Ending of Spring Break - Nice/Monaco

So continuing where I left off a few weeks ago, after Spa, I flew from Brussels to Nice. Since it was a late evening flight, I was flying over the Alps just after sunset and that was awesome to see them with a blue tint from the moon. Very cool! And since the Alps are very close to the coast in this part of France, just a few minutes after seeing the Alps, I could see all the lights lining the coast to the east. As we got closer to landing, the approach is very similar to landing in SFO, but a bit more nerve racking. I knew we were landing on tarmac and I trusted the pilot to give us a safe arrival, but at the same time, that is the closest to the water I have ever been in an airplane. I mean, I can’t even estimate how far above the water we were, but during landing, all you see is water, then grass, then tarmac, then touchdown, all in about 3 or 5 seconds. Safe arrival, nonetheless.

That night in the hostel, I met a guy from the States that had been studying in Rome and he and I had a pretty lengthy conversation and he had mentioned how he was going to Monaco the next day. However, when I woke up the next morning, he was still sound asleep, so I decided to go to the train station on my own to go to Monaco, but the next train wasn’t for hours. I headed back to the hostel and got on the computer, trying to think of what to do. Then he came down later and starting talking to the girl who had been sitting next to me. It was his friend that was going to Monaco with him and they were taking the bus, so they said I could tag along. The bus ride was definitely longer than the train but it was a great surprise to hang out with people from the States and that certainly made the day more enjoyable.

When we got to Monaco, the first thing I wanted to do was walk the track and they were agreeable to that. What was awesome for me is that they were already underway with preparations for the Grand Prix that’s going to be held there in a month, so the guardrails and a lot of the fencing was already put up and the stands were in construction. It made it much easier to envision the track. Eventually, the two I was with began wondering about the race and I got to talk about racing for most of the day. Definitely fun for me! And the one and only time I will ever gamble, I can say I gambled in the Monte Carlo Casino. So that’s cool!

After walking the track and a bit of gambling, we headed back to Nice, which feels very much like Las Vegas in San Diego. The main strip along the coast is 6 lanes wide (3 each way) with a palm tree median and lit up casinos all along the way. The stretch of coast is long and very pretty to look at, yet the beach was a bit of a letdown. The dude and I went to the beach for a bit and eventually started throwing rocks into the sea. The beach is not a nice sandy one, but rather, rocks as small as your thumbnail up to the size of your fist. That was a bit of a disappointment but still cool to be near the Mediterranean Sea.

The next day, the two I had been hanging out with me had a flight that evening from Nice back to Rome, but I had been planning all along to take the train (Nice -> Ventimiglia -> Genova -> Rome) so I said bye to them. But when I got to the train station, the next train from Nice to Ventimiglia was at 15.33. However, the train I needed to catch in Ventimiglia to Genova was at 14.58. Once again, I prayed for comfort and a solution and made my way to the airport as quickly as I could to buy a ticket on plane to Rome. Luckily, there was still room, but it was still a stressful few hours to get that figured out. And it was a bit frustrating that the day before when I was out exploring it was a bit cool and slightly overcast, yet the day I was sitting in the airport for hours and hours, it was sunny and warm. Oh well, I got back to Rome when I needed to.

Overall, I did enjoy my time in Nice and my spring break in general. There were certainly ups and downs but for the most part, a positive experience and I’m very glad I visited where I did. Things might not have always gone according to plan, but if I had not tried, I would have regretted it. It was also a week that forced me to rely on God for guidance, comfort, and safety. I feel like that’s been His plan for me and He has not stopped pursuing me and that’s a great thing!

Anyways, here is some of Monaco and Nice!