After school we went to the car rental place and started registering for our car. We were almost finished when he handed us the first set of keys and said, "so when you get in the car the clutch..." and we were like NO! as none of us know how to drive a manuel but they had no manual cars on the lot. Luckily the 4 car rental places were all located in the same tiny kiosk of a building behind the train tracks (it didn't seem weird at all), so we were able to ask at all the other agencies if they had 2 automatic cars. Finally Europcar told us they might have something-an eight person van. So we went out to look and see if it would be big enough... it was a GIANT silver Mercedes van-and we figured we were totally cool enough to go big pimpin through Europe (plus it was cheaper) so we rented the van. There were only 4 of us at the car rental place so we were going to go pick everyone else up. We decided a good meeting place would be right in front of the train station unfortunately we didn't realize that there were only tram tracks and no road in front of the train station, it didn't help that we only had one way to go and a bus was coming behind us so we couldn't back up-we ended up driving onto the tram tracks-with a train coming right at us-but we were able to pull onto a sidewalk and out of harms way in order to ask some sort of official looking people how to get back onto the road. Eventually we were able to do a drive by by an upper level parking lot and hit the road-that is after several wrong turns and very narrow streets. But we were able to get on the road-all 10 of us in our 8 seat Mercedes (with the help of some handwritten directions and my iPhone) The toll roads presented a bit of a problem as our American Credit Cards weren't good enough for their European toll booths... but once the ticket was in we couldn't get it out again so although we backed up we had to pull up again because we still couldn't get through the toll. Eventually someone came and took cash from us. It took us a while to find the Promenade des Anglais but eventually we arrived at the Hotel Meyerbeer (our hostel) around 6:30. We parked the car in a garage which was going to be closed on Sunday but we really needed to just get rid of it. So we checked in and had a couple glasses of wine and talked for a while (the girls were all staying in the hostel and the guys were staying with their friends in Antibes-about 15 minutes away by train)
Back in Nice, we hung out in the room and hung out for a while (since we got the impression from the night before that night life started quite a bit later in Nice than we expected. We also decided that drinking before dinner was a bad idea-SO we decided to put our wine in water bottles and take them with us. We walked over to Old Nice where we knew of a couple of bars and restaurants. We found one that looked pretty authentic (I had a Nicois Salad-with tuna, anchovies, olives, egg, celery, and some other stuff, Something else Nicois that was like pot roast with spaghetti, and an apple tarte) we were seated upstairs (the only ones) but shortly after another large party came up and we had to move tables for them. They were quite noisy and rowdy-they were celebrating somebody's birthday. But soon we joined in the fun yelling and screaming (the patron of the restaurant didn't really appreciate our obnoxiously loud behavior. The event turned into a sort of French-American "mixer" which was a lot of fun. We then went to look for a couple bars that we'd heard of. One which was famous for its meter long shot box. So we got one to split. We did make the interesting choice to order Bailey's which the bartender said was her first time pouring shots of Bailey's-I think there was a reason for that but nonetheless she gave us a free round. Then as that was a seated bar and there was no where else to sit we wandered looking for another bar. We went into this Irish Pub (where we were IDd???) where we asked the bartender for a suggestion (couth ?) he told us about a bar called Wayne's so we decided to go there but this guy Patrick either the bouncer or a bartender chased us down explaining how drinks were cheaper at his bar and so much better all in some sort of British Accent-which inspired me to respond in a worse yet snarkier version of a British Accent inquiring about these "cocktails" and decided he was right about deal so me and one other girl went back while the others went ahead to Wayne's. We drank our cocktails and went to Waynes-where the dancing is on the tables and the DJ gets excited because a certain son of God happens to be in the Mother F***** house. But it had a certain Je ne sais quoi and would be on my list of recommendations. However due to the aforementioned bailey's shots there might be a small amount of regurgitated substance near one of Wayne's windows... at which point 2 of us departed for the evening. It was a truly phenomenal experience over all.
The next morning we woke up and got some breakfast stuff at a market, and ate right on the promenade Then we went onto the beach (though it's covered with rocks not sand) and touched the sea. Then we dropped our stuff off at the car and met the guys at the train station and got something else to eat. Then we drove the car-or should I say land yacht up the very narrow very winding road to the top of the Chateau for a beautiful view of Nice. Then we hit the road to come back to Montpellier.
When we got to Aix en Provence, it was time to fill the tank of the car back up. So we pulled into the gas station but had the same Credit Card problem and since it was Sunday nobody was working there. So we asked a man at the gas station to help us out and though there was a communication barrier we figured out we were supposed to follow him. We followed his very fast driving in his very small car in our very large van and we followed him right into the parking lot for an apartment complex? A little nervous at this point we realized he was dropping his family off before taking us to the gas station. So again we were on the road behind this random man. When we got to the gas station we found out he used to travel around Europe on a moped and he really appreciated when people showed him the way so he likes to do it for others. We got gas and he offered to show us how to get back onto the highway. On our way we passed another gas station with people working-which happened to be next door to the original gas station...
After a slightly difficult time in Montpellier we were able to drop off the car by 7:45. My roommate and I stopped to grab a snack as we were back so much later than dinner normally is. But we got home and she offered us dinner I said oh it's okay I just ate and I'm not hungry-she sent me upstairs to drop off my stuff and come back down to eat-saying she'd just give me a little, meaning a sausage and dark greens filling an entire plate plus the after dinner yogurt. As she was setting the plates out for us she mentioned an old resident of her house had come by this weekend and asked how her new Americans were. She said we were "Sauveges" which apparently means Savage... because Kate didn't say hello one night and we go straight up to our room? BUT we almost NEVER come home when she does! Oh well two more weeks? AND we have clean sheets!
This weekend I learned: Nice men think that screaming in our faces or asking how much is the best way to pick up a girl
What I still want to do in Montpellier: visit Avignon, go to the museum, go to the restaurant with 80 kinds of Crepes
Ultimate Goal: FIND LE FUN!!!!!
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