A Vacation's Vacation

It is warm, sunny...
Where are we?
Nice, France

Excited!

Day 1
The first thing we do after storing our bags at the hostel is scramble into our bathing suits and head downtown to the beach. It is rocky, carpeted with stones that have been polished smooth by the rolling waves. The familiar sound of the ocean is prolonged as the water tosses and drags the stones against each other. We bask in the sun. The rocks hurt our feet when we walk toward the water...and they shift around with every step. We stagger and stumble into the water. There is no relief even there because the rocks go on and on until the ground suddenly falls away and we have to tread water. Andrew and Sheyda think the the water is especially salty.

After eating and showering at the hostel, we head out hoping to find some live music or a place to dance. Andrew is refused entry somewhere because he is wearing shorts. Instead we lounge at a cafe on the edge of a plaza and share a carafe of wine. The three of us talk, laugh, people-watch, design our future tattoos and take pictures.

Carafe = old water bottles

Day 2
We are going sailing on the Mediterranean!  Sheyda and I keep calling the water the ocean; Andrew keeps insisting that it is the sea. There are about a dozen of us from the hostel on board. Andrew is one of two who knows anything about sailing, and he spends much of the time steering.  The boat's captain stops twice to let us jump off the side of the boat into the water. And we picnic on the deck.

Jumping into the sea

Clowning around in the Mediterranean

Andrew lounging on deck

The weather is gorgeous, the water a crystal blue, and the view is breathtaking. No one on board talks during the first part of the trip, we simply watch and listen to the wind, the surf, the whipping of the sails and the slapping of the water against the boat.

The sail and the view

Villas on the coast

Coastline

Later in the day, the clouds arrive and the wind picks up. We bounce over the growing waves. Sheyda and I are lying on the deck and we cling to the rails to avoid rolling from one side to the other. The boat tilts at every imaginable angle. We all laugh through the rollercoaster ride, and we shriek when the larger waves splash over the sides of the boat, soaking us.

Clinging to the deck

My towel got all wet!

Highlight of the trip - French captain strips down to his underwear and walks around the boat hugging all the girls and awkwarding everyone out.

Day 3
We decide it is probably time to explore the city. We climb stairs and walk through old parks.

View of Nice

The harbour

A plane preparing to land

All smiles here

Sheyda, Andrew and I explore Nice

Spotted while roaming the city

Then the heat drives us back to the beach. Sheyda and I tread water and talk for a while, never noticing that the water is slowly emptying of people. When we head back toward shore, we notice that the waves have gotten much higher since we have been swimming. We finally make it to where we can touch the bottom, only to be knocked over by the strong waves crashing into, over, and onto us. It becomes a struggle to make it to the beach. Every time we seem to gain a foothold, the water washes the rocks away from under our feet and then tosses us backwards into the sea. We are sure that we look ridiculous, but Andrew tells us later he just thought we were frolicing in the surf. Sheyda and I try to get onto the beach several times, hurling ourselves forward, hoping that each effort will get us away from the main line of waves. At one point, a strong waves knocks us over, tosses us through the water, and hurls rocks into our bodies. We both emerge, holding the brusises on our heads and worrying that we might not actually make it out!  For some reason, we find this incredibly funny. We finally end up crawling onto the rocky shore and lie there gasping, exhausted and giggling hysterically. A little French girl comes up and asks us if we need any help. This causes us to laugh even harder, wondering what everyone else on the beach thought of the spectacle we have made.

After drying out in the sun, we grab lunch and then some gelato. There are 99 flavors to choose from and we each get two.  Our favorites: speculoos, lavendar, and apple. Then we head back to the hostel. The hostel is an old covent in the hills at the back of town. It is quite a trek up the road, but this last time up, we race to see who gets to the gate first.

Lunch

This is how we entertain ourselves...yes, we are all adults here.

Our flight back to Geneva departs late because of a storm over the Alps. Oh the joys of being tossed around...first the sea, now the air. The flight was so bumpy that they did not run the snack service and the flight attendants were asked to remain buckled in. When we finally get back to Switzerland, it is pouring rain outside. We run through the water droplets, still wearing our beach weekend shorts and flip flops. Thankfully we have our raincoats.

Since our flight was delayed, we end up having to wait an hour for the last bus from the airport to Gex. We huddle in the cold bus stop and wait, playing hangman to pass the time. I come up with ridiculous words and phrases just to keep it interesting - "a gumball machine in outer space" and "flying apple pies in the sky," for example.

When we finally arrive in Gex (after 1 AM), we head straight for a pizza vending machine (literally, this box on the street will apparently pop out a hot and ready-to-eat pizza...and we really wanted to see how it worked).  But the stupid thing won't accept any of our credit cards or cash.  So, instead, we climb the hill back to Sheyda's place, make some quick omelettes, and watch YouTube videos until we all fall asleep together on the futon.