Days 2 & 3

So, it's been pouring rain in Nice so far, and I haven't felt like writing much as I've been soaked & there hasn't been much to do (apparantly it only rains like 4 days a year here, and I'm getting all of them. Curse you Vancouver, you follow me everywhere. ;-)) So, yesterday, after no sleep (constant noise & drilling outside my room @ 7 in the morning :p) I finally peeled myself out of bed, showered, and was about to start the day, when the rain began. A half hour later, after debating staying under my covers &/or waiting it out, & searching for my umbrella, which I never found (which I did find today :p) I decided to venture out & try & do some 'indoor' things. Thankfully, they loaned me an umbrella, & I headed out to the highly recommended Matisse Museum, which I wasn't really interested in & was going to fit in near the end if I had time, but due to the cats & dogs falling outside, I gave it a shot. Well... my initial instinct was right. I'm not a Matisse fan, I'm still museumed out from my last trip to Europe (3 days @ the Louvre, & who can beat that?) and most of his 'important' works are elsewhere. Oh well, points for trying. I did meet a very nice old man who I asked for directions at the bus stop, and he engaged me in a conversation I only half understood, but it was just one of those sweet things that you remember later, & make your trip. As I was waiting for my bus to leave the museum, someone like a meter-maid, but more like a bus-maid (I have no idea what he was doing, he pulled up to the bus stop & started making notes) showed up, & I was planning to ask him if I was at the right stop, but he just looked so busy I decided not to. Then, just before he left, he asked me which bus I was waiting for, and when I told him, he told me it didn't stop there (despite the sign saying it did & I'm still confused about that...? :/) so he said he'd drive me there himself. Now, I know some of you are thinking I'm crazy, but he was a balding little man, in one of those little official carts with the orange flashing lights on top, & it was a free ride - I wasn't about to refuse. This was something I would slightly regret later though, when he asked me out to a bar, gave me his number, and two kisses on the cheek before I left. It was alright, awkward, but whatcha gonna do? I'm finding, and as I remember my experiences from last time I was in Europe, that a girl travelling alone, unless she wants to be a complete bitch & ignore everybody, will inevitably get tangled up in one (lots) of these situations. I found myself considering how they find me, or if it was something I was doing, but at no point during our interaction could I have known, was I asking for it, or could have avoided it, and so, I guess anyone here is fair game. Anyhow, moving on... so, at the train station, which is where I was headed, I needed to find out the schedule for getting to my little town, so I asked a guy, who gave me the schedule off the top of his head, but didn't have one to give in hand, so he told me to go to the office for a print out. Well, the office computers were down (second computer malfunction for me in as many days :p (first was at the airport)) so we had to wait a bit, and when finally it was my turn, I find out the schedule is in fact completely different than the one he gave me, and the only train that gets me there leaves here at 8pm, and arrives there at... brace yourselves... 5 in the morning. That's 9 hours on a rickety train with no sleeper car - oy. I had no choice though, and so I bought the ticket. I still haven't heard back from my host, after telling her, she must not be too thrilled about that. ;) So, after the train station, I was famished & still jet-lagged, so I decided to stop at the cafe next door & have a bite. I ordered the leek tart & hot chocolate & between the waitresses broken English and my broken French, it was a great time. :) But I'm not joking, she was actually very sweet & it was fun to try to navigate between us. Alright, what else? This blog is kind of wandering as I can't really remember what happend yesterday, it's almost midnight & the girls are going to sleep, & as you can see, it wasn't exactly a fascinating day. :p So I came straight back after that, having sorted out a few neccessities, and I made sure to use my sleep mask & earplugs & actually got a good night's sleep - finally. :)

Today on the other hand, was pretty amazing. While it still rained & I was supposed to venture out to the old town & promenade yesterday, today's walk was super cool & I'm glad we did it. I met this crazy Brazillian girl who won't stop talking & we've been having a great time. :) We went down to the port & just wandered around, took some pictures, wandered around some more, until we got hungry & it started to pour, so we took shelter at a cafe & had rabbit (it's horrible, I know - the Brazillian girl says we'll go to hell for sure. ;)) Nice, though being the 5th largest city in France (someone told me 3rd but it's actually 5th) is actually super compact - the interesting part anyway, and so, despite the rain, we pretty much covered it in a day. We wondered around these amazingly tiny & windy streets, tons of dark lighting, shadyness & romance. My friends says I'll get sick of all this in Italy because it's all like that but I just eat it all up. So... ya. Wondering, rain, cafes, wandering. I want to go back & take pictures when it's sunny as we made detours & didn't get it all, but Nice is definately growing on me. At first I thought it was cute but lacked a bit of charm, now that I've seen it's centuries old quaint-ness I'm in love. I could wander for hours. Alright, well, I felt like there was more important stuff to say about today... but I can't really remember it all... We met this American girl from Vermont/Boston, & we're all going to Monaco tomorrow... hopefuly Cannes & St. Tropez after that. I tried posting pics here, but it takes too long (crappy connection) I'm posting them to Facebook intead so message me & I'll add you. Et... je pense que c'est tous! Oh, P.S. for those of you who were wondering, Lacoste is just as expensive here as it is back home, the French are so good looking it's ridiculous, & their dogs too (so are hostel staff :)) & remember how I said Vancouverites were everywhere? Add Australians too. P.P.S. Everything tastes good in France, literally, everything. :) Aiights, peace-out everybody, g'night! (Pray it's sunshiney tomorrow! ;-) My feet are still wet. :p)