Welcome to Paradise! In this post I'll talk about what it's like to visit the Azure Coast during the off season and how I'm dealing with my dwindling funds in my bank account.
Song of the week: La Mer by Charles Trenet
Visiting Nice in November is a strange experience. It's a cozy, stunningly beautiful ocean town that also happens to be completely empty. The water really is the azure blue that you see in the picture above. Most of the shop owners speak English, and they are trained to accommodate even the most difficult tourists. We didn't have to wait for a table at restaurants and the servers were waiting on us hand and foot. Our stay in Nice during the off season (late October to March) was lovely but I can't imagine what it would be like during the season, when there are 200,000 tourists per day on average who are visiting the city. Some weekends during August can reach over 600,000 visitors per day, and the population of Nice is only around 380,000. The only down side of visiting so late in the year is that a lot of the shops had closed for the end of the season. While there were still plenty of things to do, we could tell that a lot of the shop owners had either taken off to find warmer weather or didn't feel the shop would bring in enough revenue without the tourists.
Nice is also the perfect starting point for day trips to the surrounding region. On Saturday, we took our own little day trip to Eze and Monaco, the second smallest country in Europe. Eze is a small town situated high in the mountains and it overlooks the Mediterranean, resulting in one of the best views the Azure Coast has to offer. The ruins of a medieval city are perched atop one of the peaks, and we spent a good amount of time wandering around the numerous alleys and staircases, feeling like we were living in a modern day fairy tale. Olives make up a large portion of the economy in the region, so we stopped at an olive oil shop for lunch and sampled some of their products (which were incredibly flavorful by the way). The hike to the top wasn't too strenuous, and the view was stunning. We could see the whole coast, as well as the other small villages that hugged the beaches just a few mountains over. With a garden full of succulents and tropical plants and the fresh sea breeze, I really did feel like I was in paradise for a moment. And then it started raining.
Despite its small size, Monaco has the highest population density in the world. The buildings are even closer together than in Nice, and at least twice as tall. The resorts are luxurious and the yachts are even more so. This might sound a little crazy, but the closer we got to the casinos and resorts, the more the air smelled like money. What does money smell like? Well, you can't mistake it for anything else, but it gives you the impression that many, many euros have been spent very, very quickly. In the spirit of feeling like one of the high rollers who visit Monaco during the season, I decided to gamble a little at the Monte Carlo. What else are you going to do in Monaco? (Actually the old castle is pretty cool, but I'll get to that later.)
I walked into the famous casino with 25 euro in my hand, feeling confident. After asking how to exchange my money when I was done, I fed some money into a slot machine and pulled the level. Nothing happened. I pulled the lever five more times, and then got bored. I took my remaining 19.82 euros to the Blackjack tables. I sat down and the dealer told me the buy-in was 10 euros. When I handed him a 10, he placed two chips in front of me. He turned over a 7 and an 8 for himself and an ace and a queen for me. He placed three more chips in in front of me. I had no idea what just happened. While I was trying to figure it out, he called one of his colleagues over and said in French, "She has no idea what is going on. Tell her the rules." The other dealer explained the rules to me, and I apparently had just been dealt a really good hand. I wanted to try again, so I put my chips back up. This time the dealer had a good pair, and mine was not great. I tried for the third card, but it was too high. I was left with a single 5 euro chip, which was not enough for another hand. I thanked the dealer and pocketed the chip as a consolation prize of sorts. So what happened to the other 9.82 euros? Honestly, I'm not really sure, but it slipped through my hands like water. The experience was fun while it lasted, but it left me with a vaguely empty, melancholy feeling. I had set out to lose 25 euros and that was exactly what I had done.
"The safest way to double your money is to fold it over once and put it in your pocket." -- Kin Hubbard
By the time we made it up to the castle and old part of the town it was threatening to rain, so we took shelter in the cathedral while the storm passed. The winding streets of the old town were almost completely deserted, and I got the feeling that not many people visit this part of Monaco even during the season. Monaco used to be a part of Italy and you can still find some signs in Italian even though French is currently the official language.
Something rather surprising in Nice and Monaco was that I could barely their French. While I had no trouble understanding the people in Metz or Paris, the dialect in the region was very difficult for me. This "Provençal" dialect is due to the region's proximity to Italy's Occitan region, which used to cover much of southern France the past. So far, I have determined that I am the best at understanding Luxembourg French and Quebecois (French in Quebec). Parisian French is slightly more difficult but I can muddle through. I hope that as my French improves, I will be able to understand different accents better.
As the semester winds down, so do the funds in my bank account. While it is rather concerning to watch the numbers grow smaller and smaller, I know that I have very few expenses left and I will (probably) be able to make it to the end of the semester without a problem. I have been eating out less, and making sure that I am only spending money on the weekends, since everything else has been taken care of. Everyone else is trying to save a dollar too. The line for leftovers gets longer every day and people are snacking much less. We have realized that the experiences we are having are more important than the munchies and by saving a little each day, we can make our euros stretch for a little longer. (Disclaimer: I am not asking for money, just explaining a challenge we are facing at this time.)
I'm still recovering from my two week adventure across Europe so next week I am going to make an effort to relax more. I am going back to Belgium on Friday for a chocolate tasting and cave tour, then headed to Bruges on Saturday. Sunday, I'll catch up on sleep and homework, because that's what Sundays are for.
Any suggestions for Bruges? Tips for saving my last few dollars or making them last? Let me know in the comments!
Until then, I'll keep wandering.
Maybe Santa Clause will visit you...............with a dollar or two!