New Life Plan

I quickly glanced at what I wrote yesterday, and you know what? I can't for the life of me remember what the hell I did yesterday after I finished typing! If I repeat myself, forgive me.

I know that one thing I did was go check out the Russian Orthodox church here in Nice. It's supposed to be one of the best examples of its type outside of Russia yadda yadda yadda. It was really pretty on the outside.... And then you pay 3 euros to go in and discover that it's tiny. Like, a single small room tiny. And it's covered in the same art style I left behind in Italy. Doh.

After the church I ended up just moseying around residential areas. It was quite a nice walk because there were no tourists, just people doing their regular thing. I ended up down at the beach again and decided to chill on a bench and people watch.

Now, Italy and France have issues with illegal immigrants, especially those from Africa. Every time I turn around, I seem to be getting accosted by one of them (or some other poor legal immigrant) trying to sell me something or whatnot. (E.g. in Rome they give you a rose for "free" and then ask for money after you take it. Or in Milan they give away "friendship" bracelets... And then demand money.) My new defence is to just talk in a different language until they go away. But I'm in Europe where everyone's multi-lingual! How can I fool them? I talk in Chinese.

While I was on the bench, some random guy (who was probably actually another tourist) came up and tried saying something to me so I tell him (in Chinese), "I don't speak Chinese." (I'm just yammering whatever sentences come into my head.) He tries again in French. Mau says, "I'm going to the train station." He tried for a good five minutes to talk to me, going through every language: French, English, Spanish, he even asked if I was from Holland or Japan! LOL. I'm like, "Get a hint buddy!" Seriously, most people give up after a few sentences, but this guy was persistent! He finally did leave, but now I'm curious as to why the hell he was trying so hard. I watched him walk away, but he didn't try talking to anyone else nearby.

After the beach I moseyed back along the side streets and ended up finding this small grocery store called "Casino." I nearly bypassed it except that I saw melons in its window... I ended up buying myself my dinner, some snacks, and a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon (it cost me less than 3 euros!) I made it back to the hostel and cooked up my food and sat with some random people.

I chatted with an old guy (turns out he and I were in the same room) from Michigan, a 31 year old guy from South Africa, and several Aussies. It was a great evening and we had fun. I'll admit that I was a bit fuzzy from the wine - I caught myself though and forced myself to hold off on finishing the bottle till was I was de-fuzzed.

At 9PM the hostel's patio was closed and we all got turfed out. I met up with another group of people and we ended up going to the beach together to chill out. It was great - first we went to this bar called Wayne's and then we gave up on that and went to flop out on the rocks. We were there till nearly 1:30AM before we ventured back to the hostel.

I felt bad upon entering the hostel room - normally I'm the first one in the room at night so I don't disturb people. This time though, I was the last one in and I had nothing laid out so I was rummaging through my bags, using my cell phone as a light source because we only have 1 big overhead light, etc. However, apparently I didn't wake anyone up because they were already awake... The old guy from America snored like a chainsaw. No. Louder than a chainsaw. The first night in my hostel, I was the first one in and I slept with my earplugs like normal... This guy managed to wake me up from a sound sleep with his snoring even with my earplugs in! It was one of those snores that you can feel through the vibrations in the floor! Egads! Thank god he's gone today.

The group of people I partied with last night agreed to meet up at 9:30AM to go to Monaco. I woke up late and didn't see anyone so I ended up going to the city on my own. (I'm not disappointed - it's easier to see things on your own than coordinating a group.) I think the police were doing some kind of sting on the train through - 6 police men were going from car to car and checking the ID on certain passengers... Mainly older men or immigrant looking people. It was neat to watch because they were deadly serious.

Anyways, I got to Monaco and upon first sight of the city and the water I formulated my new life plan: Find and seduce Monaco's prince (age is not a factor) and live the good life forever and ever. Seriously. Monaco is even more picturesque than Nice. Mind you, it's on the side of a cliff, so walking around (err, up and down I should say) is a real bitch. Especially in the humidex of 35 degrees! I'm a bit bitter because it wasn't until on my way home that I discovered this whole underground AIR CONDITIONED pathway that leads directly to the train station... I had walked up and down instead. :(

The only things I did in Monaco were to go see the Exotic Gardens and the Aquarium. The gardens were tres cool. They were full of cacti! Like, huuuuuge cacti! It was awesome! You also got to go for a tour of a cave that was there, and that was cool too (both literally and figuratively - it was 18.5 degrees in the cave. Can we say heaven?) The only bitch was the 300 steps to get down... Which you then had to climb up again to escape the cave.

After the gardens I ventured down the cliffside (huzzah for public elevators!) and climbed Monaco-ville so that I could visit Monaco's aquarium. I had fun there - it's such a nice change from churches and museums, etc. It wasn't an overly fantastic aquarium (I think Vancouver's has been the best I've seen) but it was a nice change.

Other than those two things I didn't do much. I walked back to the train station and found two of the guys from the beach the previous evening (they left later than planned, so I'm glad I didn't wait around!) and we headed back to Nice together. I kind of wish that I had walked up to Monte Carlo, but there's a dress code there... And it's up. Like, a long walk up the cliff up. And I was already glistening with sweat. And I don't need to justify myself anymore.

So now I'm at my hostel contemplating what to eat for dinner. I can't remember where the store I bought my dinner at yesterday is, and I'm really hungry right now. Ugh. I can't wait to set up shop at Agnes' apartment. Or hell, I can't wait to return to Canada where I'll be able to cook on my own!!!

6 days left...