Day 8: Marseille & Nice, France (Friday, August 15)

Even though we went to bed around 2:15, we all naturally woke up around 9:00- none of us had set an alarm. But it was a good thing because check out was at 10:00 and we all needed to shower; which is the downfall to us having our own room with a private bathroom. We can't all shower at the same time like we did in Iceland and London with dorm style bathrooms and showers. But we don't have to worry about sharing a room with creepers so it's a better option. 

Once we were all showered and packed up, we checked out and got back in the car to find breakfast and explore the city. 

Driving in a different country is crazy. There are so many one way streets and they're all tiny. It gets confusing when you have no idea what things mean and where exactly to go. There aren't normal streets and intersections. I'm just glad Tom is driving. I would be way too stressed out. 

We ended up down by the port and first found a little bakery to get some pastries for breakfast. I like the places we can go in an just point to what we want. Makes it a lot easier to communicate. 

Mmm they were delicious!

We walked around the port for a while taking in the view.

We found out we could take this little train ride around the city and stop at the cathedral in the above picture. It sounded way better than walking around. So we paid and took off. 

On the ride we saw a great view of the ocean. It was so hard to capture the view. I took so many pictures, but not a whole lot turned out great.

We were listening to the audio tour and all of a sudden they started talking about Le Chateau d'If. Anyone remember what that's from?? 

The Count of Monte Cristo! We had all forgotten about it and was caught off guard when they reminded us. I couldn't get a decent picture of it which is a bummer. But it was super cool to see! And that water! Oh my, all I kept saying was I want to go swim in it! I couldn't handle how blue and inviting it was!

We made it to the top and got to explore around the Basilique Notre Dame de la Garde. 

Inside the cathedral wasn't as cool. They have candles to light for prayers you make, or something along those lines. We just walked in and walked out. The view outside of the cathedral was way more exciting to look at. So of course we had to go up to the highest part so we could get the best view of the city and ocean. I mean, I guess it's alright...

We made our way back down to the city and went straight for some gelato. Everyday we have said we need to get gelato for dessert and it hasn't happened yet. We were either too full or just didn't find a good place for it. So we finally made it happen. 

I got mango, raspberry, and coconut. They were all amazing! Mmm so good. 

We decided there wasn't a whole lot more we felt like we needed to do in marseille, so we got back to the car and were on our way to Nice (said like niece).

Some views during the drive:

We got to the city and went straight to the hotel. Yes, tonight we bave a hotel, not a hostel. The Hotel Du Centre. We all had to pee and obviously wanted to drop off our bags before we went and did anything. 

Already from the time we parked the car and walked to our hotel I could tell I was going to like this place a lot. It is already a cleaner and nicer city than the last few we've been to. Our hotel is nice too, we have a pretty great view from our balcony. 

No big deal. Just the Basilique Notre Dame de l'Assomption right next door. 

We sat in the hotel room for a bit before deciding to grab some Subway for dinner and go to the beach. Sadly we decided not to take our phones or anything with us since we were just going to walk there and didn't want to risk anything valuable getting stolen. So I wasn't able to take any pictures of how pretty this city is. Our hotel is right on this like strip mall street so the walk to and from the beach was full of nicer shops and tons of people out and about. Then we got to the beach and the view was breathtaking! We got down to the beach and realized there wasnt any sand but instead a bunch of rocks. And the waves were HUGE. Only Logan ended up getting in the water. He only lasted for a few minutes when he came back because he was worried he'd just get sucked away. The rest of us only got our feet in. We did sit on the beach for quite a while though. Did some more people watching. There were a few people who got in the water and it was kindof funny to watch them struggle against the waves. We watched this one girl totally get taken out by a wave. It was scary. Logan was about to run in and save her. Unlike the older sister who just laughed. Luckily the girl popped up out of the water and was fine, but it was sketchy. 

We left the beach after a while and walked down the street again. It was such a fun street to walk down. We didn't do much shopping because we didn't have any money with us. We did try to find a store with a razor. Liz didn't bring one and is in desperate need to shave. But due a supposed national holiday every place was closing early for the night. We went to a few places and only one was opened but they didn't have razors. We ended up at a Best Western hotel cause we figured they'd have some we could buy and we were right! Only they didn't make us pay. So that worked out lovely.

We went back to the hotel and relaxed the rest of the night. We were going to do some laundry but took too long and everywhere was closed. Hopefully we'll find time to do it tomorrow. I'm about out of clean shirts.. 

Overall, I would say I liked Nice better than Marseille. Mostly just because it is a cleaner city. I mean, I haven't seen any rats here and that speaks volumes considering in the first minute looking at the streets of Marseille I saw three! Other than that, the views at both places have been beautiful!

Tomorrow: Venice, Italy!