France: Montepellier & Nice

Hello everyone! Zach and I's stay in France started off a little rough...In short, the Barcelona train station is crazy and should never be trusted. As soon as we got to Barca, we made a reservation for our train to Montpellier three days later. Usually, we just wait in line for 5 min. but this time we had to take a number and wait. Ok, I can deal with that-except that we pulled out the number 535 and they were on...267. 3 hours later...we had our reservation. Then, we we actually GET to the train they tell us that the reservation was made for a day earlier than we wanted making it completely useless. The train was leaving in 15 minutes, and there was no way we could make another reservation so...after a few tears and some pleading on my part to an employee (it was a man, of course-I discovered women have no sympathy for little blonde girls with giant backpacks who are crying because they can't get to France on time) and this was our conversation.
Me: Please you need to help me I need to get to Montpellier as soon as possible (insert tears) This reservation is wrong and I need to get there right away (more tears and sad eyes)
Man: Well, the train is full but WAIT-you can catch this train that leaves in...
Me: (sigh of relief)
Man: 2 minutes! Hurry, you must run! TRACK 13!
Me: What??!! ZACH!!! ZACH!! (waving my arms across the station to Zach who is waiting in a line) WE HAVE TWO MINUTES! C'MON!
...And two minutes later we were hopping onto the train as the doors were closing. It was crazy. We ended up on this ghetto metro train that moved at about 1/2 the pace as our original train, but we were just happy to be going to France.
Then, during one of our layovers-this same thing happened again. The conductor was blowing his whistle and I was waving my arms telling him to stop. And..we made it.
It was definitely the most stressful travel day we'd had. We were sad to be leaving Spain, but excited to go to a new country! Zach and I were staying with a friend who was studying abroad there so we were looking forward to knowing a local and having someone who could show us around. When we first arrived to Montpellier, it was a pleasant surprise! The only place I had been in France before was Paris, but the south of France definitely had a different vibe. We explored a bit before we met up with Christie- our host for Montpellier.




We didn't have much time in Montpellier because we arrived in the evening, and then only had two nights. Christie was kind enough to take us on a tour of Montpellier-we got kicked out of a church (apparently I always miss the memo about covering my shoulders and knees), and we learned a lot about the history of the city.





We also had the chance to go outside of the city and hang out with Christie's friends at their house. They had a pool (which we didn't swim in because it was raining...go figure), but Zach spent a few hours playing ping pong with the guys.
It was really nice to relax and hang out with legit French people. I must say, after my experience in Paris I did not have high expectations for the French, but Montpellier definitely made me change my mind. Everyone we met was so friendly and welcoming. We took the bus back into town, and after a quick dinner we went to sleep because we had an early train to catch in the morning to Nice and we did NOT want to have issues.
Thankfully, our train ride to Nice was a lot "nicer" (pun most definitely intended). When we arrived, we found our hostel and it was in a perfect location! It was in the centre of historic Nice, 30 seconds from the beach and just down the street from a lot of great restaurants. It was sunny, so the first thing we did was go to the beach. I was amazed at how beautiful it was! I kept on saying that I felt like I was in a post card.

Unfortunately, the good feelings didn't last long and we spent the night in because I had a stomach ache and was throwing up. However, the next day I was feeling 100% better and rewarded myself with a crepe (my favourite thing about France) and Zach enjoyed a sandwich.


We spent the day exploring the city, window shopping, going to the beach, and eating great food.



The next day we had planned on doing a hike that overlooked the beach. We were very excited and of COURSE it decided to rain...

Zach and I have come to the conclusion that whenever we try to do something outdoors or if there is a beach, it will definitely rain. But...we still had a good time and it was a beautiful walk!





We spent the rest of our time soaking up the sun and relaxing. I really loved Nice and I think Zach did as well. Hope you are all doing well at home!
Next stop, Italy!
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