We flew into Nice (for those of you who don't speak French or don't know what I'm talking about, it's pronounced like "Neece") around 9:00 on Friday morning, and after checking into the hotel and buying sunscreen, we headed straight for the beach. I couldn't believe how beautiful the South of France is - I've always heard about it, but I never could have imagined. The mountains are huge and green, and the water is so blue that it almost looks fake. I took SO many pictures that I almost filled up my memory card!
The beaches in Nice are not made up of sand, but of giant rocks that make it hard to lay out comfortably. We wound up renting some chairs, and even though it was pretty windy, it felt good because the sun was so intense. We were so excited to be on the Mediterranean coast that we decided we needed to go for a little swim, even though the water was really cold. We finally went in, and I actually screamed because of the temperature! I'm really glad I did, though, because one of my favorite things is to dry off in the sun after going for a quick, cool-down swim. I also love the taste of salt water on my lips.
We stayed at the beach for a while, and when we had had enough, we decided to explore Old Nice. This part of the city kind of goes up into the mountains, and the streets are all very narrow and filled with cute little restaurants. We wound up eating at an Italian restaurant and then walking around the streets for a while.
The next morning we got up early because we had planned on taking the train to Monaco for the day. The train ride was simply beautiful - we got to see a lot of the coast and the mountains, and it only took half an hour to get there. Monaco is also a coastal city, and their beaches have small little pebbles that don't hurt your feet as much. We found a really nice little beach that wasn't too crowded, and after buying some cookies at the store, we were ready for another day of sun! We eventually decided to get in the water, even though we knew it was going to be cold, but this time we ran in so that it wouldn't be so difficult.
At some point we noticed that there was a floating dock some ways out into the bay. It took a couple tries of testing out the water, but we finally decided to just go for it, and Anna, Katrina, and I started swimming out to it. It was a lot further than we thought, and about half way Anna got scared and turned around to swim back. I yelled to her, "Anna! If you don't come with us, you'll regret it forever!" I knew it would work, and she immediately turned back around to keep swimming with us.
I was so excited to be in the water, and I was finally used to the temperature. At one point, I stopped swimming and looked at my surroundings and yelled, "WE ARE SWIMMING IN THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA!" It was one of the most joyful moments of my life, and I will never forget that feeling.
When we finally got to the dock (I think it took about 20 minutes) we were really out of breath, and we all kind of flopped out of the water and onto the surface. After we caught our breath, we kind of ran around on the raft for a little while before laying down to soak up the sun.
We stayed out there for what felt like forever, talking about how we only have three weeks left in Paris and how we are definitely not ready to go home. I think I finally realized just how much I am going to miss this, and it's not just the fact that I live in Paris. Since coming here, I have developed such a sense of independence, and it is so thrilling that it actually verges on addicting. I feel like I've grown so much as a person, and it's going to be very weird to go home. I'm glad the other girls felt the same way, because I think that the friendship we have made is going to help us when the time comes to leave.
The swim back to shore was a lot harder - there were huge waves that kept pushing us forward and then pulling us back. At one point I thought I was actually going to give up and that someone was going to have to come and save me. I sucked it up and finally made it back to shore, and it felt so good to lay in the sun and dry off.
That night we went out to dinner and it was really special because it was the last time, at least for a while, that the five of us will go out to dinner while traveling. We spent almost three hours at the restaurant, eating, laughing, and drinking, and I was really hoping that the evening would never end. It did, however, and today we made our way back to Paris for the final stretch.
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