Buckle up, this is gonna be a long one. As I procrastinate on packing up my room, I'm going through all the pictures I took over spring break, already missing the shining water and warm sun. Deciding against going up north to the Nordic countries for spring break was quite possibly the best decision I've made all year; I don't think I could've made it through two weeks of being cold after it just stopped being freezing in Paris. Instead, I spent two weeks (minus the days with strep throat; see previous post) laying on beaches and wandering with a mindset of relaxation.
The Saturday spring break started, I hopped on an eight AM train from Paris to Nice: travel time a little under six hours, napping through much of it. I stayed in Nice for three nights and immediately fell in love with the city; everyone was relaxed and friendly, and the weather was absolutely amazing. The second day I was there, I actually walked two towns over to Villefrance-sur-Mer with a girl I met at my hostel, and the view from the beach was absolutely stunning and definitely worth the 2+ hours it took to walk there (we took a train back).
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| The beach-- covered in rocks |
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| The view from the old tower (yes, it was an overcast morning) |
Leaving the beautiful sun of Nice (though I know the pictures don't look like it), I hopped on a train to Genoa, Italy, where I stayed for two nights. Things I appreciate about hostels: very cheap way to travel. Things I don't appreciate about hostels: bunking in a room with people who snore like bears. Anyway, I digress. Genoa seems to have been built on a hill: you can't walk for more than ten feet without encountering an incline or decline unless you're walking right along the water, at the Old Port. Still, with all the hills, at least I earned the gelato I ate-- because when in Italy, it's always gelato o'clock.
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| It says it's a street, but I don't believe it... |
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| Apparently they like motorcycles in Italy |
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| The Old Port |
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| The old ship at the Old Port |
Rolling out of bed bright and early to catch my train (well, trains plural, if you want to be specific) to Monterosso in the Cinque Terre, I noticed I felt under the weather, but thought nothing of it. Oh how wrong I was. My first day in Cinque Terre was absolutely beautiful: the sun was shining, there was a nice breeze, and the water was the bluest I had ever seen. The next few days, however, I was out of commission with strep throat-- see previous post for details. Luckily, I was cured by my last full day in Cinque Terre, which meant that I did in fact get to see all the towns, though I wasn't able to hike between them.
The conclusion I came to in my day wandering the Cinque Terre villages was that I absolutely have to return, ideally sometime in late June/early July so I can truly experience the beauty of what the towns have to offer. The day I had to explore was mildly overcast, but the towns were still absolutely stunning, tiny streets packed with stalls filled with everything you could imagine. I have just one complaint to file: according to the sign, there are 350 steps from the train station up to the town of Corniglia, the third Cinque Terre village. After careful counting, however, I discovered that there are, in fact, 383. Corniglia, you are a cruel taunt. Fix your signage. Apart from that, however, the villages were absolutely stunning.
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| Is this not the most beautiful view you've ever seen? |
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| And then it was overcast |
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| The main street in Vernazza |
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| The town of Vernazza |
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| The stormy seas |
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| One of the many switchbacks on the stairs up to Corniglia |
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| Look, I got someone to take a picture of me! (Yes, I am wearing an NYU shirt. It was the only one I had that had been unaffected by my illness) |
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| A church in Manarola |
While waiting for my train to take me all the way from Cinque Terre back to Nice for the last few days of my break, I ran into a girl who also had a large duffel backpack on. As it turned out, she was also going from Cinque Terre to Nice and staying there for a few nights; thus, a friendship was born. We ended up taking a day trip to Monaco from Nice for one of the days, which was super fun though killed my feet, because, though you may not know this, Monaco is also built entirely on a hill. And no, I did not gamble-- as it turns out, you have to pay fifteen euros just to be able to enter the casino, and I was not about to bet that I could earn back that fifteen euros on my mediocre poker skills. Still, wandering around Monaco was an amazing time.
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| Is this sunset even real? (Spoiler: yes) |
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| The seaside of Monaco |
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| Large city; small country |
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| The newfound friends I went exploring with |
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| It's a good thing you can't see my sunburns |
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| I still can't believe actual people live here |
My last two days I just spent laying on the beach in Nice. The sun was shining, the temperature was perfect, and I never wanted to leave, but alas, all good things must come to an end. Saturday night, after my final beach day, I packed up and left my hostel and boarded the train back to Paris, much more relaxed and much more sunburned than two weeks prior.
Katrina
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