Nice, France and Monaco
This week was one for the books. Emily's sister Erin and her friend Megan came to visit Reggio for spring break. We got to show them around and act like tourists in our own city; we went shopping, tried new restaurants, and went out for drinks. It was a blast! Erin and Megan were so fun to hang out with. I might have to take a trip to Colorado in the near future to visit all my new friends. ;)
Friday we took a program field trip to the Ferrari Factory in Maranello. I don't know anything about cars, but it was so cool. We got to explore the museum that showed the different types of Ferraris that have been made since the first car in 1947. We got to see the championship racing cars, the "family street cars", and of course this year's "Super Car". It was unreal! Each of the cars sell for more than a couple million euros (no big deal). There's also a large selection process for the "super cars". Mr. Ferrari himself selects 200 applicants to be the lucky recipients of this special vehicle. Some of the qualifications to even be considered include: having enough money to afford the car and the upkeep, owning at least 5 other Ferraris, and having a close connection with the company. Needless to say, I won't be owning one of these any time soon.. For the second part of our tour, we got to go inside the factory. The factory itself is a large campus and is the only location in the world where Ferraris are made. It is top secret and closed to the public. We got to ride on a bus that drove us through the streets of the Ferrari Campus, but we were not allowed to step foot on campus, nor were we able to take any photos while inside the walls of the factory. So that was kind of a bummer, but it was cool. Some of the buildings on the Ferrari Campus were the same ones that were built in the 1940s, but now they have added many more warehouses and design buildings for the growth and expansion of the Ferrari brand. One of the coolest features they have is a giant wind tunnel that they use to do research and test their racecars during the design and building stage. It was crazy! Mr. Ferrari insisted that each one of his vehicles was test driven before being shipped and sold to consumers. While inside the factory, we saw a bunch of brand new Ferraris driving around campus. We even got to visit the racetrack where new racecars are tested. It was so cool!
Saturday morning, Christina and I took a 5:30 am train to Nice, France. It us 6 hours to get there, but once we did, we were completely speechless. It was a beautiful 65 and sunny. Something we have been craving here in Reggio. We checked into our hostel and found it to be less than we expected (we didn't expect much), but it was just a place to sleep for one night, so we stuck with it. After changing out our our winter coats and boots, we headed down to the beach. We walked through the famous Nice flower market and saw all the flowers and bunches of lavender (Nice is famous for its lavender) that took up the entire city street. We ended up on the beach and just took a few minutes to sit and soak up the sun. After these few minutes, it was clear, I needed to move to Nice and spend the rest of my life here.
Christina and I then went exploring and found a short little hike up the side of a hill that lead to a castle and waterfall that overlooked the entire city. It was gorgeous! The water was so blue; the photos don't do it justice. There was this cute little old man playing the accordion and people were dancing, I have no words to express how amazing and wonderful and perfect this place was. It became a running joke over the weekend that everywhere we went we would ask ourselves, "What? How? This is so beautiful." No joke. Everything was amazing and beautiful!
On our way down, we decided to take the commuter train to Monte-Carlo, Monaco. Monaco is known for being the richest country in the world. And let me tell you... it's true. There were massive yachts that lined the bay, and a private pier that docked two yachts owned by the royal family of Monaco. I kid you not, these yachts were at least 4 times the size of my house. It was insane! Christina and I stopped for a snack and sat in the sun along the pier and had the best time just sitting and taking in the view. After our snack, we headed up towards the Palace that sat on the edge of a cliff overlooking the harbor. We got to see the changing of the guards and walk around the small streets of Monaco. Each of the buildings were so brightly colored and animated that they looked like they belonged in Disneyland. It honestly felt like a dream walking through this country.
After watching the sunset over Monaco, we took the train back to Nice. We walked down the main street and enjoyed the St. Patrick's day festivities. We found this cool bar call the Metropolitan, and they were playing live music and everyone looked like they were having fun. So we stopped in for a beer to celebrate and enjoy Nice. We ended up staying for three beers each. We were talking and just throughly enjoying our time in Nice and being among the locals. After awhile, we headed back to our hostel for the night and got ready for another day exploring Nice.
We woke up Sunday morning and packed up our stuff. We had breakfast at our hostel, which consisted of a piece of bread and some homemade jam. Again... not what we expected from our hostel, but we went with it. As we were sitting there eating breakfast, the guy working the front desk walked into the breakfast room without any pants on. He was wearing a long sweater that acted as a very, very short dress. Christina and I couldn't help but laugh. Oh the french men.... haha. After we left our hostel, we walked back along the beach. The weather was a little stormy, but the water was still so clear and blue. We headed up the main street and did some shopping and exploring before stopping for lunch. We had lunch at this cute little french restaurant where Christina and I shared a quiche and a salad. And let me tell you, this quiche was so good. It reminded me of the egg dish my uncle makes on Christmas morning with eggs, ham, and an assortment of cheeses. The crust completely melted in your mouth. It was delicious! It might have been my favorite meal since moving to Europe.
Shortly after, we headed towards the train station to go back to Reggio. The train ride was smooth sailing until we got to our transfer in Volghera, Italy. We got off to find out that our train to Reggio had been cancelled. So we found the next train to Reggio. It was leaving an hour after our original train, so we had a ton of free time. We sat around, had some snacks, researched where we should visit on our upcoming spring break trip, etc. Eventually, I turned around to check on our train, to find that that too was cancelled, and there were no other trains to Reggio that night. There was one train leaving in 10 minutes that was going to the city of Piacenzia (a larger city that is closer to Reggio). We didn't know if our tickets to Reggio would be valid on a train that only went to Piacenzia, so we went to the kiosk to try to buy new tickets, but it told us there were no tickets available for purchase. So we turned to the two Italian women behind us and asked them if they knew what that meant. They had no idea, and by that point, we were going to miss the train. So we ran, and caught a train that we didn't have tickets for. Christina and I didn't know what else to do. We just wanted to get home. We just prayed that the conductor didn't come by to check our tickets. Just our luck, 5 minutes later, the ticket lady came by to check our tickets. We were so nervous! We were fully prepared to act like the dumb American college girls that didn't know what they were doing. Note: If you don't have a ticket for the train you are on, you get charged a nice 150 euro fee and are usually kicked off the train at the next station. Luckily, the lady looked at our tickets and was sympathetic. She didn't speak any English, but we could understand when she said that we needed to talk to the information desk in Piacenzia, because theres no guarantee that there was a train to Reggio that night.
About 5 minutes before getting to Piacenzia, our ticket lady friend, came back to tell us that there was one train going to Reggio and that it was leaving in 5 minutes. We sprinted off the train to get to the last train of the night. The train was packed! There was nowhere for us to sit, so we stood in the doorway where we met this super cool lady named Veronica (we didn't actually catch her name, but she seemed like a Veronica). She was so cool! Come to find out, her sister married a US Marine and now lives in Arkansas. She goes to visit them regularly and even lived with them for a couple of months. It was funny the whole train ride, she was talking about all the things she loved about the US including: frosted animal cookies, weed, peep's marshmallows, and free water. She was also very passionate about the things she hated: McDonald's breakfast, large hazelnut coffees, hawaiian pizza, and cheddar cheese. She was so animated and so fun! This just shows that you meet amazing people everywhere you go.
Although this weekend was short and a little crazy in the end, I am so happy that I had the chance to visit France after all these years. I am the happiest I have been in a long time, just living here and traveling the world. It has always been a dream of mine, and I am so lucky to be living it.
Friday we took a program field trip to the Ferrari Factory in Maranello. I don't know anything about cars, but it was so cool. We got to explore the museum that showed the different types of Ferraris that have been made since the first car in 1947. We got to see the championship racing cars, the "family street cars", and of course this year's "Super Car". It was unreal! Each of the cars sell for more than a couple million euros (no big deal). There's also a large selection process for the "super cars". Mr. Ferrari himself selects 200 applicants to be the lucky recipients of this special vehicle. Some of the qualifications to even be considered include: having enough money to afford the car and the upkeep, owning at least 5 other Ferraris, and having a close connection with the company. Needless to say, I won't be owning one of these any time soon.. For the second part of our tour, we got to go inside the factory. The factory itself is a large campus and is the only location in the world where Ferraris are made. It is top secret and closed to the public. We got to ride on a bus that drove us through the streets of the Ferrari Campus, but we were not allowed to step foot on campus, nor were we able to take any photos while inside the walls of the factory. So that was kind of a bummer, but it was cool. Some of the buildings on the Ferrari Campus were the same ones that were built in the 1940s, but now they have added many more warehouses and design buildings for the growth and expansion of the Ferrari brand. One of the coolest features they have is a giant wind tunnel that they use to do research and test their racecars during the design and building stage. It was crazy! Mr. Ferrari insisted that each one of his vehicles was test driven before being shipped and sold to consumers. While inside the factory, we saw a bunch of brand new Ferraris driving around campus. We even got to visit the racetrack where new racecars are tested. It was so cool!
Saturday morning, Christina and I took a 5:30 am train to Nice, France. It us 6 hours to get there, but once we did, we were completely speechless. It was a beautiful 65 and sunny. Something we have been craving here in Reggio. We checked into our hostel and found it to be less than we expected (we didn't expect much), but it was just a place to sleep for one night, so we stuck with it. After changing out our our winter coats and boots, we headed down to the beach. We walked through the famous Nice flower market and saw all the flowers and bunches of lavender (Nice is famous for its lavender) that took up the entire city street. We ended up on the beach and just took a few minutes to sit and soak up the sun. After these few minutes, it was clear, I needed to move to Nice and spend the rest of my life here.
Christina and I then went exploring and found a short little hike up the side of a hill that lead to a castle and waterfall that overlooked the entire city. It was gorgeous! The water was so blue; the photos don't do it justice. There was this cute little old man playing the accordion and people were dancing, I have no words to express how amazing and wonderful and perfect this place was. It became a running joke over the weekend that everywhere we went we would ask ourselves, "What? How? This is so beautiful." No joke. Everything was amazing and beautiful!
On our way down, we decided to take the commuter train to Monte-Carlo, Monaco. Monaco is known for being the richest country in the world. And let me tell you... it's true. There were massive yachts that lined the bay, and a private pier that docked two yachts owned by the royal family of Monaco. I kid you not, these yachts were at least 4 times the size of my house. It was insane! Christina and I stopped for a snack and sat in the sun along the pier and had the best time just sitting and taking in the view. After our snack, we headed up towards the Palace that sat on the edge of a cliff overlooking the harbor. We got to see the changing of the guards and walk around the small streets of Monaco. Each of the buildings were so brightly colored and animated that they looked like they belonged in Disneyland. It honestly felt like a dream walking through this country.
After watching the sunset over Monaco, we took the train back to Nice. We walked down the main street and enjoyed the St. Patrick's day festivities. We found this cool bar call the Metropolitan, and they were playing live music and everyone looked like they were having fun. So we stopped in for a beer to celebrate and enjoy Nice. We ended up staying for three beers each. We were talking and just throughly enjoying our time in Nice and being among the locals. After awhile, we headed back to our hostel for the night and got ready for another day exploring Nice.
We woke up Sunday morning and packed up our stuff. We had breakfast at our hostel, which consisted of a piece of bread and some homemade jam. Again... not what we expected from our hostel, but we went with it. As we were sitting there eating breakfast, the guy working the front desk walked into the breakfast room without any pants on. He was wearing a long sweater that acted as a very, very short dress. Christina and I couldn't help but laugh. Oh the french men.... haha. After we left our hostel, we walked back along the beach. The weather was a little stormy, but the water was still so clear and blue. We headed up the main street and did some shopping and exploring before stopping for lunch. We had lunch at this cute little french restaurant where Christina and I shared a quiche and a salad. And let me tell you, this quiche was so good. It reminded me of the egg dish my uncle makes on Christmas morning with eggs, ham, and an assortment of cheeses. The crust completely melted in your mouth. It was delicious! It might have been my favorite meal since moving to Europe.
Shortly after, we headed towards the train station to go back to Reggio. The train ride was smooth sailing until we got to our transfer in Volghera, Italy. We got off to find out that our train to Reggio had been cancelled. So we found the next train to Reggio. It was leaving an hour after our original train, so we had a ton of free time. We sat around, had some snacks, researched where we should visit on our upcoming spring break trip, etc. Eventually, I turned around to check on our train, to find that that too was cancelled, and there were no other trains to Reggio that night. There was one train leaving in 10 minutes that was going to the city of Piacenzia (a larger city that is closer to Reggio). We didn't know if our tickets to Reggio would be valid on a train that only went to Piacenzia, so we went to the kiosk to try to buy new tickets, but it told us there were no tickets available for purchase. So we turned to the two Italian women behind us and asked them if they knew what that meant. They had no idea, and by that point, we were going to miss the train. So we ran, and caught a train that we didn't have tickets for. Christina and I didn't know what else to do. We just wanted to get home. We just prayed that the conductor didn't come by to check our tickets. Just our luck, 5 minutes later, the ticket lady came by to check our tickets. We were so nervous! We were fully prepared to act like the dumb American college girls that didn't know what they were doing. Note: If you don't have a ticket for the train you are on, you get charged a nice 150 euro fee and are usually kicked off the train at the next station. Luckily, the lady looked at our tickets and was sympathetic. She didn't speak any English, but we could understand when she said that we needed to talk to the information desk in Piacenzia, because theres no guarantee that there was a train to Reggio that night.
About 5 minutes before getting to Piacenzia, our ticket lady friend, came back to tell us that there was one train going to Reggio and that it was leaving in 5 minutes. We sprinted off the train to get to the last train of the night. The train was packed! There was nowhere for us to sit, so we stood in the doorway where we met this super cool lady named Veronica (we didn't actually catch her name, but she seemed like a Veronica). She was so cool! Come to find out, her sister married a US Marine and now lives in Arkansas. She goes to visit them regularly and even lived with them for a couple of months. It was funny the whole train ride, she was talking about all the things she loved about the US including: frosted animal cookies, weed, peep's marshmallows, and free water. She was also very passionate about the things she hated: McDonald's breakfast, large hazelnut coffees, hawaiian pizza, and cheddar cheese. She was so animated and so fun! This just shows that you meet amazing people everywhere you go.
Although this weekend was short and a little crazy in the end, I am so happy that I had the chance to visit France after all these years. I am the happiest I have been in a long time, just living here and traveling the world. It has always been a dream of mine, and I am so lucky to be living it.
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