the beach and in the heart of the amazing shopping Nice has to offer. Our room was fabulous as well, big beds, a clean nice bathroom, and a cozy homey feeling, we didn't want to leave! The next day we explored Nice in the morning which to our surprise was gorgeous, sunny, and still warm! My friend actually took a brief dip in the water on the beautiful pebbled beach. For lunch, I had been dying to go this restuarant I had read and heard about near the shore in Nice. It was called "La Festival de la Moule" which serves endless moules frites (muscles and french fries). We arrived and there is a large selection of moules and I decided upon the garlic and white wine. They bring you a large bucket, a roll of paper towels and separate bucket to toss your shells in. It was delicious and after we were through, our waiter insisted we try another flavor. He surprised us and brought me a lobster moules bucket and my friend a white win and cheese flavored one. We left very full and very happy!
The same day we took a train to Monte Carlo, Monaco, just a 20 minute ride away. It was absolutely breathtaking. I have never seen a place more beautiful in all of my life. It was glamorous, with a gigantic harbor full of pristine white yachts. Enormous houses clung to steep cliffs over the crystal blue water. Palm trees lined every street and each building was more beautiful than the next. We walked down to the famous casino with gushing fountains leading up to it. I am not really very into cars but upon arriving there were the classic old cars and new fancy ones everywhere. I remembered that the Formula 1 race takes place here each year leading me to think that beautiful cars were here year round. There were decadent shore side stores and then a promenade above the sea. We walked down the acutual beach were was gorgeous. I can only imagine how amazing it would be in summertime! It was absolutely exquisite and while I believed it shared similarities to Southern California and Hawaii, its European influence made it so special.
The next day, the rain came unfortunately, but we were prepared with warm coats and umbrellas and headed in the other direction to Cannes! I have always wanted to visit this area for its beautiful beaches and of course the annual film festival in May. Even rainy Cannes was gorgeous. It too had a large harbor for yachts and we saw the audoritorium for the festival which is literally on the beach. It also had shore side shopping with nearly every designer you can think of. It had a long flat promenade which stretched for miles along the coast.
The Riviera was more than I could have imagined. I have never seen a place so gorgeous and it is somewhere I would live instantly if I had the chance (of course though, who wouldn't?). I can only imagine how idyllic it would be in the summer, during the season! I can only imagine it would be paradise and I have decided I must return as soon as I possibly can! I fell in love with this little piece of paradise and ironically enough our hotel was on Rue du Paradis.
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