So anyway, back to Gare de Lyon. We attempted to make reservations for a train to Lyon. Turns out they were out of seats for people with rail passes (for each train, there's an x number of seats set aside for pass holders). Not only were they out of seats for the next train to Lyon, they were out for every single train to Lyon until the following day. Crap.
We asked the ticket agent what other options there were to get to Lyon that day since it'd be impossible to find a place to stay in Paris on such short notice and of course, we had a place in Lyon that we paid a deposit for already. After looking at the rail map of France we found a local train to Dijon. From Dijon we'd catch a train to Lyon, bringing us into Lyon at around 9pm. Better than nothing. Optimally we wanted to get there at 1pm and pig out on as much delicious French food as possible -- Lyon's supposedly the place for French cuisine. But we took what we got.
Brief stopover in Dijon for about 20 minutes: This is the place with the famous Dijon mustard. Stores in the station were selling souvenir jars of it.
Continuing on, pulled into Lyon at around 9pm. Took about an hour to find the hostel. Meh. We were pretty hungry, but nothing was open at 11pm except for McDonalds and um.. bars. So we went to McDonalds in Lyon. Some may even consider this heresy. But times were tough.
We barely slept since we had to catch a local train to Nice the following day. Yea, in Paris we tried to take care of reservations from Lyon to Nice but there were no more seats left on the TGV. It's nice that we saved money by taking local trains but it took so much longer.
We had a stopover in Marseille. Fun fact: this was a city I originally wanted to go to but it was scrapped in the final selection process for spring break because we thought Nice would be enough to get a taste of the French Riviera. It was replaced by Lyon because of its wine and cuisine.
It was a 4 hour stopover in Marseille so we got a chance to leave the station and grab a real lunch. I remembered from French class that bouillabaisse is the local specialty so I was determined to find it.
Marseille, as seen from the train station, which seemed to be atop a hill.
We stopped at a sandwich bar near the station to ask where we could get bouillabaisse. The girl working the counter was Chinese, but I still asked her in French, "Où est-ce que je peux manger la bouillabaisse?" And she replied in French and showed us a map of how to get to Old Port. And this was all the French I used in France. The culmination of 1 year in middle school and 3 years in high school of French language classes. This is what I have to show for it.
We found a place at Old Port (Vieux Port) serving a 3 course lunch for €15! I had a seafood salad as an appetizer. Then for main course, I had the bouillabaisse. It is essentially a seafood stew in a broth. There were mussels, crab, scallops, and some kind of fish in mine. Oh yea, that yellow chunk is potato. It was a little too salty and broth-y but I liked the seafood assortment.
For dessert, profiteroles! I thought they were British (after having them at homestay), but I've seen profiteroles on the dessert menu in every French restaurant I'd been to, so maybe it's French.
Old Port (Vieux Port)
Marseille was pretty even though it was a shitty overcast day. I would definitely like to go back there for a proper visit. But we had to go to Nice!
It was still overcast when we got to Nice. :-/ The beaches in Nice are pebble beaches so that's a slight bummer, but it was still very pretty and relaxing. We were really excited to be next to the water.
Jess and I walked around at night and came across Place Masséna. Those colored light things atop the metal poles are naked guys sitting in a meditative pose. It looked really cool and they'd change color!, but my camera/my skills suck so it's blurry.
Most of my nightshots in Nice came out crap, so here's one from Jess.
"Why yes, I got new dreads put in, thanks for noticing!"
Another one from Jess. It felt like being in Las Vegas, if Las Vegas was on the coast! (I guess that would be ... Monte Carlo.)
Hotel Negresco, the most baller hotel you can stay at in Nice. So baller. We went in to ask for directions to the closest night club and the receptionist was dressed like a Buckingham Palace guard sans funny hat. And we felt inferior and terribly underdressed just from being in the lobby. It was that baller.
Turns out the nightclub was just a block away. It was several stories tall and the entrance looked pretty badass. It wasn't open yet (it opened at 11pm) so we decided to go back to the room to take a nap and then wake up later...
Yea we ended up not waking up til the next morning. We were pretty tired, just a tad.
Breakfast the next morning: crêpe with jam (crêpe avec confiture) and an ice cream (IJ-shoorn!) from Quick. Hells yea!
Place Masséna by day.
Cours Saleya Flower Market, essentially an outdoor farmers market with fresh produce, flowers, food, and unique gifts.
After Cours Saleya, we climbed Castle Hill (Colline du Château) to get a spectacular view of the city.
Gorgeous!
At the top of Castle Hill, there were ruins of a castle, which makes sense.
And a waterfall!
After this we pretty much had to get on the late afternoon train to Milan. I really didn't want to leave. Being in Nice was very relaxing and enjoyable in a different way from most of the other cities we had been to thus far. It wasn't about hitting as many historial landmarks as possible or admiring old architecture, it was about sitting on/near the pebble beaches and just breathing the fresh ocean air and admiring the shimmering blue sea. Of course, my wanting to stay in Nice might've had something to do with being quite tired from frenetic sightseeing in Paris.
So that wraps up France. I noticed that the French are really laidback. Yes, I was quickly reminded of what I learned in French class -- this was the land of 2 month paid vacation or something ridiculous like that. I spoke with Jess's friend Anouar a couple times in Paris and did not sense a strong concern about finding employment after graduation (he's looking, but he's not stressed about it). Additionally, I noticed a lot of people in the parks during midday just sitting and lounging (Luxembourg Garden in Paris and of course the pebble beaches in Nice, though I can't imagine people working in Nice to begin with). The French are mad chill, even more chill than the British. By the way, as the trip progressed, the similarities between British and American culture became more pronounced. I guess that makes sense.
France in general, specifically my experiences with it, is probably an excellent place to go on holiday with a lover. Whilst we were walking around Nice at night, Jess and I were like, "I wish we had boyfriends to share this with!" So true. France is very beautiful in a romantic way. It's got a very rich culture, too. I definitely wouldn't mind visiting France again with a significant other.
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