Exploring the South of France
Hi friends! I didn’t feel the need to update while we were in Marseille because it was not the most memorable experience, to say the least. Things started on a bad note when it took us about half an hour to find our hostel that was literally across the road from the train station we got off at… With different directions from many people along the way, we ended up doing a good lap of the area before arriving at our hostel that was no more than 5 minutes from where we had arrived initially. That was a real frustrating start to our time there.
Our hostel, luckily, was quite nice as we had our own room and bathroom… But of course it couldn’t be too perfect and we ran into a little predicament. In the end, it turned out that we are just idiots and there was no real problem at all, but I’ll share our dilemma anyway.
Alright. So there were no curtains on our bathroom window that was directly across from other apartments’ windows, making it very difficult to use the toilet or take a shower without putting on a show for our neighbours. For the 2 nights we spent there we would have someone hold up a towel while the other used the washroom and hung my entire comforter over the shower door for privacy. There were times that the man who lived across from us would hang out of his window and look at us which was extremely uncomfortable. Gross.
But of course the morning of our departure, I discovered that we had shutters on the windows. DUH!!! How stupid are we?! Just so stupid. Obviously if every other window we could see had shutters then we did too. It’s just embarrassing that between the 4 of us no one thought of that until the day we had to leave. Jeez Louise. I had to sleep with a half wet blanket for absolutely NO REASON. I honestly don’t understand how we can be so unintelligent sometimes.
Other than the window incident, Marseille was a huge waste of time. Sadly we were booked in for 2 nights but we didn’t enjoy our time there at all. The men are creepy and called out at us all the freaking time! The stereotypes about European men are proving to be true already. Along with that the city is dirty and unappealing and all the restaurants looked sketchy so we ate McDonald’s and grocery store food the whole time. We’re so adventurous, I know.
I don’t feel like sharing much more about Marseille because quite frankly, it was a big regret and I don’t feel like wasting my time typing about it. Too lazy to use my thumbs for such an unenjoyable experience that I don’t care to remember. Spending time there is my first regret of this trip… Well, you live and you learn, eh!
Next, we were off to Nice. It was AMAZING. I just loved it there. It’s name is absolutely fitting… The city itself is big and clean and full of tourists which was actually nice after being in a questionable neighbour that felt like, dare I say it, the ghetto. Nice’s streets are not only lined with gorgeous palm trees but high end clothing stores and familiar restaurants. Not gonna lie, we had Subway that night because we were so excited to be somewhere that had “normal” food we were used to.
Our hostel was the Villa St. Exupery and we found it flawlessly and efficiently, which was an extremely pleasant surprise. We walked to the beach and marvelled at the bright water that resembled a sea of blue Gatorade and fell in love with the soothing sound it created as it swished back and forth on the rocky shore. I could just sit there forever and be in eternal bliss.
Upon returning to our hostel, we decided to partake in happy hour with 4€ cocktails. After a few strawberry mojitos, we were more than ready to hit the beach for a sunset swim. It wasn’t crazy warm and no one else was swimming, but with a little alcohol in our blood we were easily able to jump in and enjoy the inviting turquoise water.
After this, we apparently felt like we could do just about anything and made our way towards a fountain called the Fontaine du Soleil. We had a spontaneous Hilary Duff movie moment and began to frolic in the fountain. Gosh that sounds so cheesy. It was a movie moment for sure. People stopped and took pictures of us and we just laughed and didn’t totally understand what compelled us to get in the fountain, but it was a good time anyway. That is until the police rolled up on their segways (lol) (that means laugh out loud) and told us to get out and put on our clothes. (Don’t worry we were wearing bathing suits!!!)
That was probably our most eventful night yet and definitely one to remember! Swimming in a fountain is a pretty cliche thing to do but you know what, it’s actually exhilarating and just as fun (in a stupidly corny way) as you’d imagine it to be.
This morning we wandered around Nice a little before leaving to our next destination and found thousands of people gathered by the beach to do an “official attempt at the largest human sentence” for the Guinness world records! That was pretty cool to see, especially if their attempt is successful and we can say we witnessed it!
Now we are on the train to Cinque Terre, Italy where we will be spending the next 3 nights. Last night around 12 o’clock we realized that we hadn’t booked a place for our next nights and called our Aunt Mary Anne to the rescue. Sometimes we just need a little adult guidance!! She helped us book a not so nice hotel since it was all that was available so last minute, so we are hesitant to arrive and see what our home for the next few sleeps will be. Let’s hope it’s better than we are anticipating.
If we survive the night then you’ll hear from me again soon!
Tal
