Nice and Cannes

So this past weekend I went to the Cote d'Azur. I was supposed to go last month, but then I got sick so I had to postpone. It worked out okay, but I was a bit hesitant to go because I have so much to do since it's end of term, Christmas and I'm going home to LA in two weeks...but oh well, part of this whole expatriate decision was so that I could travel around Europe, and so off I go!

The weekend was great. I stayed at a B&B (www.nicehomesweethome.com) instead of a hotel. It was a last minute decision, but this place is RIDICULOUSLY CHEAP and it turned out to be a great place. I highly recommend. It's a large apartment with like 6 or 7 rooms. The owners are French and they rent out the rooms and the wife comes every morning to prepare breakfast and clean. It's nice because it's not as sterile and cold as hotels. Like for one, you meet other people staying there. Also, people who have traveled through in the past leave behind maps that they've circled and written tips on, so you can use their advice for sightseeing. Also, the B&B's stocked with books and DVDs and a kitchen, so it's like staying at a friend's house.

So anyhow, I arrived in Nice Friday afternoon and took a tip from one of the maps left by past travelers and found out that there is a sightseeing tour bus that goes around Nice. So I went for a ride.

Some pictures:

View from the bus.

From the hills where I took the picture in the previous entry.

Along the Promenade des Anglais on the coast. This is the only place I've been where they have as many palm trees as Los Angeles.

The hills. It reminds me of the Hollywood Hills...the roads, the homes. This region is probably most similar to Los Angeles. It has similar weather, and the streets are considerably wide compared to other European roads. It's a condensed version of LA. Like, if the Hollywood Hills faced the ocean and we didn't have all that city in between.

All the buildings look like this on the street. Very quaint.

Honestly, I can't show you guys enough pictures of this place and explain how beautiful it is. It's just gorgeous. The Mediterraean just glows when there's good weather. This is the second time I've been on the Med. (Last time Barcelona.) Since it's winter now, these cities are the only ones with bareable weather right now.

On the bus, I met a couple from London and we went to have tea at the Negresco Hotel. They're English so they had tea with milk. I still find that whole thing really gross.


After, I went back to the B&B and put on a coat because it got a bit chilly and went for a walk around the town along the pedestrian area. I had dinner at a little outdoor restaurant called Le Bistro which was pretty cosy and cute. Then I went back to the B&B and met a fellow American abroad named Nicole. She's from Chicago. We decided to hit up the town. We walked around looking for something to do, but nightlife wasn't that great. We found a couple bars with live music, but not much our taste. French people dance weird.

So we headed to the casinos to have more drinks and hit the slots! First stop, the Bar Americain at the Casino Ruhl. After a few vodka drinks, I was pretty sloshed, and I decided to hit the slots. Everyone knows I like pigs because I was born in the Year of the Pig. So I found a slot machine with some piggies on it and...

I HIT THE JACKPOT, YA'LL! I won €60!!! And so then I moved to another slot machine that was called Hollywood Dreams. Thought it was another omen, and...I HIT IT AGAIN! I won another €18!!!

In the end, after you subtract the money I put in, I came up €72. That's almost $100. That's what I paid for the B&B for the weekend! I've never won anything in my life. After that, I loved Nice.

BUT...then we went to the Palais de la Mediterranee and I lost €10. So...the night capped out at €62 which is still freakin great for me!

Then Nicole and I went and got food at a kebab stand and went home and had a long talk about racism. She's a really smart, eloquent girl, and she happens to be a Black-American. When you're in a foreign country, you start realizing how arbitrary race is. Because when you meet fellow Americans abroad, it doesn't matter if they're black, white, green or purple...they're more like you than everyone else is and all that racism from home goes out the window. Yet, to the locals from that area, your race is interpretted differently. Even though I am American, I am identified at the face level as...usually, Chinese, unfortunately. They don't really know what Korea is yet. In Spain, they called me "China" (chee-na, not the country). The concept of "Asian" is becomes open for interpretation as well. In London, "Asian" refers to people of Indian and Middle Eastern descent. As a Korean, I'm "Far Eastern." Nicole, being black, is asked where in African she's from. Blacks in Europe are usually from specific countries in Africa or West Indies. In America, they come from slavery, they've been here a long time, they come from the "Hood." We would never think to ask them to trace their roots as far back as Africa. Anyhow, it was a long talk that I learned a lot from.

The next day, I took the train to Cannes to meet Li Meng (my roommate from Shanghai) for lunch. Li Meng lives out here. We went to a little French restaurant and walked around a bit until Mengy needed to go to her friend's house. Then I walked around, shopped, and walked down to the coast. I was talking a picture of the Palais des Festivals where the Cannes Film Festival is held every year and this dude walked into my picture.



He saw I was traveling alone and offered to show me around town. We walked down the coast and he went on and on about how he hates Bush and blahblah. Yeah, you hear that a lot here. The thing is, I don't necessarily find it great that they hate Bush. I mean, I hate Bush passionately. He is one of the reasons I left America. BUT, the French people seem to hate Bush because everyone around them hates Bush and all they hear is the negative aspects of Bush. It's the opposite of America, where the stupid, ignorant people love Bush because they don't know any better. It seems like in France, the stupid, ignorant people hate Bush because they don't know any better...and I don't think that makes it right. People shouldn't hate Bush because they don't know otherwise. They should love or hate Bush because they have a reason. Yeah Bush sucks and if I had the guts to take him out, I would, but I have reasons behind it. I disagree with his policies and how his regime has directly affected my life and wellbeing as an American. I understand that there are people who like Bush that aren't stupid. I have talked with educated, smart people who genuinely like him because they agree with his policies, which aren't all wrong. I respect that they like Bush because they understand the pros and cons of the situation and made their decision.

Anyhow, so this guy and I went to the Ritz Carlton to have a drink.


And then I took the train back into Nice to meet up with a guy I met the night before at the kebab stand. His name is Kali and he brought out his three friends with them. Kali speaks a little English, but his friends speak none. Yeah, so it was very interesting trying to communicate. The guys are Tunisian or something like that (It's a Arab country in North Africa.) but they grew up in France or Italy or Spain. Speaking of racism, these are the dudes that are "trouble" in France. Kind of the equivalent of the Asians in America (meaning us from Fullerton). But they turned out to be nice guys and didn't steal my purse or anything. I don't really understand where they're from. Like I said, they didn't speak much English. They spoke to each other a mix of French, Italian and Tunisian. And I speak English, Korean and Chinese, and that doesn't do me much good with this group. But somehow we managed. We went to go eat Italian food and drink lots of blanc vin (white wine) and then a bar and they proceded to talk to me in French and Italian and I'd try to figure out what they were saying.


Me and Zed in Kali's car.


Kali and me at the restaurant. Kali bought me a rose. :)


Kali, Sammy and Zed. There was another guy I called Yummy. Ok, I don't really know what their names are because they were Arab names I couldn't pronounce so I just called them what I thought it sounded like. So they became Kali, Sammy, Zed (since they don't say it "Zee" in Europe, "Z" = zed), and Yummy. I also have no clue what they do for a living. When I asked Zed, all I understood was "big car." I think he's a truckdriver, but I don't know. And Yummy said he's a fisherman in Rome, but I don't know if that's what he meant. Kali said something about "commercial," but when I asked him if he's an actor, he said no. The other thing is they're technically Muslim, but they drink and smoke and I think they even eat pork. I've never met non-practicing Muslims before, but I guess they're the Muslim equivalent of Sunday-Christians. Zed's from Paris, so I asked him if was one of the Muslim delinquents that torched cars in Paris, but he didn't understand what I was talking about. Yeah, but they did agree with me that Angelina Jolie is hot.

Sunday, I am ashamed to say, I slept ALL DAY. I was really tired. :P So I didn't do anything on Sunday. The weather was piss that day anyhow and most of the stores close for Sunday. France is a Catholic country.

Tomorrow I shall write about Monaco, but til then Au Revoir!