Day 104: Saturday April, 30, 2011

Duomo from the top

Today my family came!!! =D  I met them at Linate airport around 2:30 then took the bus back with them to their hotel.  They were staying in Hotel La Spezia, a hotel that is literally two minutes around the corner from me.  Of course, the room was way smaller than they anticipated, and the third "bed" turned out to be more of a couch.  And the hotel manager was completely unwilling to give them a room with three beds, and actually claimed that a three-bed room didn't even exist, despite what the website said.  But...you can't win them all!  After fumbling around a bit, they dropped their stuff off and then we all headed to the center!  To start off, we took the metro to the Duomo.  I was so excited to see them stare at it in awe, and they did.  Of course, they were all just bedazzled by how pretty it was; it’s going to be so weird not seeing it everyday!  The four of us climbed to the top so we could see the city from a birds eye view.  We walked around the roof (literally, you can walk on the ceiling of the Duomo) while I pointed out buildings and monuments as we passed by them from above.  There wasn't a cloud in the sky, so it was an ideal day to climb to the top.  We could see as far as we possibly could!  

Birds eye view

Pretty sissy <3

Afterwards, we walked through the Emmanuel Vittorio II Galleria so they could get a taste of fashion in Milan!  Even though I’ve walked through it 100 times, I still can’t believe how extravagant it is.  The gold color, the skyscraping ceilings…it definitely kicks the New River Valley’s mall’s butt, which desperately needs to be improved, by the way.  We then walked next door to La Rinascente to grab some drinks and a bite to eat.  We strolled through the five floors of designer clothes, luxury merchandise, and Milan's richest of the rich people before we made it to the top.  We were among the elite when we ate on the rooftop terrace right next to the Duomo.  While it was outrageously overpriced, it was so gorgeous out and it was so nice to just hang and chill out with my fam.   

Inside the lobby of Le Banque

We all ordered a drink and some appetizers and relaxed while planning the next few days!  And this just goes to show how much better adults are treated…the server took a long time to bring us our drinks, so they brought out four free appetizers to make up for the inconvenience.  What a joke.  We have had bad service for the last four months, and have gotten nothing but sneers and dirty looks when kindly we remind them that we’re still there and in need of service!!!  Afterwards, we headed back to the hotel because they were exhausted.  Mom and Ellen went to bed, and Christi came back to my house with me.  She had planned on going out, but jetlag caught up with her and she collapsed.  A bunch of the girls and I went to Le Banque.  It was the first time we had been to that club and it was a blast (per usual).  The whole inside looked super ritzy, with humongous intricate tables and chairs, chandeliers, and huge big screen TV’s covering the walls.  It was nearing the end of our study abroad, so everyone was out to have a good time.  We all danced on the neon dance floors all night and partied until our hearts were content <3

Day 101: Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Even the train station was really nice!

Today was the last day of spring break :(  However, when we woke up around 10:45, we had zero time to dwell on that.  We were awoken by the hotel manager banging on our door.  Apparently we were supposed to be out by 9:00am.  Caitlin gave him an unconcerned wave and told him we’d be about in 30 minutes.  Hilarious…he was like “no, you we’re supposed to be out almost two hours ago?”  I hurriedly got my things together while Caitlin frantically looked for her wallet.  She couldn’t find it anywhere, so she thought she had lost it last night.  Apparently she had just hid it from herself in the depths of her suitcase and just had no recollection of doing so.  For some reason we decided we didn’t have time to change, so we kept on the same clothes, bathing suit, everything that we had put on yesterday morning.  And when she found her wallet, we packed up camp then headed out.  We left our baggage in the luggage room at the hotel, and then caught a train to Monaco.  The train was only about 25 minutes long, so after a short little trip we were there.  We had a minor run-in with one of the train staff members, who told me she would charge me 75E if I put my feet up on the chair in front of me again.  Seemed dramatic.  When we walked out of the train station, it was totally not self-explanatory as to which direction we should go.  We were on like the top of a mountain with nothing around us.  We could see the port below us, so we decided to just start heading downwards.  We walked down, and down, and down, and down until finally we reached the port (took way longer than expected).  We walked along La Condamine for a little, gazing at the spectacular yachts on one side and envying the first-class designer stores on the other.  

Ferrari's parked outside the Monte Carlo Casino

The yachts really are unbelievable.  They are ALL so elaborate and humongous, each one being more decked out than the one next to it.  And there was hardly any traffic on the street we were walking on, so it was an awesomely picturesque scene.  The weather was ideal, there were palm trees everywhere, and of course, the color of the Mediterranean is something that is hard to get used to.  This road led us straight to the Monte Carlo Strip and the Monte Carlo Casino, which was unbelievably beautiful.  It’s amazing how ritzy the entire city looked.  Even ordinary buildings looked glamorous and rich.  The Casino was perched at the top of the hill and was surrounded by Ferrari’s and valet drivers.  It costs 10E to even enter the building!  Seeing as I wasn’t dressed in any acceptable fashion, I wasn’t even let anywhere near the place.  I tried to walk in and snap a picture, but you’re not allowed to take pictures either.  The outside was beautiful; totally ornate and lavish.  You could just tell that the whole city was made for the lifestyles of the rich and the famous.  The Casino just looked like an amusement park for the idle rich.  Next to the Casino is one of the world’s best and most expensive restaurants, The Louis XIV.  

Caitlin and I outside the Monto Carlo

Front of the Monte Carlo Casino

Afterwards, we hiked to Place du Palais, a place high on a hill that overlooks the entire city.  But there was more than just a palace up there; there was an entire village.  It was such a cute little bustling town with people everywhere eating and strolling around.  As always, the view was magnificent!  We got some ice cream, hung out on the wall of the village for a little, then hiked back down.  Finding the train station again was an ordeal.  And for some reason, nobody knew where it was.  We asked like five different people.  We decided to follow the same strategy we had when we got here, we just walked up and up and up.  We got to the station just in time and hopped on the train back to Nice, along with 1,000 other people.  Zero exaggeration.  There were about 500 more people than seats, and we were smashed against 20 other people in the front compartment of the train, and it was the worst thing ever.  It was so hot and it smelled like people and I was miserable.  Where was everyone going at 5pm on a Wednesday night?!?!?  I was angry.

When we got back to Nice, we ran back to our hostel, grabbed our things then went back to the train station to catch the train back to Milan.  It took about five hours, and we were home safe and sound around 11:30pm.  It was such an unbelievable spring break, I couldn’t have had more fun.  The cities I went to, the things I did, the people I met, the company I had…everything was perfect.  Definitely one of the most fun times I’ve ever had. 

Day 100: Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Beach in Saint Raphael

Today we woke up and went straight to the beach.  It was supposed to be high 70s all day, so we were stoked to lay on the beach and get some sun!  We found a nice little beach down the street from out hotel where we laid out.  It was peaceful and serene, and exactly what we were looking for.  We hung out for a bit, getting a tan, listening to music, and people watching.  We packed up camp around 1pm, because we had a catamaran ride scheduled at 2pm!  Per usual, many things were lost in translation when it came to this catamaran.  The first being where in the world we were supposed to meet.  It took five separate phone calls to the number on the flier to figure out where the heck we were supposed to go.  And it turned out the meeting point was the port we had been standing in front of all along.  It's funny that these huge tourist attractions, which publish brochure completely in English, have receptionists and crew who speak no English whatsoever.  Nevertheless, we found the meeting spot and we were so pleasantly surprised with the boat.  It was big and beautiful and clean and borderline luxurious.  There was an ample amount of deck space over two levels, an outdoor and indoor bar, a plasma screen television in an inside sitting area with couches and tables, tables and chairs for eating, and also lawn chairs to lay out on.  It was fantastic.

Beach before the catamaran ride!

Catamaran before departure!

Hanging out on the boat

You could feel the water splash up!  Pretty cool.

There was also some miscommunication about the activities that were supposed to take place on the boat.  The whole reason I booked the boat trip was because I really wanted to go snorkeling.  Snorkeling in crystal clear water with vibrant colored coral lining the ocean floor is just about as cool as it gets.  And on the brochure it lists a bunch of activities that come with the boat trip, including snorkeling, kayaking, kite surfing, jet skiing, etc.  Now it doesn't surprise me that this didn't go exactly according to plan, because we were skeptical from the beginning.  After reading the brochure, I called the company to verify that in fact, this one boat trip included all the listed activities, and they assured me that it did.  So after boarding the boat and finding a great spot right a long the edge, we laid out as we headed out to sea.  One of the crew members made a five minute speech, I presume about some of the rules and essential whereabouts of things, completely in French.  We "listened" intently, trying to gather what we could.  Not much.  There was soft drinks and alcohol available on the boat, so we helped ourselves shortly after we left shore!  We talked and drank and hung out for awhile, anxiously awaiting the bountiful amount of activities that were allegedly available to us.  So we waited, and waited.  But we never even anchored!  We literally just went for a two hour cruise, then headed back to shore!  Classic mix-up.    

Out to sea!

Inside the catamaran 

Wayne's Bar :)

We weren't mad about the money we spent on the catamaran, it was still a blast.  We got to hang out on a beautiful catamaran in the Mediterranean Sea while drinking beer and listening to music.  Not much to complain about!  It just wasn't what we expected at all, which is typical.  After we docked, we went back to our hostel and grabbed our luggage, then headed to the train station!  We needed to go back to Nice tonight, only because we wanted to go to Monaco tomorrow, and Monaco was most accessible through Nice.  So we grabbed a sandwich on-the-go and quickly got to the train station just in time to catch the train.  It was a quick ride back to Nice, one in which we continued our afternoon drinking on.  We got a couple of dirty looks, but no more than normal :)  When we got to Nice, we rechecked into the same hostel we stayed in before and continued our festivities.  Later that night we went to Wayne's Bar again and had a blast!  Somehow, we made it back safely that night, just like we always do!