It's Lovely in Nice

Last weekend, we decided to travel somewhere to see both the sun and the snow. We went to Nice (pronounced Niece). The weather was so nice, smelling and appearing just like Florida. Nice is located in Southern France, just off of the Mediterranean Sea. I initially had no desire to travel to this country, but have since changed my opinion, particularly of the southeastern coast... Yes, that is right, we were just a taxi ride from Italy. There was such a mix of French, Italian, and even Spanish culture in Nice. And, just a few miles inland, were the French Alps...blanketed in snow. It was the most amazing thing to see snow in such a warm climate. Here are some photos of the location...and the beautiful beautiful waters of the Mediterranean Sea.Elizabeth thought it was a nice day too!A{We went down to the water and dipped our toes in....but oh, there were tons of people swimming. There were even men sun-bathing in thongs: a site I had not yet seen prior to this trip. If you can notice the lady in the upper left hand corner of this photo for a moment. It was so funny, because she was there with two of her girlfriends, and they were just having the time of their lives, laughing and videotaping each other and such. Quite funny:)This is Old Nice. It is so beautiful...lots of shoppes and lots and lots of food. DELICIOUS food. One of the many fountains in Nice. Here is a photo of the alleyways in Old Nice. This is where all of the shoppes are located. Lots of neat things, but more so tons of designer clothing, bags, and gloves....very expensive.Mmm...this was my meal the first night. Sooooo goood. I don't know what it was called. I just saw a man next to me order it, and I pointed to it when the waitress came over to take our order. The biggest difficulty for me was the language. Yes, many people speak English in this area of France, but everything is written, spoken, and phrased in French. There were a few times that I would walk into a store, and I guess someone would be talking to me, but I had no idea....until they finally realized I was American. There was a footpath with all of these naked statue men on very high pillars. We were so confused of their purpose.

Then, later that night....we discovered just exactly what they were intended for....light. If you can see, they are all glowing a different color...pink, purple, blue, green, etc.

For breakfast, we were on the prowl for some good French breakfast: crepes...and after about 45 minutes of searching, we finally found what we were looking for... Unfortunately, the crepes are not pictured, but they were delicious.

We found this wonderful candy store with barrels and barrels of candy. They had the most unique candies...I was so excited! (if you could not tell from my face).

And just like that, Nice was over. And, it was back to the cold weather of Dublin. This was one of the most unique trips that I have ever been on, but so exciting and so peaceful. I rode the plane over to Nice with my professor Mary Moloney. She told us that Nice is like the Florida of the States. Many people just go there for the weekend, many have apartments, and many even celebrate their birthdays in the lovely town. I think Mary and I both celebrated quite well.

Here are some photos of Nice from the plane as well as the French Alps.

...I so badly want to go back... Oh, and I think we are now HUGE fans of gelato....so much better than icecream (I never thought I'd say that).

And, here is Adam later eating his super long snake from the candy shoppe. He was so happy he found this candy. Boys....