Nice

It was rainy when we left Interlaken, and the temps were closer to the freezing mark than our meager amounts of clothing could handle. So after a long travel day, just about 10hrs in total, we were pretty happy to feel the humidity and warmth when we got off the train in Nice, France.

We made our way to the Hotel Paradis which was about a twenty-five minute walk towards the warm Mediterranean Sea breezes. After offloading our gear, we went out for a simple dinner and then made our way to the water. Few people enjoy a beach more then us, so it was nice to be back. We found a bench along the boardwalk, listed to the waves crash, and just soaked it in for a while.

In the morning, after a not-so-restful night of sleep on the most uncomfortable bed in the history of beds, we sipped espresso and munched on a tasty breakfast of French pastries. Because internet we so shockingly expensive in Switzerland, we managed to build-up a sizable backlog of work that had finally reached critical mass. So that was our primary task in the a.m. hours. With our chores completed, we managed to squeeze in a little sightseeing around town that afternoon. We walked up to the top of an old fortification which offered some great views of Nice and the sea, and wondered around the maze that is Nice’s old town. Later, we picked up a baguette, cheese and wine and sat on the beach and ate, drank, relaxed and just enjoyed sitting around not doing much of anything.

Paris

We flew into Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport last Monday feeling pretty excited about the next leg of our journey. For the next 45 days, we would give the plane tickets a rest, and set out by rail to explore Europe. We had a general sense of where we wanted to go, but we soon realized there would be much planning and work ahead of us in order to tackle our ambitious Europe itinerary. But we couldn’t let all that planning stuff slow us down – we were in Paris, and had to make the best of our three days. 

We stayed at the 3 Crowns Hotel, which is right near the Arc de Triomphe along the Champs Elysees. It was a pretty good location – a little outside the city center, but close enough to easily get to all the good stuff. Our room was pretty nice and with no bunk beds this time. You could definitely tell some serious smoking had been done in it, but we kind of got used to the aroma. We also had our daily 8 am wake-up provided by the construction crew working on the building next door.

Our first full day, as you can see from the pictures, we were met by dreary weather. Paybacks, we thought, for being spoiled by such nice weather in London. We pulled the Gore-Tex jackets from the bottom of our bags and set out in search of a suitable French bakery for breakfast. Not surprisingly, it didn’t take us long to find one. Haley’s attempt at ordering a croissant was met with a confused look from the baker. Jim stepped in though, and using his best French accent, successfully procured a “cwaa-saan.” Next, we walked to the Eiffel Tower, but the dark sky persuaded us to skip the elevator ride to the top. We continued on through Paris’ winding cobble-stoned streets to the beautiful Luxembourg Gardens. After our self-catered lunch of a baguette, salami (Jim’s doing), cheese, and a chocolate mousse (Haley’s doing), we then checked out the Latin Quarter and the famed Notre Dame Cathedral.

The next day we started off (after another breakfast of pastries) by booking our train tickets to our next destination of Brussels, Belgium. That afternoon, we walked through the gardens leading up to Paris’ world renowned museum, the Louvre. We also peeked down Paris’ most famous boulevard, the Champs Elysees, wishing it were the final day of the Tour de France to see the cyclists racing down the cobblestone street. After killing most of the daylight, we decided to try to conquer the massive Louvre. Our strategy was to enter the museum with only three hours till close. That way we could avoid another marathon session like at the Hermitage, and also pay half price for entering after 6pm. Our plan worked out great. The floor plan was less of a maze than the Hermitage, and we were able to hustle through the four floors with ease. We finished the experience by viewing Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa and the famous Aphrodite sculpture. After visiting the Louvre, Hermitage, and about a half dozen other museums on our trip so far, we may not be seeing too many more going forward unless it’s really rainy and/or the museum is free.

Ravaged by art hunger, we set out to find dinner. We totally agreed with a little girl we saw walking out of the Louvre yelling “I’m huuuungry!” to her parents. After wondering the streets for a while, we settled on a pizza place. Yes, we know we shouldn’t be eating pizza in France, but it was late and they were open. It was very tasty thin crust pizza and was served with a spicy red pepper olive oil that gave it a nice kick. 

With tired feet, we opted to take the metro home. But first we made a quick detour to see the Eiffel Tour at night. The tower was lit up in a magnificent bright blue and we both agreed it looked much better at night. After snapping a few pics, eating a chocolate crepe and having a beer, we finally retired for the evening.

The next morning, we savored our last French pastry breakfast, and then set off to the train station for our first EuroPass destination of Belgium – home of Belgium Beers and Belgium waffles.