Holidaying in Nice

Nice

  [nees] / [nēs]

noun

a resort city on the French Riviera, near the boarder with Italy, in southeast France, on the Mediterranean.  pop: 348,721.

Yes, Nice is a resort city on the French Riviera.
Yes, Nice is near the Italian border in southeast France.
Yes, Nice is on the Mediterranean Sea.

However, I want to tell you more than that.  So much more.  I want to introduce you to my friend Megan with whom I journeyed to Nice.  I want to tell of how we got to Nice and I want to share some of our favorite French adventures.  I want to declare Jesus' faithfulness to me while I traveled in Europe for a week with a beloved friend.

But before I proceed, I want to make sure you are rightly pronouncing the name of this resort city as "niece" and not "nice" (like a synonym of "kind").  For without the knowledge I had from watching the movie Killerz and Megan's help I would have surely made this spelling/pronunciation error.  I just wanted to save you from making this same mistake (grin).

This summer has been full of traveling.  From Chicago to Paris, Paris to Rome, Rome to Naples, Naples to Tuscany, Tuscany to Milan, Milan to Interlaken, Interlaken to Stuttgart, Stuttgart to Wittenberg, Wittenberg to Berlin, and Berlin to Regensburg.  We were in Regensburg for one week to finish up our second class before we all scattered to various places on the continent for a week of freedom to travel anywhere we wanted.  Several weeks ago, Megan Sherrill and I made a decision;  from Regensburg, Germany we would venture to Nice, France!

We bought our plane tickets during a break in our Pauline Epistles class in Tuscany.  We were absolutely ecstatic--in just a few short weeks we would be setting off on what would turn out to be one of the most exciting adventures of our lives!

On July 4 we headed to Munich where we had dinner at a "beer garden".  Well, I had a Coca-Cola Light and Megan had sparking apple juice, but it was a beautiful beer garden, nonetheless.  

Kelley brought us to the Munich airport where we would sleep in order to fly out the morning of July 5.  We didn't want to mess with getting a hotel, and (more honestly) we wanted the adventure of sleeping in an airport.  A HUGE thank you to the ever-wonderful Kelley for brining us to the airport, showing us where to sleep, getting us settled with a treat at McDonalds, and honestly, just loving us well.  We are thankful for her!

 

Megan and I read our last European Reformation book together at McCafé before heading up to a closed restaurant to sleep.  

 We each choose a booth to sleep in.  At one point I woke up and peeked under the table to check and make sure Megan was ok--indeed, she was.  In fact, she was sleeping so peacefully I had to take a picture.  

The next morning, we got ready in an empty bathroom and headed to Terminal 1.  We made it through security, freshened up with gift shop perfume samples, and waited anxiously to get on our plane to Nice!

It was 1 hour and 15 minutes from the time our plane landed until Megan and I were laying on the beach, watching other planes fly in over the ocean.

Out exploring Nice and grocery shopping for the week.

Diet Coke and ice-cream.  And two loaves of french bread, in France.  Yes.

The first night that we were in Nice, we discovered something that words almost cannot describe:  Nice at night.  We both fell in LOVE with Nice at Night.

I sat and gathered good skipping rocks in my mom outfit (which I didn't realize was a mom outfit until I saw the pictures from the night.  Ha!)

Day 2 at the beach.   

Bahia Hotel.  Our home for the week. 

We both fell asleep by the pool.  I woke up panicked because I had no idea how long we had been in the sun.  Then I saw Megan sound asleep. Upon seeing her I got my camera out as fast as possible.  

Booshie mirror picture before our pizza picnic.

Pizza, Sparkling Apple Juice, and Chocolate Cupcakes.  

This is a more realistic picture of our picnic:  struggling to rip the pizza apart because of our lack of silverware.  

Day 3:  Adventure to Cannes (pronounced "Con").  We found the bus to Cannes, picked a stop, found a map, located the islands we wanted to make it to, and wandered around asking questions and enjoying Cannes until we found the ferry!

Tickets for the boat ride to St. Honorat Island!  

Hundreds of yachts park between St. Honorat Island and Margarita Island for a day of swimming and eating delicious French food (the food part is just a guess). 

The ever-lovely Megan.  We walked around the edge of the island exploring old monasteries and chapels.  

Among the old monastery fortress and chapels was this modern day monastery.  We even saw a  real live monk!

 "Access reserved for monks"

Megan and I would both tell you that this was a perfect day wandering around a perfect island.  

And dinner at McDonalds in one of the wealthiest cities on the French Riviera. Classy, I know. 

All day long, the Lord was our helper.  We had a little difficulty finding a bus back to Nice, but He LITERALLY helped us and we were thrilled to be home safe. 

Beach Day 4! 

The night before we left we got Chinese to go and ate on the beach.  

Midnight swim! 

Our travel from Nice back to Regensburg, Germany was nuts.  We were thoroughly delighted, therefore, to enjoy Starbucks on our long train ride "home".  

We stayed in a hotel in Regensburg on our own and the next day we were beside ourselves with excitement to see our friends again!

We made it.  From Regensburg to Nice and back to Regensburg again.  It was relaxing.  It was exciting.  It was beautiful.

Megan, it was something MORE than a delight to meet you and to travel to France with you.  Guess what?  We'll always have Nice! :)