Hi Guys! Hope everyone is having a nice weekend! We heard the weather at home was nice yesterday, so that’s good and hopefully it continues! After seven straight days of pouring rain the sun is finally out in Antibes! We went to the market for a little this morning for some bread and yogurt but have spent most of the day, and probably the rest of the night, studying for midterms which start tomorrow! We are very nervous so we are keeping our fingers crossed that they aren’t as bad as we think they will be. Yesterday we went to Nice with about ten other kids in our program and had a very nice day! Nice is only a short train ride from Antibes. We met at the train station at 8:30 and arrived in Nice before 9:00. We had the same tour guide as we did in Monaco and she met us at the train station in Nice and then gave us a great tour of both the old and the new town in Nice. We started off by walking down Avenue Jean Medecin which led us into the old town. This road was filled with very popular clothing stores and little cafes as well as a small mall. We also saw where the Nice festival will be held in a few weeks, they were setting up the stands and lights. Once in the old town we arrived first at the flower market. The flower market is very popular and well known and is known as the most colorful flower market in all of France. Besides flowers the market also had all types of breads, pastries, desserts, fruits, vegetables, chesses, and a few vendors selling paintings and other things. Our guide told us that the market was famous for using the five senses: smelling the flowers, tasting the food, hearing the vendors yelling what was for sale, touching the products for sale, and seeing all of the beautiful and colorful items. The key is to arrive early because when we passed through later in the day everything was put away and the vendors were gone.
We then walked to the Promenade des Anglais which is right along the water and filled with runners, rollerblades, bikers, families out for walks and people just enjoying the view and fresh air. From there we hiked up a giant hill that gave us the best view of all of Nice. It was many steps to get to the top but it was definitely worth it once we got there! There was a small park at the top and a restaurant. On our way down the hill we stopped at Catholic cemetery called Petit Cimetiere. This cemetery was extremely extravagant and all of the tombs had huge statues, sculptures, flowers and designs. It included the grave of the creator of Phantom of the Opera. From there we made our way back into the old town. All of the streets were built very narrow and tall in order to keep the pirates out. Only mopeds could fit down the streets which were very beautiful and filled with houses with their clothes hanging out to dry and small cafes and stores. We stopped at one café and our tour guide bought us all some socca to try. Socca is made of chick peas and flower mixed with water and olive oil and comes out of the oven looking similar to a crepe. It is very nutritious and filling and is very popular in Nice but cannot be found in any other part of France. Everyone seemed to enjoy it except for the two of us, but we are very picky when it comes to food! It reminded one student of a biscuit from KFC! I think the two of us were hoping it would remind us of something more along the lines of a dessert from Mom’s kitchen! We were still hungry so we stopped for a Panini which was more our speed!
We toured two beautiful churches that were filled with lots of detail and beautiful designs and then finished up the day with a tour of the Museum of Modern Art. The tour guide for the museum was our advisors teacher who taught her French so it was nice to meet her! She was a very interesting lady but seemed to go too much into detail on all of the pieces of art so by the end of the tour of the museum there were only four of us left who had only stayed because we felt bad leaving early like the rest! We were very tired and were more concerned with catching the last days of the sales than we were with what the artist was thinking when he or she created their paintings! We stopped at a few stores on the way back to the train station but didn’t find anything that we liked or could afford!
We better get back to our studying; hope everything is going well at home, we miss everyone so much! We hope the weather continues to stay nice both here and at home! Enjoy your week, we love you, and we’ll talk to you soon!
Love, Em and Jen
***The first picture is of a rainbow we saw after a thunderstorm we had during the week long period of rain. It stopped raining for about five minutes and the sun came out and a giant rainbow formed right out of our window! The second, third, fourth and fifht pictures are all from the market in Nice. The third picture is of fruit that is coated in a syrup like sugar coat to help keep it fresh. The man selling the bread gave us all a sample of a donut like dessert which was really good! The sixth picture is a picture of everyone who went on the trip- the tour guide took the picture and cut one person off to the left. Not a lot of people went on the trip since Nice is so close and so many people have already visited it before. (A lot of people were also still asleep!) The seventh picture is a picture overlooking the new and old town and the beach that we took after climbing the giant hill! If you look closely you can see the markets - they are the row of tents after the line of palm trees just before the city begins. The street along the water near the palm trees is also the promonade that we walked along. The next picture was taken in the cemetary and is just one example of how giant and detailed the graves are. The ninth picture is of the man serving the socca to us and the tenth picture is from the Modern Art Museum and is a dress made of water bottles. The eleventh picture is another picture of Em overlooking Nice. The twelth picture is of Jen during lunch eating a panini and the final picture is of one of the streets of Nice. All of the streets were very clean and many had Christmas lights!
We then walked to the Promenade des Anglais which is right along the water and filled with runners, rollerblades, bikers, families out for walks and people just enjoying the view and fresh air. From there we hiked up a giant hill that gave us the best view of all of Nice. It was many steps to get to the top but it was definitely worth it once we got there! There was a small park at the top and a restaurant. On our way down the hill we stopped at Catholic cemetery called Petit Cimetiere. This cemetery was extremely extravagant and all of the tombs had huge statues, sculptures, flowers and designs. It included the grave of the creator of Phantom of the Opera. From there we made our way back into the old town. All of the streets were built very narrow and tall in order to keep the pirates out. Only mopeds could fit down the streets which were very beautiful and filled with houses with their clothes hanging out to dry and small cafes and stores. We stopped at one café and our tour guide bought us all some socca to try. Socca is made of chick peas and flower mixed with water and olive oil and comes out of the oven looking similar to a crepe. It is very nutritious and filling and is very popular in Nice but cannot be found in any other part of France. Everyone seemed to enjoy it except for the two of us, but we are very picky when it comes to food! It reminded one student of a biscuit from KFC! I think the two of us were hoping it would remind us of something more along the lines of a dessert from Mom’s kitchen! We were still hungry so we stopped for a Panini which was more our speed!
We toured two beautiful churches that were filled with lots of detail and beautiful designs and then finished up the day with a tour of the Museum of Modern Art. The tour guide for the museum was our advisors teacher who taught her French so it was nice to meet her! She was a very interesting lady but seemed to go too much into detail on all of the pieces of art so by the end of the tour of the museum there were only four of us left who had only stayed because we felt bad leaving early like the rest! We were very tired and were more concerned with catching the last days of the sales than we were with what the artist was thinking when he or she created their paintings! We stopped at a few stores on the way back to the train station but didn’t find anything that we liked or could afford!
We better get back to our studying; hope everything is going well at home, we miss everyone so much! We hope the weather continues to stay nice both here and at home! Enjoy your week, we love you, and we’ll talk to you soon!
Love, Em and Jen
***The first picture is of a rainbow we saw after a thunderstorm we had during the week long period of rain. It stopped raining for about five minutes and the sun came out and a giant rainbow formed right out of our window! The second, third, fourth and fifht pictures are all from the market in Nice. The third picture is of fruit that is coated in a syrup like sugar coat to help keep it fresh. The man selling the bread gave us all a sample of a donut like dessert which was really good! The sixth picture is a picture of everyone who went on the trip- the tour guide took the picture and cut one person off to the left. Not a lot of people went on the trip since Nice is so close and so many people have already visited it before. (A lot of people were also still asleep!) The seventh picture is a picture overlooking the new and old town and the beach that we took after climbing the giant hill! If you look closely you can see the markets - they are the row of tents after the line of palm trees just before the city begins. The street along the water near the palm trees is also the promonade that we walked along. The next picture was taken in the cemetary and is just one example of how giant and detailed the graves are. The ninth picture is of the man serving the socca to us and the tenth picture is from the Modern Art Museum and is a dress made of water bottles. The eleventh picture is another picture of Em overlooking Nice. The twelth picture is of Jen during lunch eating a panini and the final picture is of one of the streets of Nice. All of the streets were very clean and many had Christmas lights!
What an interesting excursion to Nice! You covered a lot of ground. My favorite picture is of the pastries. I would like to try one of each. The strawberries look good also, Interesting and colorful to see them displayed what we would call upside down. Are they from France or grown elsewhere? I see a large ferris wheel in the picture of Nice. Is that for the festival that is coming soon? Thanks so much for taking the time to update your blog. Do you take turns doing it and who does the writing? Even Henry is starting to read it.I hope your midterms go well.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for all the comments- we love them! We took the picture of the pastries espeically for you Donna, we know you love them! I'm pretty sure everything is grown right here in Nice. Nice is having a huge festival starting in a few days and lasting for three weeks! Everyone dresses up and there is a giant parade, they have been setting up for weeks! We are hoping to go with Mom, Dad and Jul! We are glad you are enjoying the the blog-- we both do the writing and Em takes most of the pictures! We can't wait to start on our scrapbooks when we get home! Miss you guys!
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