French Riviera and Italia

After our last game against the Nice Dauphins, we spent the night out in Nice. I have to say it was a pretty fun time. Originally we tried to get all of the guys together to go out. However trying to get 25-30 guys without any females can pose a bit of a problem. Also when no buses are running, you can't find a cab, and it's a bit of a walk to the city center, you have to improvise. Matt, Will, Dino, and myself finally hailed down a cab and meet up with Alex, a former cougar who was playing for the Nice team since he's now living in the south.

Anyways we ended up having a pretty fun night out in Nice. Will talked two girls into walking into the bar with us just so we could get in. He's a charmer. I even ran into someone from a hostel I stayed at in Barcelona. Talk about random. But when you look back to that day it was pretty intense. We drove the entire morning on a sleeping bus from Paris, then we went to the beach for a couple hours, swam in the Mediteranian, played a football game, went out, all to wake up the next morning and see some more of south France.

On the sleeper-bus, riding from Paris to Nice.

I must mention the pregame was quite intense. You see on the beach after riding in a bus 10 hours all night, we got the privelage of seeing the Danny Mendes show. Danny rocked his small bathingsuit and went up talking to girls and just being hilarious. It was awesome. The whole team was just hanging by the beach, throwing rocks into the ocean in a little game we came up with. It was just fun and I felt like we all shared that moment. We were all cougars.

The one and only DANNY MENDES.

After the game we spent the morning in Nice walking around the old city. There was a fresh market that was really incredible. As we were touring the city Sally spotted a tour guide and we arranged a trip to see the Riviera. We stopped at a little resturant and I had a huge steaming pot of mussels and some fish soup. Really fresh ingredients. Afterwards we meet up with the tour guide and saw some of the country side.

We drove to Monaco and Monte Carlo along the coast, stopping in Eze. It was absolutely gorgeous countryside. The water, the rocks, the cliffs...really something special. Also, I must mention that the Canes film festival was going on at the same time. A little crowded. In Eze we walked through the old city, I must say that each old city I have seen in Europe is somewhat unique. Each having their own special style, their own little quaintness about them. Somewhat similar to the rest, but each capturing the individual spirit of the people, the culture and the town.

Eze was beautiful, on the top of the mountain you can see to Italy and to France. We strolled through the little streets looking into the small shops. Next we stopped at a local perfumerie. Eze is famous for making fresh French scents. I'm sure my aunt's enjoyed it a lot, and the tour guide was nice, but perfume isn't the tops on my list of things to do. Nonetheless I learned that it takes almost a million pounds of flours to make a gallon or so of perfume. When they capture the "essence" of the flour it is very strong and potent.

After this we went on to Monte Carlo, where the town was preparing for the Formula 1 Grand Prix. We drove through the track that the cars would take. Fairly small with limiting space, you learn how impressive it is when a car can actually pass. The roads all had safety barricades and water barrells to help for wrecks. It was fun going through the turns down to the harbor, where private cruise ships were parked next to each other a hefty price for a one of a kind view on race day.

A view of the harbor and Monte Carlo and the race day grand stands.

Afterwards we stopped in Monaco, the 2nd smallest country next to the Vatican City. You had a great view out to the ocean on one side, the harbor and the grandstands for the race on the other. I learned the history of Monaco, apparently the village was actually housed by tons of monks. A pirate came and clothed himself as a monk and killed all the monks, then after he got tired of it and sold it to a rich family. Thus how it came to be it's own country. There was a little park we stopped at and looked out over the ocean and enjoyed some of the plants and statues.

After enjoying some ice cream, chocolate & pistachio combination, we headed down to Monte Carlo center. Aston Martin's, Lamborghini's, and Ferrari's lined the enterance into the Grand Casino. It's so expensive it costs 15$ just to go in and see it, and if you want to sit down and gamble you probably need to take out another mortgage on your house. We didn't go in, instead we grabbed some drinks at an outdoor bar. The bartender was a really nice guy, I ordered a beer and basically he gave me 3 for the price of 1. I got the one from the bottle, he then gave me the same from draft, and the same brand but white beer on tap. I was happy, for Aunt Sue he played it cool and asked her what her favorite color was, she said blue and he made a blue lagoon type of cocktail. I have to give the man points for style.

We drove back to Nice and spent the rest of our daylight on the beach. All I could think about was how surreal my life is. I NEVER would have planned this path, and I fully believe that God opens doors when we least expect it. I know this is all his doing and I am just fortunate. If I could give any advice it would be to run through those open doors with no hesitation because you never know when they will shut.

The next day we headed by train to Firenze...aka Florence. However the train took us all through Italy, from Genova, up to Milan then switched trains and ran down Bologna, to Parma, to Florence. Italy was beautiful and the food authentic. The pasta's where just unbelievable. We ate at this one small restaurant with a really cool ambiance. It almost felt like you where in an Italian house and sitting at their dinning room table. I love that feel, the homey-ness (if that's a word)

No pictures where allowed, but I managed to snag this one.

The next day we went to see the statue of David, and the 2 replicas. I must say his head and hands are enormously out of proportion. Our tour guide told us it was because Michelangelo wanted to emphasize 2 different things. First the power of man's mind. That is, a man should realize the capabilities of the mind and think things through. The hands being bigger was to emphasize how much man can do with his hands. Physically being able to create, weither that be sculptures, paintings, or any other type of trade work. He believed that men should use their hands to work on making life a better place.

Locking out on the old bridge

We also saw the old remaining bridge from the Medici family. It is now lined with top end jewelry stores. The ancient walls that used to surround the village are now 90% tourn down, but we still got to see some of the remaining pieces as we viewed the city from the top of this hill. The city seemed to be situated in a valley so it was a really beautiful view from up their. Originally this is where they wanted to put the statue of david, however being to difficult to move the kept it down in the town.

Afterwards we strolled the streets, I love the narrow corridors. It feels like you could touch both walls if you laid out across some of the passage ways. We found a museum. Let's just say the line was intensely long, over an hour plus wait. We decided to try the other side of the line where not many people were going in. Only to be told that this is where you bought tickets for a day in advance. The ticket lady naturally showed us to the other side, where the line was waiting. Seizing the opportunity we tried to hop the line and go inside, playing the dumb tourist role. It almost worked until a small Italian man started screaming and saying "You think you just jump the line and no one notice" (well actually yes, bc Aunt sue was already at the window to buy tickets, past the security checks.) It was a good laugh and we can say atleast we tried!

Later that evening we came back to the hotel and sat on the bench outside watching some of the Italian kids playing soccer. No wonder their so good, these kids were playing in a little park with trees, bicycles, benches, trashcans, fountains, etc. in the way of their game, but that didn't stop them. The played around the obstacles, onto different terrains and just played. Aunt Sue noted that this is just what today's kids in America or missing. Just being outside, playing, having fun. I must admit it was relaxing to just watch the kids enjoy themselves!

Italian soccer

All in all it was a great trip and I'm glad I had the opportunity to see all these things. My countries traveled list is starting to increase a bit and I'm somewhat happy for that.