An Old Chateau, an Israelite Cemetery and a Russian Orthodox Church...oh, and the beach

Monday, June 7, 2010
Day 40

I left with Meridith, Ryan, Paris and Marissa right after class (did not stop by Vincent's room) to go through Old Nice and see the Chateau and Rocher. It was a lot of walking for flip flops, but other than that it was a pleasant walk along the seashore and I enjoyed seeing the Mediterranean architecture. It is so different from Paris with all the yellows, pinks, browns and oranges of the houses and the eclectic feel of the small streets and shuttered windows. We passed through an open air antiques market and saw the Opera House and church. From there we continued a short walk to the Rocher which we climbed up and saw the ruins of the old chateau. At the top the view of Nice was incredible. The city itself, with all its vibrant colors, is beautiful, situated in the valley and hills sloping down into the azure blue Mediterranean. Its obvious where it gets the name Cote d’Azure.

View of Nice from the Chateau

From the top of the hill we made our way down and walked through an old Israelite cemetery, which was interesting, and then kept walking downhill into town. The walk was really fun because the entire city is so stereotypically picturesque and quaint. We went through these narrow winding streets and alleyways between brightly colored old apartments. There was even laundry hung out to dry above us from the windows! When we made it to the bottom of the hill we explored for about another fifteen minutes until we finally found the Russian Orthodox Church. Its famous because it is the largest Russian orthodox cathedrale outside Russia. We paid 3 euros to go inside, which was pretty cool, but I think the outside was the best part. One funny thing we did see there was a matching Russian couple. They were both wearing blue and white sailor striped shirts and white pants. Marissa figured out they were Russia because she stalked them, I mean, watched them as they put back a Russian copy of the tour guide...and then she followed them outside and took a picture. Kind of made my day.

Falls by the Chateau

After we finished looking through the church we then headed back to the train station--along the way Meridith lost 2 euros which were eaten by the public toilets machine, so then she was out 2 euros and couldn't use the bathroom--and went back to the residence. Once there I changed into my bathing suit and went down the hill to the beach to spend the rest of the afternoon soaking up what little sun was left (it was pretty overcast).

Around 5:15 I left with Meridith and we picked up some drinks for our Family Home Evening and then had a class FHE in the lobby of the residence. It was nice. Beth gave a good spiritual thought and then we celebrated birthdays, including mine! And the best part was the LeBras' bought really good high-end pastries from a shop they like so I got a really good strawberry tart for my birthday cake. Mmmmmm.....Bon Anniversaire to ME!