Hi Everyone,
Sorry it has taken me so long to post my blog- I've been busy with finals and saying goodbye to my friends who have already headed home. I finished up finals about two weeks ago, and have been spending my free time since then exploring Paris. I will be staying here in my apartment with Mariah until June 26 and then I set off on almost two months of traveling before I go home on August 14th. I am going to spend about 10 days in the Czech Republic staying with Annie and Joel and exploring more of Eastern Europe. Then the three of us are heading to Berlin, where I will spend about 5 days and also visit a friend there. Next Next I'm off to Italy, where I will be traveling around the Amalfi Coast by myself for 10 days. Then I meet back up with Annie and Joel in Croatia for a bit, and then end the summer with a 10 day cruise through Greece with Annie before we both head home. I am very excited about all my travels, but I can’t believe my time here in Paris is almost up!
Anyhow, right before finishing up classes and finals, two of my friends and I took a five day trip to the south of France. We stayed in Nice and took daytrips along the coast. We had a wonderful time and I absolutely loved exploring the Riviera. We got to Nice and experienced some rainy weather at first, but luckily the sun came out very soon after our arrival and we got beautiful weather for our whole trip. We stayed in a great hostel right by the beach and had easy access to the bus station, so we decided to explore as much of the south as we could while we were there. We spent our first full day in Monaco and Monte Carlo, which was quite the swanky experience. The casino in Monte Carlo was beautiful and very ritzy and the harbor there was quite a sight to take in- with cruise ships and gorgeous yachts lining it. I especially liked Monaco, because it was a bit prettier and less commercial than the Monte Carlo side. After a nice afternoon spent exploring that area, we stopped in another small town named Villefranche and sat along the water there for a while before heading back to Nice. We decided to take advantage of our close location to the water and the three of us enjoyed a nice evening eating a picnic dinner and drinking wine on the beach, before going out and tearing up the one bar we could find that was open in all of Nice! The next day we took a daytrip to Antibes, which is a gorgeous little town with a beautiful coastline dotted with colorful houses. We had a nice picnic lunch there before taking the bus next to Cannes, where we spent the afternoon exploring the town and sitting on the beach. Although Cannes is pretty, it is not nearly as glamorous as I was expecting given that the film festival is held there and it is known to be roving with celebrities. The town lacked the character that the other towns along the French Riviera that we visited possessed. On our third day we visited Menton, which was surprisingly my favorite of all. It was a great find, seeing as how it was not one of the most highly recommended towns to visit. We relaxed on the beach for a bit and then I spent hours wandering through the backstreets of the old town, getting lost among all the gorgeous, bright houses and hidden alleyways. It was a photographer’s paradise and I spent hours roaming around and taking tons of pictures. My day in Menton was absolutely perfect. I got to do all of my favorite things- enjoy some beautiful weather, explore a charming little town, and take oodles and oodles of pictures. Our final day of the trip was spent in Nice, lounging on the beach and seeing the sights in the city. Nice also had a gorgeous old town that I had a great time walking through and taking pictures of. I also walked up to a great lookout point overlooking the city, as well as a lot of the rest of the Riviera, which provided a stunning view. I absolutely loved my trip to the South of France and it definitely ranks as one of my favorite travel destinations. I was so in awe of how gorgeous, yet full of character all the towns I visited there were. I definitely hope to return sometime later in my life.
I’ve also had a few other adventures around France this month. I spent a weekend in the Normandy region of France with my study abroad program visiting the D Day beaches, cemetery, and museum. The weather was a bit overcast, but it was still really cool to get to see all the beaches where such an important part of history played out. It was a bit eerie to walk around on the beaches and see all the deserted bunkers and huge holes that had been left in the ground. We also visited the cemetery in the area, which was really pretty and overlooking the ocean. There was a group of people there who were descendents of soldiers who died on the beaches and were buried at the cemetery so we got to see the big procession they did to honor them, which involved the national anthem being played and the folding of the flag. It was a really cool experience. We ended our trip with a visit to the World War II museum in the Normandy region. The museum was very interesting, but I did not like it as much as I was expecting after hearing rave reviews about it from some other people. I found it a bit confusing and thought it could have been organized a little better. However, the trip was great overall and I am so glad I got a chance to see the D Day beaches, because that has been something I have been interested in doing ever since I arrived here in France.
Our program also took us on a daytrip to the Burgundy region, which was another cool French outing. We first visited a chateau that was modeled after a 13th century French castle. It was cool, but a bit bizarre because it was in the process of still being constructed. It is being built by a group of people who are using only 13th century methods, so we got to watch all the people dressed in medieval attire cutting the wood and constructing the chateau. It was interesting to see, but not exactly my cup of tea. Then we visited the town of Auxere and got a tour of the huge cathedral there that was quite impressive. We ended our daytrip with a visit to some caves were sparkling white wine is made and we got to have a sampling of their product, which was really fun. It was a really neat daytrip. I really enjoy getting outside of Paris and learning more about the rest of France because it’s so easy to forget sometimes that there is life beyond Paris!
I’ve just been spending the past couple of weeks roaming endlessly all around Paris. I have done SO much walking through all the different neighborhoods of the city and have gotten to see so many cool back streets and different neighborhoods that I never knew existed. I’ve been really enjoying seeing all the different socio-economic areas of the city. It’s really fascinating to see how quickly the city can change from one neighborhood to the next, within just five minutes walking distance. It’s been so wonderful to be able to have free days to visit all my favorite parks, museums, and neighborhoods in Paris. I discovered a great, classically Parisian café the other day in my old neighborhood that I lived in last semester and have started going there regularly, which is also really exciting for me because I am so glad that I finally have a café of my own and got over feeling intimidated by the whole scene. I have almost 3 weeks left here in Paris and am just trying to soak it all in as much as I can before I move on to my other travels. I spent almost everyday eating a picnic lunch on the Seine in my favorite spot and have started running regularly in Luxembourg Gardens, which is also really nice. Annie is coming to visit me in a week, which I am so excited for. We will get the chance to have a wonderful weekend in Paris together.
Here is a link to an album of Paris pictures from all my wandering:
http://s159.photobucket.com/albums/t156/MaggieMadden/Paris/.