Entries about festival

Today was another rough day to wake up to. I needed breakfast because I had not eaten since lunch yesterday. Breakfast was Comprises of orange juice, a chocolate filled packaged croissant, and some dried bread biscuits with jelly. This morning the hostel had a free walking tour around Nice. Anything free is a good thing especially backpacking. Most of my roommates went on it and even had some poeple from the hostel join us.   Diana an aussie from Sydney had joined us. She too was backpacking solo and wanted to see what nice was about. We waited for a long time until finally out tour guide showed up. I didn't get her name but she was studying abroad and was feom the Ukraine. This wasn't a job and she was using this tour and others to help her learn how to be a professional tour guide. She had all her facts in order and was very interactive. She led us to another hotel to pick some more of the group up but no one showed. She took us first to a square that had 7 sitting down statues. Representing all 7 Continents sitting and talking to one another.  Then there was the statue of appolo. The statue had some history to it and apparently had gone through quite some surgeries due to his genitalia being too much for the public. The story is pretty long but funny when you think about it. So the local didn't like the size of his manhood and they decided to shorten it. Then they didn't like it because he was still naked. So they all hid him inside a stadium and he wasn't seen for 30 years. After that time a journalist heard about a statue that had been hiding and with the help of alot of votes and people the statue was put back and decorated. Now the locals didn't mind it and is now a big spot in the heart of Nice. We walked over to the market and saw alot of fresh fruit and cheeses. The tour guide told us to buy some food for a picnic that was scheduled for later on in the day. So i bought strawberries and oranges. She also told use about a local dish from Nice called Socca which is Chick peas cooked till it turned into a thin pie. I didn't try it because i was fixed on taking footage and picture of the market. Everything was very fresh even the fish with the clear eyes an no fishy smell. Around noon a loud cannon had sounded and she gathers us all to explain what had happened. Back in the day a very rich and powerful man lived in nice. He had a wife that loved to wander around Nice and sometimes came home really late. He wanted to set up a system so that she knew what time she had to be home and what time it was. He convinced the mayor to fire a cannon everyday at noon to alarm the wife of the man so that she knew it was time to come home. Everyday since that day a cannon is sounded to follow the tradition. We walked over to old town nice were the churches were very nice and had been open to the public for tourism. We started to hike up a mountain called the château. It had a man made waterfall and and a greatview. So mid way up we walked passed the waterfall and got nice and fresh from the mist blowing from it. A but higher we came upon a clearing and had a great view of nice and the picturesque azur coast. Higher up we reached reached the tope were some ruins of an old castle had been preserved and the rest had been made into the nicest public park i have ever seen. We all sat and started to have our picnic.  The strawberries were all really tasty and the orange was super juicy. I good snack especially after the hike. We even played a game called mafia were it's kind of like duck, duck, goose but for adults. Soon the tour was over and do Reva wanted to go to the beach. The swedish guys and Daina joined and we all walked back to get changed. The day was too prefect to not go to the beach and i couldn't wait. Soon we all changed and walked down to the shore. The beach in Nice is a pebble beach so it hurt to walk on. I wanted to jump in immediately but had to put sunscreen on the tattoos to protect them. The water was pretty much a polar plunge and hurt alot. For the beach to be so bruit if up but painful was a horrible contradiction. I knew now why the locals were not swimming.the weather then started to turn dark and it was about time to head home. So we made it back inside and i made it back first so I took the opportunity to take a quick shower. When I got out everyone in the room was on their phone and was planning for later on in the night. I bought some smirnoff because It was hot and It wanted something to get refreshed. So i bought the big bottle and next ring you know I was learning games like cheers to the governor and kings cups. 1,2 bottles went by and then we took over all the tables in the lounge and had had a great time. Then new people in the hostel wanted to go to waynes and the others knew the.way so we walked altogether to waynes. As soon as I got there I ordered a desperado. Such a great drink....I don't know why the states doesn't have it. The crowd was on full rowdy mode and wanted to sing along to all the songs they played. As the night progressed I noticed a large amount of poeple stuck at the bar and the Canadians had met even more Canadians at the bar. I wanted to get into into the mood with everyone else but I wanted to leave early tonight because tommorow was an early day trip to cannes and Monaco. Around 1 am Reva and some others from the hostel started to walk back to the hostel. When we arrived we were very quite and got in bed very quickly. I woke up the next morning very early and went down to the breakfast. Reva and Daina were up ready and I also met the 4th member to out crew. Corey....Another Canadian. Good poeple though and had been travelling for a while. We all walked to the train station and deciphered the electronic ticketeer because it was all in french. We boarded the train train and it took 20 minutes to arrive at cannes. Today was a special day it was the kick off day to the Cannes Film festival. I heard about It and knew what it was about but didn't imagine been their in the time that it would happen. We walked headfirst into where the action was going to happen later. Unfortunately alot of things had been gated off and one needed an exclusive pass to go any where.  So we walked along the beach and enjoyed the weather. I should've worn a tank top today because i need to fix my farmers tan asap. We walked by by the yachts ans talked alot about travel and future en devours.  We headed back to the original meeting point and walked to old cannes. When we arrived we took some pictures and grabbed a snack at the local eatery. Reva, Daina and I had to part ways with Corey because he was staying in Cannes  for the day and had already been to Monaco.  We took the train to Monaco and had a quite and sleepy ride. When we arrived we had some issues trying to figure out up from down in the train station. The train station was all the way up top and what we wanted to see was on another mountain and down sea level. We started the hike towards the castle. The same one that Nicole kid man Is the princess or queen of in a new movie. The castle had an amazing view of Monaco and we we got  another tourist to take our picture. He asked use where we were from and we answered texas, australia, and Canada. His face was very perplexed and and he asked me later how did I end up in a group like that. I told him we were all backpacking and staying in the same hostel. Now that the castle had been explored we needed to go down to the grand prix track. It was very hard to find the way through closed off roads and barriers. Luckily we found it and even walked on the pier where the very expensive yachts all sit. We all just stared and imagined what kind of life such wealthy people lived. We took one last group picture and headed back to the bus stop. Corey told us to take the bus because It was cheap and great for scenery and pictures. He was right we all took left side window seats and took In the scenery from the coast. Soon we arrived in nice and walked through the park. The park here was so nice and well taken care of. It even had mist fountains to cool down. We arrived at the hostel and we're were all going to make dinner. The community kitchen was lively and I made some curry noodles that needed some microwaving. We We ate and chatted. Tonight I didn't want to drink because I had a long day day of travel to lyon. We all said our farewells and went to bed. Off to lyon!

“A traveller without observation is a bird without wings.” – Moslih Eddin Saadi



I got dressed quickly today because I had woken up late and it was already 0945. I needed to get to the train station as soon as possible because I new it would take a long time to get to france today. I hopped on the local bus to the trains and arrived in about 10 minutes. I had to wait in line for a ticket and the line was fairly short. The next train towards Milan was in 30 minutes and I needed to take another train from milan to Ventimiglia which is really close to the French border. The train ride to milan was on a bullet train and it was very fast. I arrived at milan and immediately noticed the local gypsies pestering new tourists for money. They asked me if I needed help but I just waved them off and they figured quickly I new how to get around already. I even helped some people that waved them off but still looked confused on where to go. The station in Milan was already screaming fashion from the designer stores inside the station to the locals and poeple walking around. I was do out of place but didn't mind because I wasn't getting off. The next train to Ventimiglia was really long and I had a cabin with 6 other seats. My neighbors comprised of an older italian lady who I presume was someone's planner because she was hectic in the way she received phone calls and jotted down new notes and names on her planner and she was always shaking her head as if disappointed. The other neighbor next to me was some punk older man with gauges in his ears and a KKK shirt. And lastly a small family of what may have been people from northern Africa. It was pretty warm inside the cabin and i didn't understand anything anyone said. Luckily I had music and had time to catch up on the blog. For 5 hours I wrote alot and ate a sandwich I made for the trip. Soon i finally made it to Ventimiglia and all the signs in the train station were half french and half italian. I had to catch a train to Les Arcs which would stop by Nice-ville. I made to Nice around 8pm and the soon was still present. The sun in europe doesn't set till 9 PM or later so it makes the days feel longer. I walked to the Hostel Meyerbeer and checked in. My room had 8 beds mixed dorm style with an en suite bathroom. My neighbors were inside and they all introduced them selves. A girl from Winnipeg Canada named Reva. 2 swedish guys named leenus and Ollie. Later on I met my other 3 roommates who were also from Calgary Canada and we're from Alberta which I soon found out was canada's version of texas. The swedish guys proposed we all go buy alcohol to start the night.  So we all left to the only open liquor store in nice and found that the prices were all slightly higher. I settled for a french beer and they had all bought lagers and cider. We took the drinks to the lounge and all drank and met other people staying in the hostel. Apparently all of Canada was on holidays because I met nothing but Canadians their. Montreal, torronto, Vancouver, Victoria, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, and some others. The guys from Edmonton had to been a a bar the previous night called Wayne's world.  So we all started the trek towards it. It was already midnight and we made it to the bar 15 minutes later. When we entered the bar the atmostphere was fun and lively.  The local all talked and drank amongst themselves while everyone who could speak some form of English somehow made friends. I had been giving a nick name for the night and was dubbed Big Texas. It was all fun name especially when we all had a toast and somehow I had been called loudly by the fellows for Alberta to toast with them. I was drinking recommended drink called desperado. It was a corona with lime and tequila mixed and and was very sweet. It tasted like red Fanta so you can guess how easy it was to drink and finish. The bar was playing interesting 90's music and some new music. Even when the songs were in english the locals all new the words and sang along prefectly. The night was still revving up and the people got even frendlier. Finally the bar had made a final call and was about to shut the bar down. The Canadians decided they were going have the closing son for the night and all sang the Canadian anthem which I reordered from the corner of the bar and caught everything. The bartenders rang the bell again for closing time but the Canadian s sang even louder. Soon some of the local started to humm the song and it ended very nicely. I was the camera and all the Canadians wanted me to add them on Facebook to share the video. I even got a great group picture. The walk back was long and I we all got scolded for being too loud. The hostel had closed and the door had a code you needed to use to open the front door. We were all pretty drunk to understand which code to use and it took s good while before some one got it open. My roommates and it were really loud and nd didn't mean to but we were drunk. We had one roommate who didn't party or go out. She was from shanghai and was very quite. She was sleeping heavily and didn't notice us getting in. We all got ready for bed and went to bed. 5 minutes later we all heard a commotion inside the room and heard someone stumbling towards the bathroom. Leenus the swedish guy didn't make it to the bathroom but found the room trash can Instead. When he threw up well all woke up up and started to laugh at the situation. His accent then changed to a very western accent and kept on saying "alright". He walked into the bathroom with the trash can and didn't turn the lights in and we asked him if he needed needed the light on. He answered "I'm alright I got this" and closed the door behind him in the pitch black bathroom. I got up quickly and turned the bathroom light. For a while we all stayed up and talked a bit but fell asleep shortly after.

"Stop worrying about the potholes in the road and celebrate the journey."-Fitzhugh Mullan