ohh so many thoughts

and here we go!
so steph and i headed to nice for our five day weekend, and met up with whitney on her way back from spain. steph and i arrived in nice around 5pm, went to the hostel, saw the mess on the floor and determined we were rooming with some stinky boys. turns out they were three guys from toronto - and the mess in the bathroom (the shower looked as though someone had tried to pot a plant in it) was a result of the guy who was there the night before. steph and i headed down to the beach. the beach here is all rocks - but still absolutely gorgeous. on the way down, we saw a guy playing the piano on the street. street performing piano! he was incredible. but seriously - trained pianist. he was promoting his upcoming show, we missed it. in either case - we got our own show. steph and i found an american themed restaurant - apparently here they think that barbeque means... CURRY! the wings were seasoned with curry, the kebabs were seasoned with curry... but they made the only decent margarita i've found in france. we went out on the "espace messena" which has these light up colored men - who change colors. they're sitting up on statues. they were part of an open-air art exhibit that the tram goes under/through. it was pretty cool. whit arrived late, sleep deprived, and giggly. so we went to bed.
the next day - we slept til 130. by accident! so did the toronto boys... whoops! the shower still wasn't working. we got dressed, left the hostel, went down the street, ate some food, and went to the beach. we noticed the lax lifestyle there - nothing seemed rushed, or pressing. it was awesome. AND WARM. and sunny. we wandered around the ocean front, found the old city, and our first taste of gelato there, though it was not the best. the best one we found the night after. the old city was cool, it was like our place plum but larger, more open, and more inviting. it was bad ass. we found some sandals for me, then took a seat on a park bench for a bit. we saw the HAPPIEST dog in the world - he wouldn't stop rolling around in the grass and running everywhere. we made our way back down to the old city for dinner, had an extremely yummy dinner - raviolis, eggplant, wine, fish, chocolate. ohhhh it was amazing.
so friday, we got up early. headed to MONACO. holy money. it was amazing. beautiful and rich and i want to retire there. the bus ride over was packed, but it was worth it. we hiked up a steep hill to the castle, ate some crepes, and then walked around the part of monaco near the cathedral and oceanography museum. the cathedral was gorgeous - the inside was covered with mosaics, not paintings. it was amazing. everything was beautiful, it was unbelievable. i'm sure with that much money they can afford all those beautiful buildings and stones and cars and to take care of everything else.... i was speechless. i was also speechless when we made our way down to the harbor, and i saw all the yachts. HOLY LORD THERE WERE BOATS IN BOATS. i was stunned. we of course went up to monte carlo - didn't go in the museum but checked it out. i saw the car i want - it's a maserati. yep. so we made our way back to nice, whitney's sandal broke, i got a pink sweatshirt, and we went out for dinner. whit got her gnocchi, finally. then we decided to go see a movie "jackpot". it's an american film but we saw it dubbed in french. not half bad. it was an awesome day. this vacation was just what i needed.
the next day - steph wanted to check out the cezanne museum. whit and i went to antibes to go to a sandy beach. it was absolutely gorgeous. it was a perfect lazy beach day. there were wind surfers in the morning, and the ever so famous topless ladies all over the place in the afternoon. i have discovered that spf 12 is a magical spf. whit and i came back around the same time as steph, went out for a yummy last night dinner, and a yummy last night gelato. it was a happy happy thing.
so we came back here sunday, that took all day. sunday night we caught up on grey's anatomy, and we hung out with the italians and frenchies and bryan.
i spent monday cleaning out my garden. looks a lot better. hung out with a kitty cat while i was doing it. we went to the fair monday night - it was kind of like a US fair, whitney and i played air hockey. yeah. it was fun times. we also got cotton candy.
yesterday was the only day i work this week - what with the strikes going on. one of my schools is actually CLOSED on thursday. my teacher said she wanted me to protest with them, she said i should be in at least one protest in my life. i'm like thanks, i'll protest for my own country when i do.
what else... what else...
alyson moved out while i was gone. its strange being here without her, i miss her.
i think something else that i miss is human contact. here they do their bisous, but there is a serious lack of hugging. the italians hug and put arms around everyone, and so do the americans. but there isn't as much hugging as i'd like. imma start giving out more hugs. yep. that's the plan. alright. i'm out.

links to the nice pictures:

part 1
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2040454&l=3477b&id=10400438

part 2
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2040455&l=e9208&id=10400438