monaco et carnavale

20/02-22/02
Tracey came to visit! And we decided to day trip it out to Monaco! And Erin came since she didn’t want to get up at the crack of dawn for the CUEFLE trip. We took a bus from the gare routiere and got off in Monte-Carlo. There we got to see the famous casino, lots of fancy cars, and people dressed way better than us. There were expensive stores and nice apartment buildings everywhere! After walking around a bit, we headed down to the port in Monaco, where we found an outdoor ice skating rink! It was like at least 55 degrees and sunny, so I don’t know how that was even possible. Then we walked up to the older part of Monaco, complete with royal palace. After walking around the quaint little streets we ended heading back down to the port for lunch. After that, we headed back to Nice; only about 4 hours in Monaco, and we had seen it all! In Nice we decided to all climb the colline to the chateau, and it was good timing because it was a nice sunny day and the sun was beginning to set. After we made our way down we walked along the (super crowded!) prom and saw some people doing bike stunts off the pathway. Then me and Tracey decided to go on the Ferris wheel! That was also good timing on our part, because the sun was still up, but it was a nice sunset at the same time and the Ferris wheel goes really high and you can see a lot! After that, we continued our carnival themed date with popcorn and a massive amount of cotton candy and walked through a park nearby on our way back to the apartment. Shortly after we got back, we met up with Lindsay and went and got Chinese food near the station. Later that night Erin came over to hang out and brought some (always) good French wine. Sunday, Tracey and I got up to go to the markets in Vieux Nice (Cours Saleya). This was the first time I made the effort to get up for them, before I had only seen them when they were shutting down. This time was prime market time and it was insane! There were so many stalls all selling fresh fruits and fresh baked breads, everything looked so good. We both got some strawberries and then continued our walk through Vieux nice, where (even though it was 11 am) we had to stop and get some gelato (which was the best gelato I’ve had in Nice yet)! After this it was time to go back, because Tracey had a train to catch for Torino. On the way to the train station Tracey stopped and got the lunch of champions (or, uuh, French people) – a baguette and some cheese.

Later that day I went to see the Carnavale parade with Lindsay. Carnavale here has attracted so many tourists, it’s crazy. And I think there were all at the parade. After seeing the parade and some of the festivities, I believe that Carnavale de Nice was created as an excuse for children, and also (mostly) adults to do whatever they want all the while watching disturbing floats pass by. Carnavale in Nice equals massive amounts of silly sting and confetti, which doesn’t seem to go along with the French “waste not and recycle all” attitude. The streets are littered with the debris right now and I bet you could find silly string from Nice Carnavale in Monaco; that’s how easily it is tracked around and how far it can go. Parents submit to their children’s whims and buy them massive amounts of this stuff, only so that they can spray it on the innocent passerby without being reprimanded. Not to mention anyone in the parade is fair game. I saw children and adults alike spray silly sting at people in the parade (marching bands members, people on floats, dancers), sometimes in the eye or face, as well as punching any float or costumed person. This, unfortunately, does not give me the best impression of French children. Also I felt that it was rare to find anyone around my age, it was mostly crazy older people or crazy younger people. Each float in the parade was weirder than the last, and usually had no correspondence with the theme of this year’s Carnavale, or just didn’t make sense at all. Either way it was super crowded, and some of the prep for the parade happens just down the street from our place, so we can hear people walking and screaming and yelling all the time right now. I am so happy we didn’t have to drive any where and we could just walk the couple blocks back to our place! It was an interesting experience, but I think it’s safe to say that I (still) barely understand the event that is Carnavale de Nice. Isn’t there supposed to be some sort of religious meaning embedded in there somwhere? I guess that got lost in the wild tourist attraction of Carnavale de Nice.