Nice is, well, very nice.

Plage Mala

Tonight is my last night here in beautiful Nice, located on the South-Eastern coast of France, on what is known as the French Riviera.

It is a stunning area and it has a feint familiarity to Australia, not least because they actually have gum trees (I got excited seeing them because it's been more than six months since I've seen one). It's funny when you're away from home. If asked what I was missing about Australia, within my top 50 responses, a gum tree would not have been on the list. When I saw one, it was a beautiful reminder of good old Oz.

Since arriving in Nice I have visited the Vieux Nice, with cute little alleyways full of shops and boutiques, and flower markets and restaurants that border plazas. We have been lucky enough to have enjoyed mostly great weather (although it is raining as I type), and so I have been to several beaches along the riviera.

Today I went to my favourite one. It is called Plage Mala and it is a few towns before Monaco. It is a bit difficult to find but, located in Cap D'Ail (which means the garlic cape), when you find it, it's well worth the scramble down the steep stairs. The beach has vibrant turquoise water and to the right of the beach are caves you can swim to. There are some nice little white beach huts and beach beds if you wanted to hire them, but I was more than happy on the sand!

I have also visited a beach area called Beaulieu sur Mer, and have been to Cannes beach. When I went to Cannes this morning I saw where the Cannes film festival is held, and saw concrete moulds of Sharon Stone's hands and Gerard Depardieu's, to name a few. Cannes is okay, but it was just a very luxurious shopping strip. If I had a lazy $10,000 I'm sure I would have loved it.

Monaco Casino

Yesterday I took a day-trip to Monaco-Montecarlo, where the Monaco Grand Prix was held last weekend. Monaco is like nothing else. My friend and I walked up the hill to the Monaco Casino, beside the Monaco race track, with luxury car after luxury car just cruising on by. While we were outside the Casino I saw Porsches, Lamborghinis, Maseratis, Aston Martins, two Bentleys, a Rolls Royce Phantom - I definitely felt like I was in a James Bond film. And that was without mentioning the endless Prada, Louis Vuitton, Gucci and  other high end brands scattered nearby. So much money.

Then, on the way back down, we walked along the docks checking out the superyachts and the massive cruising boats. They must be worth around 30 million euros each and are all run by personal staff (up to 20 staff per boat). The entire experience was just unbelievable, but it was fun to pretend that I was living that lifestyle as I sipped my latte walking along the pier.

During my stay I have also visited Grasse, which is where 90% of perfume essences come from. I went through a guided tour of a factory called Fragonard, and saw and learned about the equipment they use to make perfume. I also learned the difference between an Eau de Toilette, an Eau de Parfum and then a Parfum.

Fragonard factory, Grasse

After visiting Grasse, I spent the afternoon in lovely Antibes. The beach in Antibes was really nice, it was sheltered from the wind and had proper sand rather than pebbles. Everyone seems to be so nice and tanned though, so I need to work on that a bit more I think.

Tomorrow I am going to Nimes to visit my host family. I am really looking forward to seeing them again, and it will be interesting to return as I haven't been there since 2006.

I will then be heading to Barcelona for four nights, and after that I will take an 18 hour train ride (oh no!) to Antwerp, where I will stay for two nights, before spending two nights in Bruges. I am super excited to be then going to Amsterdam, where I will stay for about five nights with family. Then it's back to England for about three weeks. I think that by that stage I will be desperate for a bath and to be in my own room. I don't particularly mind sharing a dorm with other people, but sometimes the dorms are up to 14 people, and that means 14 hiking packs and not much room to move. Still, it doesn't cost too much to stay in backpackers and  it means I can spend money on other things. Take for example, yesterday, when I had a nice lunch in a restaurant and ate the customary Moules that are so popular on the Riviera. It seemed a shame to stay in Nice and to not try any - they were really yummy, cooked in a white wine and parsley sauce and it felt so civilized sitting in a restaurant rather than eating a sandwich on a bench.

I am enjoying the ability to communicate with the French since I have been here. I have been having nice little conversations with old ladies, with kids sitting next to me on the train, and even a frantic mother who had been getting angry at her kid. It's refreshing to understand the language having spent the past two weeks in Italy, only it really just makes me want to learn more languages so that I never have to experience not being able to understand someone.

I wish I could put up some of my photos - there are so many - and I will definitely put them up once I am back in the UK, but for now, I will just have to put a generic Nice photo in the blog.

Hoping that all my Aussie friends and fam are well - I'm really starting to look forward to heading home (arriving on September 3rd!)

Love,

Melissa

Breaking out of the Brev Bubble

The snowy view from outside the window at work

On Monday night a group of the staff from my hotel decided to break out of the 'Brev bubble' and go out in Val Claret for something different.

We had pre-drinks at the Underground Bar beneath our hotel and drank the obligatory 'Drop Kick Ninja's' which have cider, lager, vodka and cassis in them. They pretty much guarantee you a good night and they didn't disappoint. At around half-twelve we got a taxi over to Val Claret - at this point it was snowing really heavily so we were all white in no time - and went to a bar called Saloon. Saloon was fun and quite chilled, with a good vibe to it.

We then made our way to one of the most sleazy places I have ever been, called The Melting Pot. It was crammed full of awful French men who took pleasure in preying on the girls in the club. I ended up wearing my ring on my wedding finger but to no avail really. All of us staff had such a good time dancing and drinking together and, although everyone was pretty gone, it was still amazing to be away from the usual partying routine. At about 4am Aaron (who I work with), Will and his girlfriend Flaps, and a new guy called Andy all headed over to the kebab shop for the customary post-Melting Pot feed. We made our way back to the hotel at about 4.30am and I was up for work at 7am.

The Tuesday morning breakfast service went surprisingly smoothly and although I was ridiculously tired I got through it. I crashed pretty heavily after that and didn't make it out skiing in the afternoon, but did manage a few laps around the lake on my afternoon walk, so it wasn't a complete waste of a day.

Although the past few weeks have been testing because of the Half-Term rush of people and a certain middle of season lull in enthusiasm from all of us staff, I think that we are all past that now and the morale amongst us has certainly lifted.

It's difficult to believe that there are less than eight weeks of the season left. With that ending looming I am starting to plan out what I am going to do afterwards. I am very excited to be spending five fun-filled days with my beautiful friend Sarah in Paris. We plan to visit the flea markets and go on lovely walks and to take photos and sketch and just soak up the Parisian vibes. Cannot wait!

Also putting together plans to head to Italy, Spain, France and then to Greece to meet up with the gorgeous Aussie girlies from school - the three Sarah's! Sarah-Jane (one of my absolute best friends) and I will then be journeying around Eastern Europe for about a month and our itinerary is already filling with exciting trips like a ferry ride from Corfu to Croatia.

This year away is so worthwhile and the adventures are wonderful. I am so pleased to have made the decision to take this sabbatical and am loving (almost) every minute of it.

Quelques films francais...

Over the winter holidays I decided to expose myself to some french films and was not disappointed.

In fact I am rarely disappointed by french films, with their originality, quirkiness and unpredictability.

These are the films I viewed and I'd really heavily recommend checking them out:

1. La Classe (2008)
I loved this movie, which happened to win the Palme D'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, and was also nominated for an Oscar. Having lived in France and attended a french school, I could certainly relate to the storyline; it provides an insight into a teacher and his class of 13-14 year olds who come from a plethora of cultures and backgrounds. It is at times humorous, at times heart-wrenching and always captivating.

2. À la folie... pas du tout (2002)
This title translates to He loves me, he loves me not and stars one of my favourite female actresses, Audrey Tatou. It plays in two parts, each developing an alternative point of view to a series of events. The film has a macabre twist to it, details erotomania, and really forces you to challenge your perceptions of truth.

3. I've Loved You So Long (2008)
Although this wasn't my favourite of the three movies, I still enjoyed it. It tells of a woman, who murdered her child and consequently served fifteen years of prison time, and once released, goes to live with her sister (who has two young children of her own). This is a dark film with heavy themes, but it does make you question the ability of murderers to be rehabilitated into society.

Image courtesy of: http://www.mymovies.it/cinemanews/2008/3607/la_classe_3.jpg