The riches of Southern France

The morning of our last day in Paris my mom and I had to get up pretty early to finish packing and catch our train to Nice, France.  We took another TGV and originally when I looked at the tickets I thought it was only a 4 hour trip like our trip from Aix to Paris, well it was closer to 6 hours.  Opps, probably could have looked into flights instead of the train, o well.  We were able to sleep most of the way and I could write in my travel journal I've been using to keep track of memories and places I have visited and things I've done everyday since coming to France.  We were very hungry around 12 and still had an hour or so on the train, so we pretty much wiped out the rest of the provisions I had brought for the trip.  When we arrived in Nice everyone was still wearing big winter coats and my initial thought was that we hadn't escaped the cold! Nope the French down south just over react to cold weather and wear winter coats up till the last day of cool spring like weather.  When we got off the train we both shed our coats and headed off to find our hotel.  We were a pretty good walk from the train station and at the time I booked our hotel I knew it was pretty close to the ocean but didn't realize it would be so far from the station.  Once again we had a tiny two person elevator, but this time the elevator stopped on the floor and not in between floors.  I had rented us a hotel room that had a 180 (ish) view of the Albert 1st gardens just north of the ocean and old Nice.  The carnival parades and festivities had been the week prior to us visiting Nice so all the floats and decorations were still out and the city was covered in silly string and confetti.  Carnival is a celebration leading up to our version of fat Tuesday which brings Ash Wednesday in the catholic church or in other words it's Europe's Mardi Gras.  Our room did indeed have an almost 180 degree view of the gardens and a small balcony.  The bathroom was much smaller than the one in Paris and we later found out that the walls were paper thin and we could hear everyone's TVs blaring at night (all night).

We started out our adventures in Nice, France by doing a little shopping in the boutiques and souvenir shops in Old Nice, and wandered along the Mediterranean ocean, and then found the Negresco Hotel.  The Negresco Hotel is right on the beach and a little over the top for my taste, but fits in quite well back in the day when Nice was developed by American and English vacationers and wanted somewhere very lavish to stay for a week or two.  Even the bellhops and concierge had costume like uniforms.  We walked around the main lobby and found a room of statuaries so of course I will include those photos for you.  After seeing a hotel we could never afford to stay in we decided to go back to retail therapy.  Like I had mentioned in a previous post our feet had developed blisters and were so soar from all this walking so we stopped into a pharmacy to find some kind of foot padding or protection to alleviate the pain.  My mom had found a sport like foot padding in France that was working quite well for her so this very nice pharmacist tried to help us find the same product in his store.  Finally a nice French person, granted he is not a stuck up woman, he was a very nice French person.  He chatted with us for a while about our stay in France and spoke English very well so my mom was able to converse with him as well.  He went so far as to call other pharmacies in the area to see if anyone had this type of foot support and offered to have the product brought to his store for us.  What a nice man.  We declined his offer since the pharmacy that had what we were looking for was just down the street and we were headed that way anyways.  I guess there is a small ounce of customer service in France.  

Before we could even think about finding a restaurant for dinner we had to get gelato.  On the way to this famous gelato stand I had been to before in the Old Nice we found an outdoor cafe that served this really neat focaccia pizza dish and said we wanted to come back to that restaurant and try it.  Each night we went back and they told us the kitchen had closed for the night at 7pm.  Then how are you going to make money if you're not open to serve food?  Whatever France. We successfully found the gelato stand and each ordered three different kinds to share.  I ordered Bueno, which is a chocolate candy bar in France, raspberry, and tiramisu.   My mother ordered pineapple, a red fruit yogart, and a chocolate cookie gelato.  All very good selections.  We found a cafe that serves Italian hot chocolate, which is basically chocolate syrup heated up and served in a cup to drink, so it's very thick and rich.  We never ended up going back...

For dinner that night we found a nice Italian restaurant on this main street of fine dining restaurants.  I ordered a focaccia with mozzarella and lettuce and tomatoes.  It was basically a salad on a giant focaccia bread.  My mom ordered a risotto dish and we shared a 25 cl. carafe of Lambrusco (an Italian wine).  It was a rather fitting meal considering we were about an hour from the Italian border.  Our bellies were full and we were tried from walking and traveling so we headed back to the hotel  room to catch some sleep before going to Monaco and Monte Carlo the next day.

The next morning we woke up early yet again, this seems to be a pattern on this trip... so much for vacation sleep in time.  We figured out how to use the tram system in Nice, but didn't figure out how to buy tickets to ride the tram, so we ended up riding for free.  No big deal I do it in Aix all the time (no seriously I do).  We figured out which train to take to go to Monaco and hopped on board ready for our last day of our adventures in France.  The train dropped us off in between Monaco and Monte Carlo so we started out on the Monaco side to see the palace, the exotic gardens, and the harbor.  When we got out of the train station we were a little turned around and finally realized that we were at the bottom of the hill where the palace sits.  Great we get to walk up a hill.  So many steps, but thank god for the view.  When we reach the top of the hill we are just to the left of the palace and mother is looking around for where this grandiose palace should be.  Nope it's nothing like Versailles just kind of another building the seems a little important, but only because of the fake canons sitting out front.  We snapped a couple pictures and figured that was that.  We explored parts of the exotic garden and were in awe and amazement by the harbor and the homes stacked up the sides of the cliffs and mountains.  We found the church where Princess Grace Kelley is buried, but it was closed today so we couldn't go inside to see her burial place behind the alter.  A quick little history lesson to get you up to speed on Monaco and Monte Carlo.  Monaco is a principality surrounded by France.  They have their own government and Prince (who lives in the palace) and don't pay taxes into France, actually they don't even have an income tax.  No wonder they are so wealthy.  So prince Albert the first, the father of the current prince, married Grace Kelley, who was born and raised in Philadelphia, PA and became a movie star in hollywood.  They had 3 kids, a boy (the current prince) and two girls.  One day Grace Kelley was driving home from their vacation home in Italy with one of her daughters and their chauffeur. Princess Grace asks the chauffeur to pull over and let her drive with her daughter for a while because they needed to have a private discussion, which ended up getting rather heated.  All in all, Grace Kelley lost control of the car and ended up dying in a car accident on Rue Turbie, but luckily her daughter survived.  They say if the medics had brought the princess to the hospital in Nice she would have survived, but since they took her to the hospital in Monaco
(I believe) they were not ready and equipped to deal with the situation.  Unfortunate story, but now she is a legend that will love on in Monaco.  Monte Carlo, which is right next to Monaco is where the famous Casino and hotel are located.  In other words lots o money!  We tried to do a little souvenir shopping, but everything was so expensive in comparison to Nice we decided to just wait till we got back to Nice to buy any last minute souvenirs.  We were headed in the direction of Monte Carlo when we say a huge crowd surrounding the palace and figured it was the changing of the guards ceremony since it was almost noon.  So we pushed out way to the front of the pack (very European of us) and watched the guard do his routine of walking back and forth and back and forth for almost 10 minutes.  He finally started to head towards the main entrance of the palace and we were thinking the new guard would come out and that would be that, neato!  Nope he went back in his little guard shack and was done.  That was a bit of a disappointment so we headed to Monte Carlo.  

We walked along the very edge of the city where it meets the harbors and looks out onto the ocean to get to Monte Carlo.  A lovely walk but so many hills!  We finally reach the Casino and figured we couldn't get in since we are middle class and are not renting a $1000 room from the hotel so we just took pictures from the outside.  We didn't spend much time in Monte Carlo, found a sandwich stand to get paninis for lunch and took an early train home.  We had had enough walking and getting lost for one day.  

Back in Nice we rested in the hotel room for a just a short while and figured we should take in as much of the city as we could with what little time we had left.  Nice is my favorite city in France so I was down for that.  We shopped in Old Nice a little more, and tried to find a restaurant for dinner.  Unfortunately the one we wanted to try with pizza focaccia was closed since it was currently 6:30pm and the kitchen closed at 7pm, what?  We walked up and down the streets and hostess after hostess read off the menu to us trying to get us to come eat at the restaurant.  Too many offers for the nights specials and offers of "complimentary drinks" was enough for us to go looking for dinner in another part of the city.  We eventually found a very typical French restaurant that served in the very typical French style.  A long meal in other words.  I ordered French onion soup and my mother ordered some kind of pasta in cream sauce.  This restaurant actually served butter with their bread, which elated my mother.  After dinner we returned to the hotel since we had to get up early, yet again, for our train back to Aix.  When we got back to the hotel our favorite night concierge was working.  Not! we came to hate this man.  The first night we mentioned to him that we couldn't get the elevator to work on the 3rd floor and didn't know why.  Later that night when we came back to the hotel he asked for our room number, which I told him (even though he had this information), and said that if there is ever a problem again with the elevator he will be sure to call our room because apparently we were the ones that did not close the door all the way to properly operate the elevator.  Yes of course, how could I forget that it is also the foreigners fault, never the French.  Righty-o sir!  This particular night, when all we wanted to do was pack up and go to bed to be ready to leave in the morning, he proceeds to ask us if we will be checking out between the hours of 7:30am and 8:00am or after 8:00am.  I don't know... I think 8:47am to be precise sir.  I don't know when ever we get up and moving, why does this matter?!  Well if we were planning to check out before 8:00am we will be paying him in the morning, if we check out after 8:00am we will be paying his college.  Ok duh! that's how a hotel works.  I may be American, but I'm not retarded and I'm not trying to run out of this hotel without paying, even though I so could right now.  So we decide fine we'll pay now and get it over with so you don't think we're cheapskate Americans.  He tries to run the first credit card through the machine, doesn't work.  Tries a second card, doesn't work.  Tries a third card, doesn't work.  His proposed solution as to why this is happening:  our credits cards are maxed out and it's not his machine that is causing the problem, it's our credit cards.  Right you are again, it's our fault.  So he tells us we can either wait till the morning or go to an ATM and withdraw the cash.  Side note: when you withdraw money from a foreign account in a European ATM you get a transaction fee and exchange fee.   With the credit cards, there is no additional fee (now this just happens to be with the credit cards we have, not the case for every credit card company).  So we decide fine old man we'll play along and go with draw the money and treat ourselves to more gelato for having to deal with you.  It was very good ice cream.  We did not pay him for fear that he might misplace the money and blame us for this misfortune.  We finally make it to our room so fed up with France and it's people.  

The next morning we got up in time to pay for our hotel and take the tram (with a valid ticket this time).  We got on the train and were very ready to get back to Aix, and I think my mother was very ready to get back to the US at this point.  When we were getting off the train in Marseille (our connecting station to Aix), we had put our luggage in the storage compartment in between train cars.  There was a pile up at the exit door because people boarding the train were trying to get on before the people who were trying to get off the train could de-board.  We both had had enough of this European self centered-ness to last us a lifetime, and not in the mood to deal with this.  My dear mother, knowing she couldn't communicate with the people here used hand signals to try to communicate with this French lady that she only wanted to grab her suitcase and needed to reach in front of this French woman for just a second.  This French woman would not have it.  She informed my mother (in English) that she would like to get off this train (duh who wouldn't?!).  So my mother, holding her own, replies, Yes I would like to too.  The snotty French woman says, Well I'm French and I know how this system works.  Ok what does that have to do with anything? you're in the way!  Of course we let her go first because she was "right".  As I was getting off the train this older heavy set white haired French woman starts to put her suitcase on the train blocking the exit, and looks at me and asks if I'm planning to get off the train (in French).  (In my mind: No I'm going to stand here alllll day!)  I reply yes I am trying but you are in the way.  She replies, well hurry there are many people waiting.  I had had enough so I shoved her suitcase back off the train and left it laying on the ground on it's side, got off the train helped my mother de-board and prayed to God I can go home soon and get away from these crazies.  Too bad I couldn't go with her and escape this place for even just a little bit.  The train ride back seemed to take forever but we finally made it back to Aix and made the trek up to my apartment.  This walk back really wore my mother out and I think the jet lag caught up with her because she slept for about 4 hours on my pullout couch/bed while I chatted with Cathy about our trips.  I went on a couple errands for my mother to buy a few last souvenirs for friends back home.  She packed up her stuff and we got to bed pretty early since we had to be on the airport shuttle bus by 5:40am, which meant we got up a little before 4:00 am.  She had been told to get to the airport 2 and a half hours early because the check in process a the Marseille airport takes that long.  So we get there with exactly 2 and a half hours before the flight checks off and we are told we have to wait an hour and a half before they will start checking in people on her flight.  What is going on France? get your stuff together!!  Luckily we had a very nice airport personnel looking up my mother's flights and printing her boarding passes.  He spoke French pretty well and explained everything step by step to her and was very nice.  It's amazing how when you find one person that is the equivlant of just being nice to if they were in the US, this person becomes a saint in France.  You're not going to find a lot of nice people in France, not even in Nice (haha, ok bad joke).  She was finally allowed to go through security and get to her gate in just enough time before the flight took off.  We kissed and cried and said good bye and I was off to catch the shuttle bus to Aix to try and get more sleep.  I had a midterm to study for that day.  I get to the shuttle bus 5 minutes before its departure time and the bus was locked and couldn't see anyone on it.  I waited in the cold till about 6 minutes after it was scheduled to leave and I see the bus driver sit up from between a two seats, yawn, stretch, and wipe his eyes of sleep and make it to the front of the bus to let me on.  Seriously, you were SLEEPING?! I know there is some crazy stuff going on in the US right now with local and state governments becoming a little too radical, but I'd totally trade for that right now to escape this stupidity and absolutely rude country.

My mother and I had a wonderful trip together, don't get me wrong I know I have been complaining a lot about the people, but all things considered we had been wanting to take this trip together for a while and all in all had a very nice time.  Lots of great food, amazing places to see, and fun to experience a totally different culture together.  I think I wore her out so it was probably bet that our vacation was only about a week.  

Observations:

1. I probably don't need to say this again, but 90% of the population in France is rude, just like their stereotype.  They sure live up to it.  When you find one nice person they become a god send to your day.

2.  European hotels suck in comparison to US hotels.  The bathrooms are so small and gip you on toilet paper and towels.   The beds are small and hard, and the "wireless internet" never actually works.

3.  Gelato will always beat out ice cream, no matter the flavor.  You must experience real gelato at some point in your life.  It's an eye opening experience.  I promise.

4.  Foreigners, especially Americans, are always wrong when dealing with a French person, no matter the topic.

5.  I love my mother so much for making the trip all the way over to France and going along with me to so many places and seeing so many things, even if she was exhausted and her feet her.  She was a trooper and stuck in there.  Takes real strength to keep going when all forces are pushing against you to stop and rest.  God bless you mom you are a saint.

Well my dear friends and loved ones, this concludes my recollection of my trip around France with my mother.  Hope you enjoyed the pictures and stories.  I will be trying this next week to get my blogging back on track to its usual schedule.