Nice; The French Riviera 6/19-6/22

tOn the 19th Udara & I arrived in Nice by train after an almost six hour ride from Paris on the TGV.  It was our first use of our Eurail pass and it went very smoothly.  In the afternoon we went to Old Town Nice and walked around the area for a while.  My first views of the Mediterranean were breathtaking.  The water is turquoise and turns to a beautiful dark blue in the distance.  On our train ride to Nice we passed through other cities along France's Côte d'Azur, Cannes and Antibes.  The red rock along the coast is a sharp contrast against the dark blue sea and it was the perfect first view of France's Mediterranean coastline. 

Our hostel there, Villa St. Exupery Gardens is much more lively than our hostel in Bergen.  The hostel has a huge common room which they call 'The Chapel' because the building was once a chapel.  There is decorative stained glass on the wall and plenty of areas to sit.  There are always people in the chapel and music is usually playing.  This hostel also includes breakfast which is nice, one less thing to have to remember!  There is a shuttle that runs every 15 minutes from the main city to the hostel which has been very convenient, the walk is very steep but a good workout!
Yesterday we bought a three day pass for the trolley which runs from old town area to the stop where the hostel shuttle picks us up.  Yesterday we went down to the beach and relaxed while enjoying the ocean.  I have missed the beach!  Unlike back home though, the beaches here are rocks.  Rock beaches are nice because sand doesn't get everywhere (no towel really necessary and eating on the beach doesn't mean a side of sand.)  And surprisingly, it can be comfortable to lay on the rocky beach once you get settled.  So comfortable in fact, that when we went back to the beach after our trip to the medieval fortress Udara fell asleep.  Me being the great friend that I am, I built my own stone fortress while she slept....on her back.  She had absolutely no idea until she woke up (a while after I was done with my masterpiece.)

In between our beach adventures we went to visit the medieval castle on top of one of the cliffs.  It has amazing views of the city and the sea.  We thought it was just one small look out area, but once we got up there we realized it was a much larger area with really cool ruins of the fortress, dungeons, and cemetery (which was more recent, but still had some tombs from the 1800s.) 
The next day went to a different beach, I didn't get tooooo burnt, but it's inevitable being the first long beach excursion of the summer.  While sand beaches may sometimes be a bummer when trying to eat, they are much better than rock beachs, more comfortable to sit on sand and you aren't beaten up when waves crash on the shore.  Our last night in Nice was La Fete de la Musique, a celebration throughout France because it is the official first day of summer and the longest day of the year!  It was an amazing experience and my favorite night/event of the trip so far.  Every street had a different musician or band playing.  It seemed as if every local and tourist was out in the city enjoying the warm night and the music.  We found one DJ using two gameboys and a switchboard to make some cool sounding music.  This was my favorite part, everyone was dancing in the streets having a good time.  Some cars were attempting to drive through the crowds which was amusing to watch, if any happened to have their window open as they passed they were greeted by high fives from the crowds.