Mon Petit Ami

Well, Kevin just left so I figured writing a blogpost about this awesome week would be the perfect way for me to relive it.

On Friday, my roommate and I paced around my apartment until 4PM when I could finally get ready to head to the airport and wait for Kev to arrive! Taking after my mother, I had planned every single detail of every minute of Kevin’s trip to France. Since it was his first time to Europe, I really wanted to take advantage of the short time he had here. I figured we’d walk around Nice the night he got here, get some dinner and wake up early the next day to explore Cannes.

Well all my detailed planning went down the drain when I saw Kev at the airport and he could hardly keep his eyes open (he used the redeye flight to watch three different movies. If you know my boyfriend at all, this won’t surprise you). So Friday night we headed to my favorite creperie and I forced him to eat a ratatouille crepe then went home so he could get some sleep.

We spent Saturday walking around Nice, letting Kev recover from his jetlag and showing him the best sites that the city has to offer. We hiked up to the Colline where we got to see an amazing view of Nice, and then headed to the port where we saw the ninth biggest yacht in the world (just a little preview of our day in Monaco!).

I took him to the best French Onion Soup place in the world (still cracks me up that its just called “Onion Soup” here) and had him eat a Croque Monsieur (which he said would have been better if it had hot sauce on it). That night we went to Antibes to go to a really cool, quaint bar with live American music and awesome vibes.

The next day I had the best plan to go to Cannes. We would walk past where the movies premier during the film festival, then hike up to the museum and climb to the top of the Panorama to see an amazing view. After, we’d go to a great little restaurant for awesome mussels and pizza, and then take a ferry to the Island of St. Honorat and check out the monastery.

So this is where our luck turned bad- we missed the train to Cannes by literally seconds. I mean we actually pushed the button for the train doors to open and it pulled away. So we waited for the next one, and when we finally got to Cannes, it was the coldest, windiest, rainiest and most miserable day we’ve had here so far. We walked towards the theater, which was completely blocked off so we couldn’t even see any of the celebrity handprints. We walked up to the museum, bought tickets, walked towards the Panorama and couldn’t get inside. So I went to the front of the museum and went back and forth with the workers to ask them to please open the doors even though it was raining or refund our money. Poor Kev sat there so hopeless since he doesn’t speak any French (but by the end of the vacation, he was saying “merci” and “bonjour!”) We went to go grab lunch, which was absolutely delicious, and while we were getting our check, we checked ferry times at 4:29. The next and last ferry left at 4:30. Too classic. So we ditched any plans, went back home and celebrated St. Patty’s at a few of the local bars.

The next morning, we woke up at a decent hour and went to get croissants for breakfast, then to go catch a bus to Eze followed by a trip to Monaco. We made our way to the bus stop and it was absolutely dreadful out (again), so we figured we’d check out the Modern Art Museum until the weather cleared. Which was closed. For the entire week. Since our bad luck was continuing, we went back home, bought a baguette and the minute we stepped in the door, the rain cleared. We waited to make sure it was real (were we actually getting good weather?!) and headed to the place I’ve been wanting to show Kev since forever: Monaco!! 

The day couldn’t have been more perfect- it was an absolutely gorgeous day and Kev was in his own personal heaven. We (or I should say, he) checked out a bunch of fancy cars and we went inside Monte Carlo and gambled! It was absolutely gorgeous inside. I’ve been to Monaco a bunch of times and never actually went in. We lost, but hey, we gambled in the Monte Carlo casino. After Monaco, we got dinner at Le Grand Bleu where we could see the ocean and the sunset over an amazing seafood pasta dinner.

 

The next day, we only had until around 4PM because we were going to Venice! So we took a bus tour of Nice for some more great views and snuck into a garden that I’ve wanted to show him (which was closed due to our luck, but we didn’t let that stop us). We relaxed there for a while and ate oranges I picked off the tree by climbing on Kev’s shoulders.

We headed to Venice for the next two nights (blogpost to come!) and landed back to Nice on Thursday afternoon to another gorgeous day. We spent this day walking through Nice and got to show Kevin all the great Nice markets (where he bought me the most beautiful flowers. They bloomed this morning after he left, no joke.) and sat on the beach for a few hours.

That night we went to Monaco and Kev got to enjoy Monte Carlo at night, which really is a totally different experience than seeing it during the day (Kev said he liked Monaco better during the day, but Monte Carlo better at night). We even went in the casino again at night!! We didn’t walk in past the entrance because everyone was very dressed up, but it was still great to see.

And then suddenly, it was Friday. We hung out in the markets again, did some shopping, and got to experience more of the beautiful weather. We ate pizza for the fifth time this week, got some delicious macaroons and just enjoyed each others company for the last few hours.

Kevin’s flight was at 7am this morning, so we woke up at 4:30 and headed to the airport. The goodbye was hard; in fact, we even did the whole goodbye, I walked out of the airport, then came back and Kev got out of the security line for one last goodbye (yes, that actually does happen in real life apparently).

Only having a week together in four months is not an ideal situation, but it was the most perfect week and I was so happy Kev was impressed with the city. It was an amazing trip and I’m so lucky he was able to come. He even said he was jealous of me! (and he came to France with a not-so-open-mind).

Munch, thanks for the best week ever. I’m so happy I got to experience it all with you. Love you.

Our trip to Venice will be in my next post!

From the luckiest girl in Nice,

A

(C’était l'une des plus belles semaines de ma vie. Je ne peux pas dire comment que je suis chanceux d'avoir Kevin et partager une petite partie de mon expérience avec lui. Ce n'est pas facile de voir que Nice serait avec lui ici, mais une semaine avec lui était incroyable. Je suis très reconnaissant pour lui et tout ce que nous avons pu faire pendant qu'il était ici. Peut-être qu'un jour nous y retournerons!)