Nos Aventures: January 2013

This last week we spent most of the time working and getting all caught up so we could enjoy our trip to Rome over the weekend.
We took a plane from the Nice airport at about nine Saturday morning and got into Rome about an hour later. We ate at a pizza place in the terminal and then went and saw the Colosseum, Roman Forums, and the Mouth of Truth. After that we retired to our hotel, a hotel we booked because Chelsea was so intrigued by not knowing what hotel you would stay at until after you booked it on hotwire.com, that she just had to do it. Fortunately for us it ended up being pretty good. We watched some documentaries about the Roman empire and quickly fell asleep.
The next day we went and saw the Vatican, Pantheon, and went to a fun little ride/movie thing that talked about the history of Rome. We ended the day in Piazza Navona with a Bernini fountain right in the middle and painters selling their artworks of Rome on either side. We grabbed some gelato and looked at the paintings and then went to a restaurant in the plaza. We finished the night by going back to the hotel and watching some Downton Abbey.
The next day(yesterday) we flew back home to Nice. We ended up sitting by a elegant, eccentric woman who spoke a little english. We soon found out she was a photographer who takes pictures of celebrities. She kept naming off names of celebrities she had taken pictures of, most of them we gave blank stares to, not knowing who they are or at least not through her accent. She would chide us asking how we couldn't know so many famous hollywood actors(most of them were before our time). However we did know Gregory Peck, Jane Fonda, Alfred Hitchcock, John Wayne and Elizabeth Taylor. Having a difficult time communicating after awhile Bryce pulled out the I-phone and started showing her pictures of violet. She grabbed the phone and thumbed through the rest of the pictures. She also told us about her sturdy shoes that she had bought for $150. She ended up pulling them off and had Bryce feel how sturdy they were. Bryce quickly pointed to our matching shoes Kaylee had made for us for Christmas and said "designer shoes." Bryce carried her bag until she could find a kart inside the airport where she patted our cheeks and said goodbye. If your interested her website is: http://www.chiarasamugheo.com/
you may have to look through it with caution, these Europeans don't mind a little nudity here and there.
Hey just so you know we bought our plane tickets home and we should be back Feb. 20th so not too far away. We love you and miss you guys!

Eurolols:

- A train engineer walked around our cart checking if the passengers had tickets. We did, but as he inspected them he pointed out (not verbally, but with gestures, like a game of charades) that we lacked a special stamp. I feared imprisonment and handcuffs, but the fine was only 5 euros.

- Being venturesome, I chose a random cheese at the supermarket. I took it home and unfolded the paper wrapping. The smell hit me in the face - the term "stinky cheese" does not do justice. I hid it in the fridge for Chelsea's breakfast, but it ended up in the garbage can before any good use came from it.

- I spent all my free cash getting into the colosseum. I knew Italy had a major 'cash-only' affliction, but I didn't think a major tourist attraction wouldn't accept my stylish chase-sapphire preferred card. Later that night we ate dinner, then discovered they also did not accept plastic, and found ourselves short 10 euros cash. I jogged up and down a good many italian roads looking for an ATM, while Chelsea sat hostage.

- We cannot find ranch dressing and we already bought lettuce.

Colosseum:

Roman Forums:

Vatican:

us and more nice:

Chelsea is in antique heaven

Chelsea had a bit of a freak out when she realized Laocoon was here

Morning runs in Nice

Bryce and our new friend

Week two and we are starting two get a lot more comfortable and familiar with Nice and living in France. Bryce started work again beginning last week. Our schedule usually consists of waking up way too late because of our jetlag, running by the beach, and then usually seeing something new in Nice. Then at 2:00pm we get started with our work and school until 10:00pm where we then retire to our bed to watch an episode of Downton Abbey(very hard to do when Netflix and Hulu dont work here). Then we TRY to sleep for a long time only to fall asleep about one or two.

Every weekend we are going to try to visit a different place, so last weekend it was Marseille and this upcoming weekend is Rome. It was pretty windy and freezing and then later rained in Marseille, but was still a fun experience. There were two major places we wanted to see: the Cathédrale de la Major, a huge byzantine-roman styled cathedral built in the 1800s, and Chateau d'if, a prison that was built in 1524 that became famous as the prison Edmund Dantes went to in The Count of Monte Cristo. We were however unable to visit Chateau d'if (after asking four different times:) because of the bad weather. I should probably mention it is on an island that you have to boat to. We were able to visit the Cathedrale de la Major and took a tour bus that lead up to Notre-Dame de la Garde, a basilica on top of a hill that overlooked the city. We also we able to try some fine French cuisine.
A lot happens in one week as you can tell so we might be doing two blog posts a week. We will keep you updated. Hope you enjoy the pictures and all is well back home! more pictures on bozar.dyndns.org

Eurolols:

- Tried my steak 'medium' today, "because I am in France, I should eat like the French." I will be having 'well done' for the rest of my life.

- Chelsea and I were determined to beat jet lag today and wake up on time for church. We got up 3 hours late then visited a catholic cathedral, which counts as church.

- Got a fountain drink today that had no syrup. Can't tell the cashier because I don't know how. I enjoyed the carbonated water.

- Dirty Eminem song playing at McDonalds. Children love the beat.

- Turned on the tap to wash my lunch plate because I am a good husband. No water came out, so I laid it in the sink. May everyone know I attempted to do dishes.

- I said my first successful phrase in french: "je ne parle pas francias". I'm so happy.

- The toilet made a sound resembling a 747 during takeoff. Chelsea ran out of the bathroom stark nude and yelled at me (as if we were in an earthquake) to investigate. We have three explanations: 1. someone dumped a crapload of poprocks down the toilet, 2. the toilet drainpipes were being cleaned, or 3. the toilet is haunted by an obnoxious moaning myrtle.

Places:

Cathédrale de la Major