It's a really long one!!

This is going to be an epic blog, since it includes Halloween and a little bit of travels. So brace yourselves, it’s going to be a long ride.

Tuesday was Halloween, as you know. But apparently, Halloween is not so important here as it is in the States. So Sapna and I decided we would dress up and we opted for the typical Devil/Angel theme, me being the Devil because I don’t like wearing white. Uh huh. Anyway, Sapna and I ventured out to find outfits that we could wear again after Halloween, so we both went for the skirt and top combination. That was the easy part. But then we needed horns, halo, and the like. That was next to impossible. We searched far and wide, only to find that stores carry about two costumes a piece. There was always the obligatory witch hat next to the ‘scary’ plastic mask. So, on the tip of an employee of one of these Halloween-unfriendly stores, we found out there was a store called “Halloween” on some street that we never heard of. Nevertheless, we took this mission on, and wouldn’t rest until we had exactly what we needed. So, to make a long story short, hours later, and after asking more people in the streets than not, we finally found someone who pointed us into the right direction. And when we arrived, we had clearly found the Halloween Mecca of Nice. It almost put Party City to shame. So, with horns, pitch fork, halo, wings, and glitter in hand, we made our way back home with smiles on our faces.

The next night, on Halloween, we headed to Old Nice to get our party on. Little did we know, nor anticipate, that also unlike the States, not too many people get dressed up for Halloween. And to them, dressed up also entails street clothes with fake blood splattered across their faces. So as we were walking to the bars, we literally got laughed at. People didn’t even try to hide their amusement at our confident incognito selves, heading out for Halloween Festivities. However, later on our costumes would prove to be valuable because it got us into places with long lines, and helped us cut ahead for some drinks, too. So we got the last laugh suckas. So that’s Halloween in France in a nutshell. It could be summed up in one word: lame.

So, on Thursday Sapna and I took a day trip to Antibes, a little city near Nice, still on the coast touching the Mediterranean. It was such a good time. We left the station at Nice at about 12:45, and arrived in Antibes maybe a half hour later. The train ride was rather funny, and choc full of feeling like a tourist. First we got our tickets and wanted to go to our train, but couldn’t figure out how to get to the train. So we had to pass through this little area, but we had to validate our tickets. So the both of us were inserting our tickets every which way, just standing there trying to figure it out. So we finally discovered the proper way (which was disgustingly simple), and we then try to go to the platform at which the train was waiting, but we couldn’t figure out how to get there either. We were going into exits facing masses of people rushing towards us, then we ended up in this area that led to nowhere, but finally we took a right turn and made it onto the train. It’s a nice train, pretty clean and pleasant, but packed a little tight. So at the end of the ride we get up to wait by the door to get off at our stop, and we are standing waiting at the wrong door. Then we went to the right door, and when the train stopped we were waiting for the doors to open. But alas, no doors were opening. Then we hear this older woman next to us heave a big sigh, step in front of us, and then pull the doors apart. Us lazy Americans want our automatic doors, ok lady?!

When we arrived in Antibes we made our way out to the only Museum that held interest to us, a museum of Peynet (who I, nor Sapna, had ever heard of before), but we were up for a nice art museum. Unfortunately, the Picasso Museum is being renovated and won’t be open until 2007. But anyway, we got to the museum, but it was closed for lunch hours, so we just walked around Antibes for a little while, and it was absolutely gorgeous. The streets were narrow and the architecture was so old worldly. I felt like I was in Italy (which I have never been to before, but would imagine would look similar). All the buildings were overlooking the Mediterranean, too, which just added to the amazingness of the whole place. It was just truly incredible, and a breath of fresh air (both figuratively and literally). After taking oodles of pictures, Sapna and I made our way back to the museum, which was also quite amazing. Regardless of which painter was highlighted within, the Museum itself was set up really well, being both quaint, and beautifully spaced out. The artist, Peynet, was very good, though, which was like icing on the cake. He does illustrations portraying all sorts of love, and includes humorous quips with his paintings. It’s definitely a change from the art that exemplifies the pain and suffering that was displayed at the Musee des Beaux Arts. It was interesting though, because aside from Peynet, there was also a section devoted to Political Cartoons, so on one side there were the light, fluffy amorous paintings coupled with the satirical and dark humor on the opposite side.

After the museum, Sapna and I walked a little more and decided to stop for lunch. We went to an unassuming little restaurant with a patio, so we could stare at people walking while they stared at us eating. It was delicious though, and I had my first French omelet. Yummy. We then left, and headed back to Nice, and took the rest of the night off in anticipation of our trip to Cannes the following day.

Enter Cannes. After a 45 minute train ride, we arrived in Cannes at about 2. Before heading out I was reading a guidebook which included Cannes, but spoke of it in a very unfavorable light. They said, short of the Cannes Film Festival, there is nothing there to do. And they were sort of right. Sapna and I checked into our hotel and just walked around alongside the sea. The view was pretty spectacular, but nothing too different from every other Mediterranean-based city. We then decided to go to a Museum, called the Museum de la Castre, which entailed us walking across the city and climbing a steep mountain (which is sort of tough for this girl), and when we finally found the museum atop the mountain, we were informed that they were about to close. Doh! So we took some pictures and went back down (which is way cooler than going up, I must say). We then got an early dinner at a well-priced restaurant (which was extremely difficult to find in rich man’s Cannes). We then decided to just chill in the hotel room for a couple hours before we went out for the night. Luckily for us, there was a gripping movie about this police officer that killed some woman. I understood like 1/3 of it, and made up the rest the way I would have wanted things to happen. I’m good like that.

At about 10:30 we headed out anticipating an awesome night on the town, hearing really good things previously about the nightlife in Cannes. We were a little disappointed to realize that we were the only people walking the streets at that point, which was shocking considering it was a Friday night. But we persevered and went to an Irish bar where we spent an arm and a leg for some tequila and then continued further. We checked out a couple of the other places we read about, but they were completely empty, so we headed to the Port, where we heard about this club called Bâoli, which was supposed to be ritzy and the place where anyone who’s anyone is seen when they visit Cannes. I was personally hoping to run into Johnny Depp, but the only thing we ran into was a HUGE bill for 2 glasses of Champagne. When we arrived, they asked us if we were there for drinks or dinner, and we stated just drinks, where they walked us into this unbelievably elegant lounge area where the tables were all silver, and were against couches with leather pillows adorning the silken upholstery. It was so chic and swanky. But when they brought us the menu, I wish I could have gotten a picture of my face when I saw the prices of the drinks. But Sapna and I decided that we were in France only once, and we wanted to feel what it’s like to be upperclass for the next half hour, so we splurged and got some rosé Champagne. Unfortunately, we couldn’t afford to stay there, but we vowed to come back and sneak in later when they opened up the dance floor.

In the meantime, we had some cheap drinking to do. So we found this bar that advertised 10 shots for 15 euro, which was uncanny to us, seeing as to how the other places here charged 15 euros for one drink. So we walked in, only to realize it was Karaoke Night. We just smiled and nodded to each other, found our place and asked for our 10 shots of Tequila, s’il vous plait. When it arrived, it was the coolest thing I had seen in a long time. It was a huge tray with tequila covering it, and iced with a salt shaker and a lemon for each shot. So as the shots started disappearing, Sapna and decided it was time to take our Karaokeing skills to a new country. We picked one of the few American songs they had (“La Isla Bonita” by Madonna), took the rest of our shots, and performed as if we were performing a concert at Madison Square Garden, complete with choreography and everything. We were impressed, but as the song came to a close, we realized nobody else was. In this packed bar, we got not one single applause (and, yes, everyone else received hearty applause before us). So we handed the DJ our mics, grabbed our jackets, and stealthily made our way to the doors. And back to Bâoli we went.

After another LONG walk, we finally got there, but there was a line. But Justin Timberlake started playing, and Sapna dances anywhere and anytime, so she breaks out dancing in the line, at which the bouncer looks at her disapprovingly, so she just apologizes. But then he asked us how many we had in our party, to which we replied it was just us, and he let us cut the line and go in. So Sapna’s dancing got us special treatment. And we were pleasantly surprised to see there was no cover charge, and no drink minimum, so from midnight to 4 AM we got our dance on, and had a really great time. I was a little surprised when Kris Kross’s “Jump” blasted over the sound system, but until last night, I never appreciated the dance value of that song. So put it on your dance mixes, folks, even if it’s a one hit wonder from the 90’s sung by 10 year olds. Trust me.

After walking for what seemed forever, we were back to our hotel where we just crashed, until about 9, at which time we were awoken by the loudest hotel cleaning ladies you have ever heard in your life. So we snoozed our alarms from that point on for the next hour, and then headed out back to Nice. There was this hilariously hyper and ADD little boy on our train. He was sooo nuts, but really cute. At one point he ran in front of this old couple and jumped right in front of them and yelled ‘Cou Cou!’. We started cracking up, but the old couple were not digging it, so they ignored it. Little boy wasn’t digging being ignored so he kept getting more and more in their faces and yelling even louder. The old man got really pissed and said some rude comment to the little boy, which just made everything ten times better to watch, cause the little boy wasn’t miffed at all. He just kept at it, until he got bored, and just left them with their disgusted looks on their face. It doesn’t pay to be a disgruntled elderly couple these days. You still won’t get left alone by Ritalin-deprived 4 year olds.

Ok, so that’s all I’ve got. I’m sorry this one was so long. But when the muse calls, you better answer. So this is my answering in the form of a novella. But you can’t deny the fact that you love these . Anyway, I will leave you alone now, but not without including some pictures first.

I miss you all so much!
XOXOX
Dina

Include sexy rocks, quai des pecheurs, peynet, in front of fnts, Atop mtn, Obligatory water shot, all 3 at waynes.