Click for French Riviera Guide
On Wednesday night Zimmy came to Florence again! I skipped my WWII class and instead we watched episode upon episode of Dance Moms and Dance Moms: Miami. I missed her! We went to get pumpkin ravioli, but apparently it’s out of season so we didn’t get any. The next day I went to class and then we left for the French Riviera to meet Grace!
There weren’t a lot of people on the trip so we each had our own seat which was very nice. We got into Nice very late and we were put in a room with 12 other people. It was an interesting group. Someone asked if we had hairspray in the morning while she curled her hair… Needless to say, we made no friends but at least we were all together.
like why?
It was pretty dreary so we didn’t go to the beaches, but it was still gorgeous in Nice. We took a walking tour where Grace chatted up the tour guide. The highlight, I think, was the “Buddha Plaza” with multiple light-up Buddha’s in either fetal or kneeling position. It was strange. Zim had an interview in the hotel after the walking tour, so Grace and I set out looking for cheese. I was SO in the mood for cheese. We bought brie and rice cakes and ate it sneakily in a McDonalds, terrified that they would find us and kick us out. Then Zims met up with us and we walked around some more, hiked up to this really pretty view, and I played in a park with small children. We also got THE BEST ICE CREAM (after Lisbon). I got rose, avocado, and speculoos flavor but they really had every flavor imaginable. And it was all quite good. We then got dinner…..and went back to the hostel. We were really tired. Skipped out on the “dancing on tables” our program promised us, although we peaked in and no one was dancing on tables.
The next day we got up to take a bus to Eze where we went to a perfume factory (I think I zoned out through the whole experience) and then waiting on the bus in the pouring rain while everyone else walked around. Thanks, but no thanks. Zim and Grace literally had a rap off on the bus and were being terrible. They were singing songs I don’t know and rapping and comparing house music: I watched an episode of Dance Moms and had none of it. I miss them so much. That’s what life was constantly like in our apartment. Although I do have to say I know A LOT of Lil Wayne (I prefer to over-annunciate and refer to him as LiTTle Wayne and then spend the next 20 minutes in a Jenna Maroney accent).
may the odds be ever in your favor
We then went to Monaco! Fun fact: for those of you who aren’t aware, Monaco is one of the richest countries in the world with the highest per capita income ($186,175). If you know how per capita is calculated, that’s a lot. Well one of my favorite quotes from the trip was this one girl who said “I mean I guess I’m just not phased by that because in D.C. everyone makes six figs.” We couldn’t help but laugh at that because this girl clearly just had no idea what she was talking about or how per capita works (it’s $28,659 in DC).
Monaco was gorgeous. We saw the palace (hey Grace Kelly!), I ate a pot of mussels, and then we went to Monte Carlo. It made me a little uncomfortable because it felt like people were like “hey let’s go to the museum and watch rich people live!” as if that was some sort of tourist attraction. But the casino was gorgeous and we gambled a bit and Zim won some petty change and it was a lot of fun. We then went back to Nice where we got sushi for dinner, had more delicious ice cream and went to bed.
Additionally, brace yourself, humans, for I invented the best candy ever on this vacation: soft marzipan imbedded with crispy M&Ms. You’re welcome, world.
The next morning we woke up, checked out, and headed for Antibes. The yacht show was there so that was pretty cool, but we didn’t go in because we had reached our yacht quota. We went to this outdoor market where we got delicious dried fruit and walked around some more. It was gorgeous out. We sat in a park drinking coffee and enjoying everything and then we headed back to the bus where Zim left to go back to Copenhagen and Gracey and I went back to Florence for the week!!!!!
It was such an amazing weekend and not even sad to leave because Gracey was coming back to Florence with me and I was seeing Ali in springfest the next weekend so we left on such an excited note. But it was great being with them. As Michelle’s hostmom would say, and then Molly and Ali would repeat in a high-pitched voice: “we laughed and laughed”
whatisshedoing 