Jours 51-38: Last days in France

Bonjour Tout le Monde!

Jours 51-53

June 15-17

My last days here in France were amazing. I was able to relax a little in the hotel on Wednesday, and then my friends and I headed over to the Chagall museum. This was one of my favorite museums that I went to. It was the same artist that did the ceiling in the Paris Opera house, which I didn’t like because it didn’t fit the atmosphere, but seeing all of his beautiful paintings and amazing colors was incredible.

A painting by Chagall called "The Creation"

 After, we decided to go shopping in Vieille Nice and got a nice Indian dinner. Then we got together with some people we met at church and we were able to watch the Eurocup soccer game between France and Albania. 

In the Fanzone

This was one of my favorite things that I have done here in France. We went into the fanzone which was essentially this fenced off place with a huge tv screen and we were completely surrounded by French fans. We got to participate in all of the cheers and freak out when France made the two goals, it was so much fun.

Having fun at the game

On Thursday a lot of my day was spent studying and taking my final for one of my classes. I was able to go to the beach for a little bit, but then it started raining. We had another big group dinner in Place de Pietonne and got some delicious pasta and pizza. We were all so stuffed by the end and we walked home from old town Nice to our hotel.

The always beautiful beach in Nice

On Friday I packed in the morning and then we went off to Monte Carlo in Monaco. We stopped along the way in Ville de France and went down to the water which was completely gorgeous.

At the water in Ville de France

 I will never get over the color of the sea. Then we continued to take the bus to Monaco. We saw the Monte Carlo casino, which was a little less impressive than I thought, but I didn’t actually go inside. However, I did see a ton of Ferraris and Lamborghinis pass by. 

Monte Carlo Casino

We walked along the harbor, got some lunch, and climbed up to see a beautiful view over the bay. Then we saw the palace and headed home.

The beautiful view of the Bay

 When we got back into Nice the traffic was awful and getting home took so long. Friday night we just hung out in the hotel, cleaned and packed to get ready to go. I cannot believe that this trip is already over, but I know it was the trip of a lifetime. I am so thankful for the opportunity I had to go.

À bientôt,

Claire Hunsaker

Get Lost in Nice

Bonjour tout le monde!

Get lost in Nice

June 12, 2016

After going to the Musée Matisse, we walked around the neighborhood after. I decided it was the neighborhood where all of the very rich people live in Nice because all of the houses here were beyond amazing.

We started walking down a road with a pretty bridge that we tried to figure out how to get to, but it was all blocked off. 

The Bridge we were trying to walk across

We also found a nice statue in front of a private garden, and although I didn't know exactly what it was of it was beautiful.

Then we walked for a while through the neighborhood of completely gorgeous houses. Some of them truly looked like a castle, I could not imagine staying there.

One of the castle houses

We were able to stumble upon another bus station, but the schedule said another wasn’t coming for a while so we look at this cool castle bridge.

What we missed the bus to see 

 Unfortunately while looking at it the bus came and we had to wait forever for another because Sunday schedule was different. Overall, nice is a beautiful city and I am excited to see more of it!

À Bientôt,

Claire Hunsaker

Jours 47-50

Bonjour tout le monde!

Jours 47-50

June 11-June 14

Life in Nice is beyond amazing. On Saturday we left from Paris on the TGV to come to Nice. It was a madhouse trying to make it on the train as everyone stormed the platform, but we all made it safely. Unfortunately, when we got to our hotel half of our rooms weren’t booked. To make up for it the hotel gave us free drinks at the café next door which was nice.

When we finally got our hotel rooms we changed and went straight to the beach. Even though it was about 8 o’clock, the water was still amazing and not very cold. It felt so good to actually be able to actually go swimming somewhere.

View the first night in Nice

On Sunday we were able to go to the chapel in Nice, and everyone there was so nice and helpful! After curch we went to the Musée Matisse which was just down the street. 

Outside the Musée Matisse

The musée  Matisse consisted many different works of the artist Henri Matisse. Some of his works include drawings, photos, paintings and sculptures. I personally do not enjoy modern art, but I could see that he had a great variety in his works and there were some paintings by him that I enjoyed. 

One of the paintings by Matisse

After the Musée Matisse, Luke, Melissa, Stephanie and I “got lost” in Nice to do our Get Lost Walk which can be found in a different post. After, we got a little confused with the bus because we didn’t understand that bus 15 changed to bus 22, and so we waited for bus 22 for about 40 minutes at the station. After that, I relaxed by the pool with my friends and went out for dinner.

Monday was a really good day here in Nice. I started the day out with a run along the beach, but it was so hot outside that I felt like I was going to die by the end. After a quick class we went down to the beach, just a 5-minute walk from our hotel. We swam out quite for into the ocean to one of the buoys and relaxed on the pebble beach.

Beautiful day out on the beach

 After we came back and got ready real quick and took a bus into old nice and met up with some friends from the ward. We walked around Old Nice and saw the Palais de Justice and the main fountain.

The fountain in Vieille Nice

 After, we want up the Castle Hill. It was a little bit of a hike up, and there was a really nice waterfall on the way. 

Waterfall on Castle Hill

We were able to see the ruins of the ancient castle and a beautiful panoramic view of the city. 

Ancient remains of the castle

We had some dinner in the town and I tried Socca which is a pancake type food that originated from nice.

Socca

 We had a nice dinner, watched a street performance and walked home along the beach.

Vieille Nice at night

Tuesday was also a great day. After class we went to the beach again, and I was able to finally do laundry! We walked over to the roman orthodox church which looked so much different than the other churches I have seen. 

Roman Orthodox church

We were not allowed to take pictures on the inside, but it was interesting to see everything written in Russian, a language so different than the romantic languages. We came back and bought some chicken, potatoes and salad to make a nice homemade dinner. We watched Monte Carlo in preparation for Friday, and hung out for the night in our apartment.

À Bientôt,

Claire Hunsaker

Bus Trip Day 5

Bonjour tout le monde!

5th Day Bus Tour 

June 10, 2016

Today was the last day of our bus tour which is crazy! I cannot believe this week has already gone by so fast. The day started out in Blois, where we stayed the night before. We went to the château in Blois, and we had a tour guide that led us around the castle. 

The outside of the château de Blois

It was interesting to learn about the castle and I swear that François II built and lived in so many different castles here in the Loire Valley. At the end we got to sit in a throne so that was pretty fun to take pictures in.

The throne in château de Blois

After a short bus ride we made it to the gorgeous Château Chambord, also known as the Beauty and the Beast castle. This castle was definitely the most gorgeous castle here in the Loire valley. I was able to get a nice Panini outside and walk around the grounds. There was also a horse and bird show and if I wasn’t a poor college student I definitely would’ve gone. 

Walking around the grounds in front of the Château Chambord

We were able to have a tour on the inside, but for once I really didn’t want to have a tour guide. His English was very broken and we were only able to see a very small portion of the castle but it still took a very long time. This castle was absolutely gorgeous though. The inside wasn’t as pretty as Versailles, but it was different than all of the other castles that I’ve been into so that was nice.

Photo Op in front of the château Chambord

After we had a four-hour bus ride back to Paris. We said goodbye to our bus driver, who was the coolest guy, and hung out in our hotel on the outskirts of Paris. I celebrated my friend’s birthday with some delicious Mcdonalds and I did some dance camp counselor training by skyping into Provo. Tomorrow morning I’m off to Nice!

À Bientôt,

Claire Hunsaker