emma leigh’s antarctic blog

well, i met my roommates this morning at 4am when they rolled in completely drunk, loud, and slamming doors. it was 3 australian guys: doug, chaz and marty. they talked a bit and then finally passed out. it took me until about 5:30 to fall back asleep.

i was out the door at 8am, and on the bus down to vieux nice to check out the fresh fruit and flower market. it was sooo nice! i got some raspberries for breakfast, and then caught the bus to eze village.

eze village is a medieval village. it is astoundingly beautiful, and has great panoramic views of the cote d’azur. i took a ton of pictures, i felt like every time i turned the corner it deserved to be photographed.

i paid the 5 euros to enter the jardins exotique, and walk to the top of eze. it was so nice. while sitting by a fountain, a woman who had been on my bus came down to lounge with me. her name is ayako, and we realized we were both going to monaco. so we travelled together for the rest of the day!

we headed to monaco, and boy was that astounding. what a small place, and yet it is so crowded, and so rich. we went to the casino monte carlo, walked along the streets lined with shops (gucci next to valentino, next to hermes). then we took the bus to monaco-ville where we ran into some canadian bagpipers. they were quite a hit. we checked out the cathedral where grace kelly married prince rainier. then off to the highlight of the trip to monaco.

This was ayako’s idea, i will give her total credit, but i am VERY glad she thought of it, we took a cab ride along the monaco grand prix course. it was really cool to drive along the same roads as the formula 1 drivers. there’s one part of the road that has the start line painted on, so we got out of the cab to take a picture of that. we stopped at the automobile club as well to take some pics of the F1 engines in the window.

after monaco, we headed back to nice by way of the scenic bus. we drove along the coast just as the sun was setting behind the clouds. it was great!

back in nice, we walked through vieux nice, and then had dinner. we also took a little walk down to the shore. it was really quite beautiful.

onwards to the hostel, where i have the 7 bed room to myself this evening (so far).

off to bed, and italy tomorrow (as long as i don’t get lost!)

well, i have arrived!

i made it safe and sound, after a cancelled flight, rescheduled flight, and a delay on the tarmac in nyc, i’m here!

i had a nice long post written about this, but i lost it, and i’m exhausted, so i’m not retyping it.

 i’m staying at the villa saint exupery in nice. i took the bus in to the city centre, place saint maurice, this afternoon. as i was getting off the bus, the sweetest little old woman helped me find the phone booths. she was also giving me directions to walk to the hostel. i nearly forgot, she insisted on dragging along my little red suitcase, the one with wheels. what a sweetheart! her name is angelique, and she saved me today. thank you angelique, wherever you are!

so, i called the hostel, and they came to pick me up. i checked in, i’m sharing a room with 3 other people, though there are 3 open beds still. there is a distinct “petit prince” theme to the hostel that i love. i took a nice shower, and then headed out.

i took a walk down to city centre, and i do mean down. the hills here rival san francisco, for real. i had a light dinner (costing under 2 euros) and then headed back up to the hostel to relax a bit before tomorrow

tomorrow i will take the bus to old nice, to the fruit and flower market. from there i’ll take another bus to eze village, a medieval village up on a hill. from eze i’ll take the bus to monaco. from monaco i’ll head back to the hostel, to rest up for saturday, when i’ll travel to ventimiglia, italy. it is really quite close, so i’m going to go into town early, stow my bags in a locker at the train station, and then walk around old nice for a bit before heading out.

and for now, i’m going to pass out, and try to catch up on some jet lag!