nice is a wonderful city. we spent lots of time at the beach (where i got fried, even my fingers were burned) and walking around old town. old town nice is about the cutest thing ive ever seen. i fell in love with it - little alleys filled with shopping and ice cream and old churches. the beach was beautiful and looked like it came out of travel book. it was hard to believe we were really there.
we met a couple people our age at the hostel (who also spoke english) which made our stay there more exciting. it was nice to be around a big group of people who were all having fun - many were from back home, even germany, italy, and australia.
while entering one of our tram rides (that we took to get from near the hostel down to the beach area and old town) someone apparently attempted to pickpocket me. a lady started yelling at me in french but i couldnt understand what she was saying. thankfully, a friend we had met there knew what she was saying. she translated to me that the lady was trying to warn me that someone was pickpocketing me. i still had all of my stuff though so they werent successful!
we also hiked up the side of a cliff-like structure that took us to the overlook point of nice were all the famous pictures are taken. after getting a little dinner, we brought it up to the first overlook to sit and eat before the sun set. further on our way up we encountered a beautiful waterfall. we then continued up to the top to watch the sun set and take lots of pictures. on our way back to the tram station, we passed through old town again and ran into a couple children performing. these kids were rapping american music in front of a restaurant and they were so cute. we also looked through the market that was going on - the jewelry was stunning but very expensive.
on to the horrific journey or nice to rome:
we had to take 4 different trains to get from nice rome.
the first train: this very drunk guy wouldnt leave us alone and it was 6 in the morning so no one is around. he was seriously having conversations with the chair next to him but kept trying to talk to us. keep in mind that we cant understand anything he is saying.
the second train: the drunk guy was on that one too and sat right next to us. he reaked. we tried to move but he would follow us. we found a car with someone else in it and he spoke a little english which made us feel better. the drunk guy practically fell on me but i got my face in his armipit when he broke his fall against the wall above me. i spent probably at least 10 minutes clenching my teeth because i thought i was going to throw up on myself.
the third train: barely didnt catch it because we were finally in italy and couldnt understand anything and didnt know the word for what car of the train youre in - we thought that was the platform number which is completely different.
oh and side note: we havent eaten a thing yet since all these train stations are small and nothing was open.
we also didnt have enought euros for a taxi ride once we got to the train station in rome and its kind of a dangerous place to stick around so we didnt want to try to find an atm with all of our luggage.
we finally found food and an atm after the 3rd train which helped. now its about noon but weve been up since 5 carrying luggage up and down different platform stations. my backpack + purse on my shoulder weighs about 30 lbs and my 2 suitcases are 70 lbs.
the fourth train: we got on and theyve double booked every seat. its a 6 hr ride to rome and we have all of our luggage. so does everyone else who is heading that way. we hatd to sit in the aisle on top of everything and theres not even enough room for that (and everyone else is doing the same thing). keep in mind that people need to get off at every stop so were trying to rearrange everything every ten minutes.
we finally get to the train station in rome and we got a 30 euro taxi ride to our hotel which is in the middle of some weird alley. we try to check in and guy is trying to tell us that hell get us a taxi to take us to our hotel but its back by termini station (where we just came from). we got this specific hotel since its 3 blocks away from our apt and we didnt want to pay for another taxi - we were planning on walking in the morning when we had to check in to our apt.
were like why cant we stay here, we booked a place for here. we didnt know where we the taxi was going to take us or what hotel they were talking about. theres no reception room, i cant see any rooms or guests and he could barely speak english. he wouldnt let us leave
an employee tried coming down these narrows stairs and the guy helping us freaks out giving him the "cut it out" hand signals and is getting all flustered with us and his one employee we see. we didnt know what to do and jackie is crying. it was getting dark and we still had all of our luggage. and we tried calling our housing office and studio but no one answered. The guy helping us tried calling for us and said our housing office wasn’t a legit number. Its our landlord and check in is tomorrow and according to gina he is very nice – it seems legit. And its 3 blocks away and the dude kept saying that address was by the Vatican which isn’t very close to here.
he wouldnt let us leave without paying so we decided to take the taxi, knowing what to look for to make sure theyre legit
it came and it was legit, and the taxi driver dropped us off at the "other" hotel which was down another alley with a sign saying it was on the 2nd floor. we didnt feel comfortable going in so we made sure to get on the main road and the only hotel is the grand palais hotel
all in all were staying at grand palais hotel. its very expensive but we knew it would be safe and it was the only one we could see. weve done a bit of crying and I want to be on a plane back home. i know things will get better though once everyone moves in tomorrow.
