Cote d'Azur

Earlier this semester I went to Nice and it was one of my favorite places I've traveled. My dad got tickets for the practice rounds of the Grand Prix so we decided to spend a few days in Nice. We took the train and arrived to blue skies and sunshine. We ate outside and then went for a walk around the beach. We took the same hike to the top of the mountain as I did last time I was in Nice. The view was just as beautiful and it was nice to stop by the waterfall and get a little bit of mist. After we climbed down we relaxed on the rocky beach. Then I walked around the shops and dad went for a run. For dinner we ate outside (sense a trend?) and had tapas and beer while watching a football match.

Thursday morning we crammed onto a train and headed to Montecarlo to watch the practice races for the Formula Grand Prix. There were so many cars, they were much smaller than I expected them to be. The noise was also incredibly loud. I wore ear plugs and poor dad dropped his. We sat in the grand stands which overlooked the water. There were people on their yachts watching the race and sunbathing, needless to say I was very jealous. The weather was great until the second round of practice and then it started to cloud up and rain a bit.

We got really lucky with our timing in the South of France. The Cannes Film Festival also started that week. We took a bus to Cannes and saw the beautiful palm trees, yachts, and white tents set up for the festival. There was such a fun vibe in the air and there were so many people dressed up going in and out of movie screenings. I really enjoyed being there was wished I had a pass to get onto that red carpet.

The newspaper on Friday said that between the Grand Prix, film festival, and general gorgeous spring weather in the South of France, that Nice had record visitors this weekend. It was so fun seeing such important world events going on right in front of my eyes. I don't know how I got so lucky but I've really appreciated all the opportunities I've had so far.