South of France

It rained a little on the train ride west but we slept for most of it so it really didn't matter. When we woke were in the South of France city of Nice. We saw Monaco along the way but I'm glad we didn't get off there because although it looked really pretty it was small and just had rich people, beaches and stuff. Maybe we'll stop there when the band gets big and tours Europe. We decided to eat breakfast in Nice which worked out well because we were really hungry. I think all of the walking and lugging the bags made us wanting food all the time. More so than we are normally. We had crepes ( I had a nutella flavored one) and cafe-creme which were all tasty but could have been more filling. After that we were off to burn a few calories. We walked with our backpacks and bags down a main street to a large fountain and then to a local market. No one spoke English so we didn't really talk to anyone. We made our way to the beach which was really blue and we would have so went in the water if it wasn't 9:00 AM and overcast and we had beach towels and beverages and stuff. The strange part was that there wasn't any sand, just little rocks covering the ugly dirt only a few inches beneath. I took a small stone as a memento. We walked up a big hill to a lookout called Lou Casteu, again with our heavy bags, which was strenuous but worth it when you got to the top. The viewpoint of Chateau de Nice was a former castle in the 13th century but was gone by the 17th century. Too bad. We were there a while taking photos of the beach city of Nice and the dense buildings that comprised the downtown area.

We headed back on the train and them stopped in to Cannes for lunch. It would have been more impressive if it hadn't been raining. The film festival ended but a week or so earlier but the town was quiet already, maybe the weather did something with that as well. Not much to see here except expensive shops, lavish hotels on beautiful beaches. Don't get me wrong, it was nice but I'm sure much more impressive when there are tons of celebrities and paparazzi around. At least walking around this time we didn't have our bags with us as we had checked them into a locker at the train station. Our next stop was to be Marseilles but Tesfa had recommended steering clear of it so we just went directly to Aix en Provence which is where our friend Joey was staying for work.

We caught a later train than expected and by the time we got into town all of the rooms had been booked up. Change in plans. So we had dinner with Joey and walked around a lot, again with our packs, and then when Joey went home we decided to pull an all nighter at a cafe and take the first train out to Paris. The night was a much longer ordeal but it will be easier to tell you in person all that happened then write it all here. I'm just glad it worked out fine, even after getting kicked out of the casino. Not much to do in Aix. Small French town that might have been explored more but we would need a car. Off to Paris!