The Grand Entrance

So, our arrival to Nice was anything but elegant. Upon entering the Nice Train Station, we discovered that Katie had to work and we were on our own in this foreign city, with over 120 lbs of luggage each. Making best of the situation, we started to walk....and we walked, and we walked, and we walked in an attempt to find somewhere to stay. When walking didn't work, we stopped in front of a flashy casino and stole Internet from the cafe across the street (yeah iPhone!). The casino didn't like this too much, and I believe they thought we were trying to beg in front of their luxurious establishment, but all they really did was stand outside and stare us down. Anyways I digress, we found a hostel a few blocks away and started to walk again. Finally finding the hostel we discovered that it was 3 stories up in a country that doesn't believe in elevators. 120 lbs of luggage up 3 flights of stairs? No way, we opted to walk some more. Down to Old Nice to City hall, back up again...and I believe this is the part in the story where both our bags break. Now seeing as all that broke was the clip that attaches both our giant bags together, combined with the fact that they are insured for 10 years, this really shouldn't have been that big of a deal; but we were tired (no good sleep for over 48 hours) and hot (wearing jeans and sweatshirts in 23*c weather) and I think we both almost ended up in tears. More determined than ever we found an Internet cafe, drinks and booked a hostel in the mountains. To get there it only took a Tram ride, followed by a shuttle (that we only caught by like 2 minutes, otherwise we would have had to wait 6 hours for the next one, stupid shuttle hours care of the hostel). Once there, we showered and slept. Next stop in our journey was a visit to Katie's and dinner at an Irish Pub called Ma Nolans where we ate cheese burgers (very French I know) and played Thursday night trivia. In case you wanted to know, our team didn't win; there are definitely some hardcore players present at this game.

Friday we managed to miss breakfast cause we slept in til almost noon, which kinda messes up any plans you may have for the next 2 hours cause everything in this city, make that CONTINENT, closes from noon until whenever they feel like opening again. We did manage to find a grocery store, however, that was open! Amazing.... So, armed with a baguette, grapes and some nasty green tea drink that tasted more like floor cleaner, we were off to the beach. Stones or not, the beach is wonderful. The view of all the topless women and speedo-wearing men was not much to look at, but it was wonderful just to be able to relax for a bit. All good things, unfortunately, must come to an end, and before you know it we were off to get our phone number and a place to live. The phone part was easy, the apartment part - not so much. With probably 100 Immobiliers (real estate offices) in this city, only a handful rent furnished apartments; so one after another were told to keep walking. Finally we managed to book an appointment to see a little studio in Old Nice, but neither one of us were hopeful.

With doubt in our minds, we headed back to the hostel and proceeded to post an ad on angloinfo.com (an Anglophone website for those traveling to countries where English may not be the first language). Before you know it, we received an e-mail from a woman letting us know she had an apartment for rent in downtown Nice that included wireless Internet, and free international phone calls - oh wow - this sounds too good to be true. After having exchanged e-mails with this woman, it was agreed that we would meet to see the apartment at noon on Sunday.

Saturday after an uneventful day, we celebrated the 23rd birthday of our new Aussie friend, Bethany. Accompanied by cake, candles, and all, the entire hostel joined in singing happy birthday while Bethany was so embarrassed, she blew out the candles before the song was over. BOO! We met some more friends that evening, including many more Australians (one which was 19, newly married and traveling without husband), a Kiwi, a handful of Americans, and a couple of Canucks. It was a gloriously fun time indeed!

Next - SUNDAY.... we're getting closer at catching up. Only 6 more days to write about!