France, Perfumeries and never ending hikes.

Welcome to my blog everyone! Just make yourself at home there's coffee ready in the kitchen.
We're coming to the end of my first week in France as we reach what I think is Sunday. Me and Rabea thought it'd be interesting to go to this 'parfumerie' situated in a really old willage called Eze on a mountain. So after taking the bus up (which only costed us 1 euro each, take that Dublin Bus!) we arrived in Eze and in all our excitement we went to the wrong place. The perfumery we were supposed to go to was much bigger and had it's own factory. But oh well I still liked the tiny one we visited mostly because it smelled really good! On our 5 minute long tour of the building's one room I snapped up some shots.

 The tour guide explained to us that we could book an appointment with the specialists to make up our own scent and bottle it which sounded great to me, if I was willing to pay 200 euro for it. I think I'll still with making bubbles in that  bath.

After our brief tour and some candle shopping we went to visit the village of Eze which I found out had been converted into a querky resort where the visiters stay in the houses cut into the sides of the mountain. It all looked very chic with bell boys in the full get up walking about the small walk ways carrying massive amounts of luggage. My house mother told me at dinner that night that it costs up to and over 600 euro a night to stay there. Trés chic indeed.

They resort of course had a gourmet restaurant aswell with dishes up to nearly 150 euro! McDonald's anyone?

And to finish up our lovely hot day we decided to follow the little hiking path we found which we thought would just lead us to the other side of the villiage. But no it didn't. This certain trail we embarked upon brought us on a 2 hour trek down the mountain! For a lazy person such as myself this was not quite the relaxing stroll I was hoping for but in the end the views were beautiful.

But we did get down to the beach in the end after all that and to reward ourselves we decided to buy an ice cream. There wasn't much choice but we ended up with a fake magnum each that costed a measly 5 euro! In the supermarket you can get a 6 pack of proper magnums for like 3 euro. So it's safe to say we were ripped off. But oh well it was a lovely day all in all and the beach was quite a beauty too.

 

So yeah that's all for today my lovely but there's always tomorrow. 

Thanks for reading,

  Ciara.

France, Walking Tours and Waterfalls.

Hello again, fancy meet you here?
So continuing on with my adventures in Nice I'm starting off with one of the many walking tours we went on during my  first week. At first I was glad to be rambling about instead of classes but in fact I think during my first week I learnt nothing at all because I had ziltch actual classes. That's not to say I learnt very much more in my second week either!
                   But moving on, our walking trip was to the nearby Jardins (gardens) where they have lovely flower beds and other garden related objects. Yes yes, I know very interesting but it was very pretty.

After dinner we headed up the mountain Colline to take a gander at a beautiful waterfall. I have to say it was not an easy task hiking up all those steps to the very top but the view was worth it. Just barely.

 Yes this is the waterfall and yes I was too lazy to go all the way to the top above the waterfall.

 From Colline you could also see the port, (where we would later do a spot of scuba diving) which was full of brilliant big boats and one very impressive boat had its own helicopter pad. I think.

 And according to the tour guide this castle is called Chateau du Fou (excuse my spelling/grammar) which means Castle of the Crazy and is supposedly a mental home. Have to admit living there would be quite relaxing indeed.

So  that's all from me about my first week in Nice and there is much much more to come very soon. Hope you enjoyed!
                                          Ciara.

Living it up in France (at least unitl 11 o'clock)

Hello beautiful, you're lookin' well.
             
So in July I spent two weeks in Nice in the south east of France going to school to improve on my very dodgy french and I thought 'Hell I'll split those weeks into several posts,' because really, I don't think I could squeeze the whole trip into one. And you'll be happy to know there are loads of photos in this blog so already its gonna be a good one. (high hopes)
I give you:                               Day 1 in Nice
So the early start in the morning, 7:00am guys it was tough, was rewarded when I saw the name of the plane I would be flying in. 

 Is that photo clear enough or should I provide you with another expertly captured close up?

 Pretty cool I know I know. But it makes me wonder, who in the world would name a plane? It's not even like a private plane that I could understand but this one was an Aerlingus aeroplane. What's so brilliant about an Airbus A320? Moving on I arrived at Nice to find my lovely house mother Valérie waiting for me with my name written on a board, a major celebrity moment for me I have to say. 
I arrived in Nice at about 3 and I had some time before my roommate from Germany was supposed to fly in so I took advantage of my last bit of freedom and took to the streets with my camera in hand.

  It wouldn't be a holiday without a lovely cathedral.

 These lads lit up at night and glowed purple fading into blue and green. Super cool.

 Naked man statue in a fountain. Gotta love those French.

 So after my ramblings I went back to the apartment and met my lovely roomie Rabea for the first time. Turns out she'd be quite a pleasant person to share a room with for two weeks, luckily. After unpacking and exchanging some very weak basic french phrases with Rabea we were called to dinner and after a long day I collapsed onto my bed to awake for school the next day.
                         So that's all from me about my first day in Nice hope you enjoyed and there will be more soon.
                                                                            Ciara.