And its time for the French Riviera. We had breakfast at the hotel this morning, a big selection of cheese and meats and croissants etc. So much better than the previous breakfasts we had. We all packed up and grabbed our day bags and walked to meet Mark with the coach.
On the way to the Contiki Village in Antibes which would be our home for the next two nights, we stopped in Avignon. It’s lovely, with lots of lavende everywhere. I got a photo with a freaky silver mime, and we got to see the Papal Palace where the popes used to live. Katie, Grace and I went to find somewhere to have something to eat, and found this patisserie with a restaurant part. Katie and I had the most amazing quiche – quiche Lorraine. Grace had a yummy looking Camembert and ham baguette. Once we were done we just wondered around looking at the stalls. I bought a green bangle – green for all the stunning fields we had passed on our drive this morning. While we were hanging out in the square there was a lady singing operation in the middle – such a big voice for such a small person! It was actually very cool.
Me with Katie and Grace 🙂
Back onto the coach and the next stop was Fragonaud’s Perfumery where we learnt how they make a whole lot of perfumes. We also got told the difference between like eu de parfum and eu de toliette for example. In case you’re wondering, the difference is the percentage composition of the essence in each, with eu de parfum being the highest essence composition at 25% I think. This is why it last at least 8 hours, but can actually still be smelt the next day sometimes. I really enjoyed this stop even though I didn’t buy anything – it was all very nice, I just didn’t smell anything that specifically caught my attention.
Finally we were in Antibes. The Contiki Village is pretty cool, it’s just small. Not the actual village – that’s enormous – but the rooms are pretty cramped. And hot. There’s no aircon, so it gets pretty warm in there. Its also only two people per room, but you share a bathroom with another two people. When we got there we met the onsite time. We tried frogs legs and they actually do kind of taste like chicken, if you can get over the shape of the bones, which is a bit of a challenge. For our time here I would be a “dishie” which means that at the end of meals we just need to clear the plates and take them to the kitchen. Its really not hard at all. I even accepted their invitation to help dry up because I could get a chance to speak to them all which was cool. The Contiki Village has a bar, and obviously we all headed there. I was so excited that they had cocktails because I am so tired of drinking fizzy drinks. It all started off pretty relaxed and then someone along the line decided that playing drinking Uno was a good plan. Haha. And then Kings. As we got further along the game, we got louder and louder and eventually were basically told we needed to shut up an ge inside the bar and were not allowed to sit outside anymore. I thought this was pretty lame, especially considering it was only 10:30 and I kinda thought that being a Contiki place it was bound to get rowdy. But anyway. Party moved inside.
Later a whole lot of us wanted to go see the beach and so a group of us made a mission there. So weird that there are only pebbles and no sand. Even though it’s beautiful, its really uncomfortable to walk on. Got my feet wet in the Mediterranean Sea bitches! The water is so clear it’s incredible. Was a really fun night!
So day five, almost no one made breakfast, which was French toast. People were struggling! Haha. I was so glad I got up for it. This morning we are going to see the Tour de France. How cool is that? Off to find a spot for that.
So this morning we found a really good spot on the street and the Tour came right past us! They were so close they actually made a breeze/wind I could feel. Haha. We wanted to go to Nice after this, but the next train was only in an hour and its almost a two hour round trip so we would have had maybe an hour there. We couldn’t find the train station so we asked a couple policeman. I wish ours looked like this. Instead we went and explored Antibes and went to the shops here because some of the girls wanted dresses for tonight. I at least managed to find a pair of pretty sandals, so I bought clothes in France! Yay.
A section of the street with the crowd waiting for the Tour de France cyclists
We had veggies (thank goodness) and turkey and potatoes for dinner. And then we went to Monaco. Wow. The view is stunning, and we kept singing “lifestyles of the rich and the famous” as we walked along. We also went into Monte Carlo casino. Unfortunately I did not win any cash money, although I did play the slot machines. We also had a Grand Prix cocktail, which set us back 20€ each. Ouch. Everyone just kept being like “yolo yolo” whenever we thought about how much it was. A couple of the guys did win money though, I think our highest win was 300€.
Sam, Jess, Sinead, Laura, Me & Shenrae
Nthabi, Me & Tam with the AMAZING view in the background
Back to the Contiki Village afterwards, but i only stayed up a little bit later because I’m starting to feel a bit sick. So rather an early night and try to get better ASAP!
That’s all for now. Off to Italy in the morning – I cannot wait! Even though I was just starting to get the hang of this speaking French thing.
Au revoir France!
x
Megan's Travel Adventure 