The next day, we boarded a train for Nice, where we spent most of the day. When we got to Nice, we were exhausted. Carrie had been running a fever all day and had chills, so we waited until the next day when she was feeling better to explore.

Our first full day in Nice, we asked the very nice receptionist at Hotel Pastoral where the best uncroweded beach near Nice was, and he told us about Plage Mala in Cap d'Ail. So, we took a train for about fifteen minutes to the beach. We walked for a while, and couldn't find Plage Mala, so we walked down the rocky shore instead and found the most beautiful place. It was only around ten in the morning, so the beach was deserted. We found this tiny rock island with a little cove behind it, and we set up there for the day. The water was cool and turquoise and very calm behind the island, so swimming there was just amazing. Shortly after, three scuba divers showed up and used the site to jump off. I asked one of the guys if we should move, and he said, "Non! This is a FRENCH beach! Someone tell you to leave, you tell them 'NON! This is a FRENCH beach!'" I laughed and thanked him and we watched them dive until they were out of sight. Later that day, when the beach got more crowded and we were STARVING we went in search of food. We walked forever up these ridiculous windy hills with summer homes all along them until we finally accidentally stumbled upon the hidden (seriously, hidden) steps to Plage Mala. The steps were called the Steps to Solitude, but that wasn't at all what we found. The beach was beautiful, one of the few sandy beaches in the area, but it was crazy crowded. But on its crowded shores sat the glorious heralds of food…menus posted on the sides of beachy-looking restaurants. One look at the prices left us stricken, but there was nothing else to eat, so we sadly settled in their canvas seats with breezy white linens curtains hanging all around us and naked sand-covered children running all over the place and ordered 22 euro hamburgers, which were pretty much the cheapest things on the menu. We ate watching the waves, contented by the giant hamburgers and ridiculously delicious fries. Most of the people there were obviously quite wealthy. One family was dining in their crisp white linen clothes and wide-brimmed sunhats while their small daughter played in the water. They called her over and had her pour their wine for them, even made her lay the little towel over her arm and corrected her posture as she poured. Needless to say, we felt quite out of place in our grungy beach clothes. Once our hamburgers were gone, they brought us a dessert menu, which glanced at disinterestedly. But the damage was done to our wallets, so we figured why not eat a ten euro slice of cheesecake? But it wasn't even a slice. It was, as Anna would be proud to hear me say, a little boop of cheesecake. We stared at the plate in shock. Ten euros? We escaped that money trap soon after having learned a valuable lesson. Always bring your lunch to the beach; otherwise, anticipate financial rape. We headed back to the rocky beach and found a long skinny jut of rock with a long ladder that extended down from the lip of its cliff into the deep blue water below. We swam and sunbathed there until around nine and then headed back to the hostel, exhausted from the sun exposure.

We spent the better part of the next two days on that beach and the ones around it because (as we soon found out) trains to Paris were booked for almost a month. So, our only option was to cancel our hostel in Paris and stay in Nice a few extra nights until we straightened our plans out. We could not have been trapped in a more beautiful spot.

The second day we got up early and took a train to Monaco because we wanted to visit the aquarium there. After the aquarium, we came back to Nice, but decided that there was enough day left to go the beach. So, late in the afternoon, we set out. Cap d'Ail's rocky beaches were very crowded, so we climbed down a perilous hill to a secluded spot. It was very steep and the waves were frightening, but we decided against our better judgment to try and swim after our picnic lunch. Getting in the water was the easy part, but once we were in, we realized how deep the water was and how alone we were and how much the waves were jostling us around. After just a few minutes, our legs were tired from fighting the waves and we had been swept quite a ways from shore. We were both a little frightened, so we fought back to the rocks, and tried to scramble out. The waves dashed us again the shore and then ripped us away from it, and we had to grasp the rocks and pull each other up, scraping our knees and elbows. We collapsed on the beach, a little shaken. We laid in the shade for a while and then headed back to Nice for dinner.

The next day was more sunning at the beach, but the waves were still ferocious, and we had learned our lesson from the day before, so we stayed fastened to the rocks. Late in the afternoon, the water seemed somewhat calmer, so I jumped in and Carrie unwillingly followed me in. DUMB! As soon as we were in the water, the waves went crazy and we had to struggle back to the ladder. The water got so rough that I was holding onto one of the rungs of the ladder, but my whole body was being pulled backwards by the waves. We finally made it up, and collapsed, exhausted.

The next day, we were smarter. We went first to the ladder at Cap d'Ail but the water was still very angry, so we went to Villefranche instead, a few stops before Cap d'Ail. It was more crowded and touristy, but the coast was protected from the violent ocean waves and winds by a ring of mountain, so the water there was calm and crisply turquoise. It was also a sandy beach, so it was much more comfortable to sunbathe on. We swam for a long time in the cool waters, and it was so nice to relax in the lazy water.

The next day, we left for Lyon. We decided that since we couldn't go to Paris, we would at least go there. We'd heard it was beautiful, so we set out hopefully.