Tori's European Travels: Bonjour, Bonjour, Oh My God!

Two days after I arrived home from Copenhagen, I was off to one of my most anticipated trips of the semester. My best friend Khine from AU is studying in the French Riviera and myself and my other best friend Stephanie (who is studying in Rome) decided to come visit her.

So in the wee hours of Tuesday morning (all the cheapest flights are at like 6 am) I departed from my apartment, which was still a mess with clothes from the Copenhagen trip, and went to the airport to fly to Paris. When I was booking my trip to Nice, I decided that I wanted to add a day onto the trip and go to Paris. I truly loved Paris when I was there with my family four years ago, and wanted to go back. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to do so. So I arrived in Paris at about 9am on Tuesday morning. I spent the day doing A LOT of walking around Paris. I saw the gardens of the Louvre, the Louvre, Notre Dame, the Opera House, the Bastille, the Sacre Coeur, the Moulin Rouge, the real Moulins, and this amazing small church in Montmartre. I also ate a lot of delicious french food! Anyone who knows me knows about my love of bread and cheese. Moral of the story: France is the perfect country for someone who loves bread and cheese! I decided to take advantage of this and go to a boulangerie and buy a baguette and then go to a fromagerie and buy some cheese. I then took both these things and sat by the Seine and watched the stupid pigeons (the birds in Europe are always entertaining and always very dumb) and the tourist boats (usually watching them is very similar to the European birds).

That night I had dinner in Montmartre with my friend Caity who is studying in Paris. I met Caity in high school when I went on the leadership conference to Eastern Europe. It was great to catch up and reflect on our old travels and talk about our new ones too. Food note: another widely known fact, I go crazy for profiteroles. I am like obsessed! This meal was the first of my French profiterole consumptions.

The next day I awoke in the wee hours of the morning again and left my hostel (which by the way was called the Plug-Inn and was in Montmartre. It was great and I will highly recommend it to anyone needing a hostel in Paris). I then took the train to Nice. The train ride was six hours and was absolutely gorgeous! After the train arrived in Nice, I took another train to the town that Khine lives in, Juan-les-Pins.

In Juan les Pins, Khine's friend Dakshina got me from the train station because Khine was in class. Dakshina and I walked around Antibes and Juans-les-Pins shopping and drinking small French coffees. That evening we had dinner with all of Khine's friends and had a delicious meal of Nigerian chicken prepared. A few of us then went and got 1 euro ice cream and sat on the beach! One euro ice cream would be another common food of this trip.

The next day Khine had class in the morning, so I got up and went to a bakery that was a block from her house. This place would become the highlight of mine and Steph's trip. The bakery called Juan les Pains (silly pun because in French pain means bread). They had the most delicious pain au chocolat and chocolate beignets (yes, I originally ordered them because Princess Tiana makes them, but man, are they delicious!). When Khine got back from class, we went to Antibes and oogled at the yachts and coastline. We then made our way to Nice where we walked around, had a fantastic dinner where I had my second and final profiteroles in France, and then collected Stephanie from the airport. We had plans to go out that night, but it took us over three hours to get back from the airport. The transportation system in the south of France is not the most reliable.

The next day we got up early, headed to Juan les Pains, got some breakfast and american sized coffee, and headed out to Cannes. This day could really not get any better for me: delicious French pastries, a big cup of coffee, two of my best friends, and the place of the biggest FILM festival in the world. We got to Cannes and Khine showed us the star's handprints in the ground and the building where the film festival was held. We then saw a sign for a Cinema tour and it was only 10 euros. So we got on our petit train and sat in the English speaking car where we were joined by several American and British retirees.

The Cinema tour was great and took us all over Cannes and gave us some great history both cinema and not. Fantastic 10 euros spent! We then had a sit down lunch at a adorable beach side restaurant themed around the festival. After spending most of the day in Cannes we headed back to Juan-les-Pins and went to the beach. All the French people who saw us on the beach thought we were insane because they think it is too cold. However, they don't realize that the 75 degree weather with intense sunlight was very different for the girl who dropped about 20 shades of paleness in a month in Sweden. I was loving the sun and being in shorts and a tank top. That night we had a delicious dinner at a creperie. We then went out to a club that was being hosted by Khine's university. Only four words can describe the evening: Jersey Shore in France. Very interesting people and very entertaining people watching night occurred. Even though the night was pretty much a bust, the three of us made our own fun and had an entertaining night!

The last day I was there we decided to go to Monaco. Monaco known for it's casino, royalty/Grace Kelly, expensive cars, Formula One track and lavish lifestyle is only surprisingly 40 minutes from where Khine lives. So we got in our best dresses, went to Juan les Pains, and took the train to Monaco. We spent the day walking around Monaco visiting the casino in Monte Carlo, the harbor, the Formula One race track, the Prince's Palace, and really just soaked up the extravagance that is Monaco. We had a fantastic time in Monaco and all vowed one day to move there. This will probably be a little difficult for me with my education and IR degrees, but I will just have to find my movie star husband!

We were exhausted after Monaco, so we went back took a nap. We then went to Khine's favorite sandwich place for dinner had a giant baguette with meat, cheese, and french fries?. May sound strange, but it was delicious! We then went to the grocery store bough some wine, which was only 3 euros and went to the beach. We sat and talked and had some wine under the stars on the beach until the wee hours of the morning when I again had an extremely early flight back to Gothenburg. While we were sitting on the beach we got in contact with one of my fellow St. Viator swimming and water polo alums, Carolyn Ward, who goes to the same school as Khine. Carolyn and her friend came down to the beach and we got to catch up.

I arrived home to Gothenburg at around noon on Sunday and immediately went to the traditional Spanish lunch that we have almost every Sunday. I had a blast on my trip! The French Riviera is beyond beautiful and it was the perfect backdrop for my rendez-vous with two of my best friends! But now I am back to my life here in Sweden, glad to be home and see my friends, not so glad to have to do laundry from two trips, go grocery shopping, and get back in the swing of things. Also, this week there will be MANY trips to the gym after I pretty much single handedly completed the carb tour and ate my way through France. I don't think that I would have had the will power to live and study in France. The food is just far too delicious!

If you made it all the way through, thanks for reading this super long post! Now you will be rewarded with gorgeous pictures of Paris, the French Riviera, and me and my friends!