Bonjour...

That is about the extent of my french! Not really, as I have picked up a few words, but not much more. Well let me warn everyone that this is going to be a bit of a longer entry since I have a few places to share about.

Once I finished my time in Spain, I headed off to the French Riviera for some days of basking in the glorious sun. Let me just say, I could spend a whole 3 months here and be happy. I stayed in Nice, which is not my favorite town, But it makes a great base to get to the other towns around here. Nice itself does not have very nice beaches. They are not pebbly, they are lfat out rocky and you really can not lay comfortably on them. I explored the town some my first night there, but after 11 hours on a train from Barcelona, I was not in too much of a mood to do anything. The one thing I did find in Nice that I was super stoked on was Cacao ice cream. Now for those of you who do not now, Cacao is this amazing drink that it made in Nicaragua and I hardly ever see anything anywhere that is Cacao. As I was wandering one night around Nice, I stumbled accross this ice cream place that caught my eye because it must have had at least 60 flavors of ice cream, one of which was Cacao, so I had to get some and it was great!

I went to Monacco the next day, which is the worlds 2nd smallest country next to Vatican City. That place was great! It is like the Beverly Hills of the French Riviera. The streets all all perfectly manicured and lined with palm trees. It is a very clean city and the whole harbor is lined with private yatchs. I got there and went to see the changing of the guard at the palace and from there, there were some beautiful views of the city and the water. I then went to an aquarium they had there because one of my guidebooks recommended it and for students, it was not that much. It had the best collections of coral I have ever seen and so many types of fish. I actually enjoyed it much more than the Monterray Aquarium. While I was there, I of course had to go check out the famous Casino Monte Carlo and see it in all its glory. That is a truly ornate building and very nice looking on the outside. There is even "Approrpiate Attire" required to get in, although they did not explain what that was. The guard did not seem to like my flip flops because he kept pointing at them and saying something to me. Finally, he just waved me through and let me in. Outside the casino, I had to take a picture becuase the cars lined up were: Bentely, Bentely; Lamborguini, Mercedes, and Mercedes and as I was taking the picture, another Lamborguini pulled up.

The water there is a beautiful blue color. It is extrenely clear and very shallow for a long ways out. There are not big waves, but just the right size that you can bob up and down in them. It is clear and then goes to turquoise and finally a crystal clear deep blue color. I am heading there tomorrow to do some tanning.

My 2nd day, I went and checked out Cannes. That was a great day. I got there, found a beach, and passed out the entire day. I met some girls from the UK on my way there, so I hungout with them all day, which was nice. I walked around the town a bit at the end of the day, but there was not too much to see there. I did go and see the auditorium where the Cannes Film Festival is held and the handprints outside like the ones that are at Mans Chinese Theater in Hollywood.

My roomates at this hostel were 5 Irish guys who I swear were speaking a different language even though they swear it was English! They were all friends and talked to fast, it was really hard to keep up. They just laughed at me and would slow it down when I got lost (as I frequently did). They were lots of fun though.

After 3 nights, I headed to Avigon in Provence, France. I really enjoyed it. It is a very old city that is built along the Rhone River and it is a walled City with only 4 or 5 entrances. The city itself is a tanlge of old streets and passageways that I got lost in. Normally that does not bother me except there are only 2 public restrooms in the town and I needed to find one and was having issues due to being lost! There is an old church and Papal Palace there and this wonderful park overlooking the enture countryside and river. My 2nd day there, I made good use of this park by taking a nap in it. I also went to Arles, another city in Provence just about 30 minutes away. I walked around and happened to be there when there was a Spanish fesitval going on and they let loose some bulls to run through the streets. That was interesting. Unfortunately, I did not get to see any lavendar fields in bloom because I missed the blooming season by about a month or so, but I took the bus back to Avigon and got to see some of the French countryside and it was beautiful and green. There were lots of farms and plants growing and the air in Provence smelled very crisp and fresh.

I headed back to the French Riviera for 2 more nights where I will spend tomorrow taking in some sun in Monacco before I am off to Italy.

Au revoir for now;