So a few weeks ago I went to Nice for a weekend (actually not even that) and its definitely NOT long enough but being an au pair meant that I could only go away for a weekend at a time. I left Genoa at 8am and jumped on the train heading towards Ventmiglia. Ventimiglia is the last Italian city before reaching the French borders. I arrived in Ventimiglia a few hours later and there I got off the train and bought a ticket to Nice, I had to however wait 2 hours for the next train to Nice so although the train ride from Ventimiglia to Nice is just over an hour long, I didn't reach Nice til just a little before 3pm. I checked into my hostel, which by the way was very wonderful, more on that at the end, dropped my stuff off and headed into the old town for a crepe and a stroll, it was so lovely there, lots of little shops to go and see.
After a short walk through the old town, I headed back to the hostel, there I met a few very awesome people, headed out to grab a bit of food before heading out to a Wayne's Bar for the night. It was an awesome bar, good vibes, and there was a great band playing that night.
The next morning I headed to the Food and Flower market at Cours Saleya, went for a walk along the Promenade des Anglais, which had fences and seats set up all along the Promenade for the Nice carnival which was occuring the following weekend, headed to the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art but despite my best efforts I didnt quite manage to make it to the Matisse Museum.
Now the craziest thing happened when I was trying to make my way hometo Genoa, I reached the train station at around 3:30 in order to make my way back to Ventimiglia in order to catch my connecting train (which happened to be the last train to Genoa for the night) at 5:50. I was waiting for the train at Nice and was really confused as to why my train wasnt showing which platform it was leaving from, so I went to the ticketing station and asked. Turns out there had been a landslide somewhere between Nice and Ventimiglia, meaning there were no train leaving Nice in that direction or the next few days. I started freaking out a little, but turns out there were replacement buses waiting outside the station to get to Ventimiglia. While on the bus, I was so worried I wouldn't make my connecting train at 5:50! I made the train by 3 minutes and I felt like I was on the amazing race or something hahaha!
All in all it was a very interesting weekend, I didn't do nearly enough of what I had hoped to but saw enough to know that I definitely want to go back. I also really want to check out Monaco which I unfortunately didn't get the chance to do!
Hostel I stayed at:
Villa Saint Exupery
http://www.villahostels.com/gallery-2-en
Lovely place, clean, friendly and helpful staff. Large common area. Would definitely stay there again!
The next day I headed to the Piazzale Michelangelo and I went via Ponte Vecchio and window shopped along the bridge. There are incredibly beautiful jewellery shops all along the bridge but unfortunately also rather pricey! At Piazzale Michelangelo you can get the most incredible panoramic view of Florence! I unfortunately was in Florence during a horribly yucky and freeeeeeezing weekend but despite the fact that the weather was gloomy and grey but it was still incredibly gorgeous! I would absolutely kill to be there for a sunset and not gonna lie, its the kinda place that I would love to be proposed to!(Yes I am quite the daydreamer...)
