Entries about sunny

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