Hello from the French Riviera.
Yesterday we drove. And stopped. And drove. And stopped at a picturesque town called Aigues-Mortes, where there were good creperies and pretty art shops. Then we drove some more, and stopped, and drove… and finally arrived here in Antibes. The campsite here is one of the most comfortable so far on the trip, but there are lots of bugs. We spent yesterday evening at the campsite bar, playing drinking games and getting good and sloshed.
Our trip has a running game where we all had to dare one another to do odd things. One guy did his yesterday when he “proposed” to a bewildered (male) Spanish employee at a rest stop. Another girl swam in a fountain Monday night in Barcelona. Some of them have been pretty funny.
The heat is starting to get to everyone. Today we went to Nice and spent the afternoon at the beach. We wanted to go to Cannes, but the ticket machine at the train station in Antibes was broken, and the woman at the ticket booth couldn’t seem to figure out how to sell us tickets (even though we were speaking to her in French, so it wasn’t a language barrier issue). Anyway, we ended up missing the train to Cannes so we decided to go to Nice instead. The beach was rocky and crowded, but the Mediterranean was beautiful and blue. (Mom, if you’re reading this, yes I’ve been good about sunscreen and no I’m not sunburned. Everyone’s amazed since I’m practically the only person on the tour who isn’t burned and I’m probably the one who would burn the easiest.) We made it back to the campsite after a bit of an adventure involving being on the wrong train and a few people actually having to jump off a moving train.
After dinner, we headed to Monte Carlo, Monaco. It’s so beautiful there, and dripping with obscene wealth, expensive cars and yachts and whatnot. We saw the Royal Palace and the church where Grace Kelly got married, and then we went to the casino. We didn’t go to the big casino, we went to the small one on the bottom of the hill because it was free to get in. That is, if blowing 30 euros on slots, blackjack and a drink can be called free. It was fun but a little overrated and kinda disappointing. I guess gambling isn’t really my thing.
Tomorrow, onto Italy. I can’t wait!