France is flying by on this EF trip. The first day that all three groups arrived (2 separate groups from Ohio and 1 group from Pittsburgh area) we headed towards something that you cannot find in the USA, a hanging vilage named La Chapelle saint-pierre. The hanging villages (translation from French) were formed to escape the pirates. They made villages that were high enough and far back enough from the sea with the sea still being in sight where the pirates would not bother them. This village has stone roads and winding narrow alleyways lined up with shops, sculptures, coffee shops and restaurants. Although it is a bit touristy it's a great place to spend an afternoon.
After this we spent time in the much cooler, humbler and beautiful Hollywood of France: Cannes. Cannes like Nice has a great promenade full of yachts, walkers and ice cream stands. Everyone was out walking around licking a scoop of their melting ice cream which was the best advertisement for an ice cream stand. It is surprising that everyone is skinny from what I've seen in Europe. People aren't walking around in exercise clothing like we do all over the states. You can't go anywhere without seeing someone who is wearing clothes that makes it seems like they just worked out. In France everybody is on the streets wearing dresses, sports coats or colored shirts with an ice cream in their hand yet they are the slender ones in comparison. They amount of walking they do everyday is what I've concluded is the main difference. Most people have to find time to exercise because we are not exercising in our day to day lifes. They are not exersizing because they move plenty in their daily life. Not only is walking the main difference but the portion sizes are as well. The portion sizes are smaller and the people seem to eat less. As a skinny kid who eats like a fat kid this has been difficult for me. I've found a way to make up for it though and that is through ice cream. I've been limiting myself to at least 1 cone/day.
Anyways, they handled jetlag with the best possible medicine of the Mediterranean sea. The coastline is interesting here as it is very rocky and difficult to find places to swim. The few small beaches that exist are full of people soaking up the sun, tops optional, and splashing around in the surprisingly cold water. I have been swimming at every opportunity but it has been surprisingly cold even though the blue in the pictures make it look tropical. I think because it is so close to the Atlantic that the water hasn't become a salty bathing pool as it is the further east you get into the Mediterranean.
The next day we woke up early to head to one of the smallest and richest countries in the world, Monaco. Fiats turned into Ferraris and thousands turned into millions in when crossing the border. The modern prince Albert is one of the few remaining princes in the world with nothing to really do but be a public figure. Like people like to do they try to separate the 0.1% and the 0.01% of wealth by having something around an $100,000 application fee to apply to be a member of this country club. This fee is non refundable of course- the prince has to pay the yacht bills.
Since we couldn't go to nice due to the attacks our amazing Tour Director Marguerite who I think was a grandmother of mine in another life took us to San Remo, Italy. The tightly packed development of mansions and yachts along the coastline of Monaco turned into the country side of Italy. Greenhouses and gardens filled the rolling hills leading up to the rocky cliffs of the Mediterranean. First stop in italy? Gelato. We spent 3 hours in Italy and for every hour I had 2 scoops of gelato. The more scoops you got the cheaper it was! I wasn't worried about the price though, just about trying as many flavors of this delicacy I haven't had in its homeland since I was 12. Italy is funny because all the restaurants in Italy are Italian restaurants. Everything is from there because why would they eat other food when they mastered their own? Everywhere else you go in the world is full of Italian restaurants. It's hard to go somewhere and not find pizza and pasta. Same thing with Irish pubs. You could be in almost any part of the world and find an Irish pub.
3 countries in 1 day? It was a good day.
