Nice is nice!

This past week my mom and two of our close family friends came to Paris for a week long visit, which was really great! They got in last Wednesday and we spent Wednesday and Thursday touring around the city. Musee d'Orsay, Musee de l'Orangerie, good food and even better desserts at La Duree :). Musee de l'Orangerie was one of my favorites...I had never been before, but apparently it is where all of Monet's water lily paintings are kept. He actually worked with an architect to build walls especially for his humongous paintings...it was incredible! Here's a video just to give you a sense of how large these paintings are:

We also visited my favorite tea and macaroon place on the Champs-Elysee, La Duree. I got my classic macaroon, but I think by far the best dessert was Lynne's, a rose cream puff dessert topped off with a rose petal. Isn't it gorgeous??

After a few wonderful days touring around Paris we headed down to Nice and the Cote d'Azur for the weekend--one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen! It felt very Italian (probably because it wasn't a part of France until the mid 1800s), and the weather was so gorgeous. We rented an amazing apartment right in the very center of Old Town, were a 5 minute walk from the beach and a 2 minute walk to the famous flower/artisan/food markets. I've made another Picasa album to share the photos--be patient, there's a lot, but the scenary was just so beautiful! 

Nice

While we were in Nice we decided to take advantage of the 1euro bus that will take you pretty much anywhere on the Cote d'Azur. We first visited a small town called Villefrance-sur-mer which was only about 20 minutes from Nice and was an absolutely adorable little harbor town. After a bit of shopping we headed on to Monaco, which was nice but not super impressive, although i did loose almost all of the 5 euros that I decided to gamble with in Monte Carlo. I think I'm going to stay away from slot machines from this point on :-P. 

The next day we explored Nice more, climbing up the big hill with a waterfall for great views of the city and the beach. I then got to spend the rest of the day relaxing on the beach before I great modern french dinner at this restaurant called the Frog. Monday before we left we made a short trip to another village called Eze which was way at the top of a cliff overlooking the ocean so that you had to climb up medevil passage ways to get to the top, where there was a beautiful cactus botanical garden. Again, so gorgeous!

And once we returned to Paris their visit ended with a delicious french dinner at this very nice restaurant next to the Eiffel Tower. Overall a really great visit, it was wonderful to be able to spend some time with my mom, Lynne and Eileen. Seeing them also made me realize how short of a time I have left here, and how I really need to squueze every last drop out of this experience that I can. One of my very best friends Nicole is coming to visit tomorrow, she'll be here for two weeks (during which we'll be going to Switzerland and Amsterdam!) so I'm excited to spend some quality Paris time showing her around. 

One last thing-- today I officially finished the very last assignment that I will ever have for Sciences-Po! I still have two finals to worry about, but for now I can take a sigh of relief that I have officially made it through this semester! 26 days left!