We are in Nice, France, on the French Riviera. We haven't seen a whole lot of it yet. The train ride here was gorgeous. A really, really nice Australian couple helped us almost the whole way. They were a real blessing. The train ran along the coast, so we saw some really beautiful coastline. It wasn't a long train, and nothing got stolen, so all in all, traveling wasn't too bad today.
We're staying at another hostel this time. It's decent, they serve breakfast and you can buy dinner and drinks from them at night. Very, very youth oriented. The room we're staying in has 6 bunks, so there are 12 girls sharing one bathroom. Yep, did your jaw drop? It's almost always occupied. We met a few girls from Philly who seem nice. Other than that, the girls have kind of kept to themselves. The language barrier doesn't help though. We went shopping after we got here and I have a few clothes now! No underwear still, but a bra! I'm holding out and hoping they have Victoria's Secret here, which is the only place I buy that stuff from. Sorry if that's TMI. Anyway, I got a few cute clothes that I'm happy with, but will still need some more things. I'm feeling better about all that, there's nothing I can do about it and it will only be a bump in the road on our trip. Tonight for dinner we ate crepes. Mom had eaten them in Paris but it was my first time. They weren't sweet, they had meat and stuff inside. It wasn't that great to me. On a good note, I also got some freedom fries! Man, those were good. I indulged. We have to lock mom's suitcase and my book bag up at night and we lost the lock for a while, and it ended up being in my shorts pocket. Good thing we found it!
Since we won't be going back to Italy on this trip, I've thought about what I liked and didn't like about Italy:
Likes:
- The sites. We saw some really, really amazing things. I'll never forget how it felt to see the Colosseum for the first time or stand inside St. Peter's Basilica.
- The scenery. We saw some really beautiful things. Venice and Cinque Terre were absolutely gorgeous. I couldn't take enough pictures. Rome even had it's charm with all of the restaurants in the little streets with greenery growing all around them.
- The history. Italy is filled with so much history. We only scratched the surface.
- New experiences. I experienced so many new things. It was definitely a learning experience, but I'm thankful I had the opportunity.
- The gelato! I ate it like every day.
Dislikes:
- The smoking. This may sound picky, but I think everyone in Italy smokes cigs. Rome really did smell like an ash tray.
- The food, overall it wasn't very good.
- We didn't feel the Italian hospitality that I heard so much about, which was disappointing. Almost all of the people that helped us along the way in Italy were from different countries, like us. The Italians were not very friendly, for the most part. Language barrier doesn't help.
- The crime. Obviously I have a bad taste in my mouth for crime in Italy because of what happened. Even before that, we encountered gypsies and tons of beggars. Street vender's are extremely pushy. One ran after us and called us stupid American's because we wouldn't buy his cheap painting. You really have to be careful.
I don't have any pictures from today, but here are more from Monterosso:
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