Little Miss Sunshine

PHRASE OF THE DAY
J'en ai marre: I'm fed up.

BACKSTREET'S BACK...ALRIGHT!!

I'm baaack!! And my computer's baaack!! And I'm laying on my baaack!!

It's been too long! How've you been? Good?
That's good.

. . .

The kids? The kids are good?
That's good.

Look, this is awkward for me too. Let's just embrace the temporary separation, and jump right back into things, 'kay?

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So how long has it been since I first went to Eze? Honestly, I couldn't even tell you. Well, unless I went back through my previous entries to see where I wrote about it, but, as the teacher, I reserve the right to tell you to look it up on your own time.

A little bit about Eze (as I assume you've never heard of the place outside of this blog):

*20-30 minute bus ride from the Nice port

*VERY small medieval town up in the mountains overlooking the water

*Main attractions: castle, perfumery, grocery store, bus stop

*The castle--> def. : "a fortress woven with narrowly winding cobblestone paths along which small rooms and chambers have been converted into art galleries, shops, and cafés."

*There was a garden on the top of the castle with a 360˚ view of the surrounding landscape.

PHOTO MONTAGE!!! (beautiful, right?)

But, wait. You think this trip to Eze is over?? Oh, my naïve friend. You have no idea. See, because I was alone, and there's always always always a greater propensity to do stupid stupid things when you're alone, I decided to partake in the well-known "Chemin Frederic Nietzsche," a path that Nietzsche enjoyed walking when he lived in the area a long long time ago. (while he was writing Zarathustra, I might add . . . )

Avid reader, let me save you the trouble. If you don't have proper hiking attire, a walking stick, and a can-do spirit, DO NOT, and I repeat because some of you weren't listening, DO NOT choose this activity. I cannot stress this enough. Take a moment to remember what Nietzsche wrote about. Chew it over with a Twix. This is not Henry David Thoreau's favorite path. This is the path of the man who argued vehemently that there was no God. Do you realize, avid reader what you're getting yourself into?? Probably not! Because this is the sign:

"Look, Jeff! The bus station/beach is right over there!
Oh this way'll be much faster."

There should be a little mini-sign underneath that says:

"Hey! You, looking at the sign. Are you serious?? I'm sorry, do you not remember riding the bus up the mountain? I do. Are you having trouble putting 2 and 2 together? Let me give you a minute...

Okay, here's a hint, you're walking to the BEACH. From here. From the mountain. You're walking down a mountain. To get to the beach. In flip flops.
No view is worth that. Turn around."

Well, as is obvious, that sign wasn't there. So I did what any old Jeff would do. I traversed the mountain. In my sandals. The views were pleasant.

Somewhere . . . a sad hippie has lost his drums.

By the end, I discovered walking backwards was less painful on my toes.

So that . . . that was fun.

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So, if I remember correctly, that was on a Thursday. Then, that Saturday, I went to Eze. Again.

Buuut! (before I'm labeled "lame" and "depressing") This time I had company! Six other girls from Italy, Germany, Belgium, and England came with me! And since I had visited the area two days earlier, they immediately deemed me the expert on EVERYTHING Eze-related. So, as the pathways are woven somewhat randomly in the castle, every time we came to a fork they would just stare at me til I decided which way was best. You know, for us locals.

PHOTO MONTAGEEE #2 !!!

Favorite picture of the day: we tried valiantly to get
a jumping picture with the camera timer.

I told you there would be a lot of pictures. Didn't I? Didn't I tell you that?

Well, at any rate, I will stop here. Take some time. Absorb these images. Commit them to memory. I'll come back later to write about Cannes and Antibes. Well, mostly just Antibes. There's not really anything special about Cannes. Really, the only interesting thing about Cannes is that, contrary to popular belief, there's not really anything interesting about Cannes.

Also I just discovered Muammar Gaddafi is dead. See how informed I am?

Amitiés :)