Ventimiglia, Italy

Ventimiglia

July 28th 2008

I took this picture from the car, before we parked! Not bad huh?

Day Trip

This trip was a continuation from the sister visit. We took a little trip over to Italy. We crossed the boarder like it was nothing. There was no boarder patrol, only a sign saying welcome to Italy! We entered Ventimigila, a small city right on the Italian boarder 30 mins from Monaco and about 1 hour from Genova. The city was very busy and it wasn’t easy finding a parking spot. We tried pulling into this one spot for 15 minutes but got laughed at and decided to try one that would actually fit the car. We finally got the car parked and then began walking, checking out stores as we went a long. We after stopping a few books stores and other random shops, we decided to sit in the park and talk for a while. After the park, we decided it was time to head back to the villa. So we took some pictures of the city and ourselves, made our way back to the car and drove toward France along the coastline.





Ventimiglia is a 2.5. Small, quite, and quaint.

Monaco

Monte-Carlo

July 26th 2008

View a long the cost of Monaco.

Day 2cont.

Monaco is a country within a country like the Vatican and San Marino. It is where the wealth of France and Europe goes to be with their kinfolk, and the other richies from around the world go to escape paying taxes! I don’t blame them, if I had endless amounts of cash I would live there too. It has beautiful architecture, breathtaking views, nice cars and a plethora of mansions. I got first hand experience at what Monaco was like because I went to visit my sister who was living in a villa in Cap Martin, which is right outside Monaco. We took a ride on the scooter around the city to explore its richness. It really is a world of its own. Monaco could possibly be richer than France itself, doubtful, but you never know! Anyway, we went to check what the open air, English original version theater was playing and at what time. I had already seen the movie that was playing, so we decided to go back to the villa and watch one there. It was a short trip to Monaco, but from the villa I could look down upon it and see its true beauty. It’s a place to visit whether you could ever afford to live there or not. I liked it a lot but I couldn’t spend a lot of time there, I would be aware of how little I fit in, every time I went anywhere. Nevertheless, I had a good time.

Monaco is a 4. It is a very rich, small, beautiful country.

Cap Martin, Eze & St. Tropez, France

Cap Martin

July 25-27th 2008

View from the Villa where my sister lived in Cap Martin!

Day 1
I arrived in Nice at 11:40pm from Dusseldorf to visit my sister. She was living in a villa right outside Monaco in Cap Martin. She was waiting at the airport for me and we took a 120 Euro cap ride to the villa. What a rip off. Anyway we got there finally after a train ride, a flight, and a 30min taxi ride! We decided to sleep downstairs so we could talk. It was a garage converted into a very nice big room. After an hour of talking we decided to go to bed. When we went to go upstairs to use the bathroom, we realized we were locked out. We couldn’t get out of the room from that door, nor the door that leads to the driveway, both locked. So we finally got one of the windows open, but didn’t want to know on the door or ring the bell and wake people up. So in stead we used the hose to brush our teeth. Then we went to bed with the lights on, because the switch was outside the door! It was an interesting night, not one you would expect to have in a luxury villa in Cap Martin!

Cap Martin is a 4.5. It's beautiful, charming, rich and alluring!

Eze

July 26th 2008

View from the top of Eze village.

Day 2
Night passed rather well despite what had occurred. We woke up early at around 7:30am after going to bed at 2pm. We went out through the window and into the front door of the villa. We told the story of last night and everyone had a good laugh. We ate breakfast, watched TV and then decided to go on a scooter ride. We took the scooter first to Eze, a small, but beautiful town north of Monaco. We drove a while, until we came to what looked like a fairly touristy spot. We parked, used the bathroom then walked up the hill to the church and garden. To get into the garden we paid 5 Euros, kind of a rip off once you realized how lame the garden was. It was a lot like the landscapes of the Arizonan deserts, lots of cactus, and sand. We hung out in it for a while, and then went back toward Monaco (see other blog for Monaco). We went back home after Monaco and watched a movie, then bed (not in the garage again!)



Eze is a 4. Its a small village, but the beaches are amazing.

St. Tropez

July 27th 2008

I did not take this picture, but I wanted you to know what St. Tropez looked like.

Day 3

This was the big St. Tropez day. We were supposed to meet up with some people at a party down in St. Tropez, which is the Hamptons of France. This is where the rich people of Europe go to party and vacation. We took our time getting ready and left the villa at around 12. It took us about 2 hours to drive down there. We got a little lost trying to find the house where the party was, so we meet our friends in town, and then drove together. The house was large and the back yard endless. When you walk out to the backyard, where the party was, to the right was a covered patio, where the food was being served, and to the left was the dance floor and DJ stand. When you continued walking out of the door you a grand marble 2 directional staircase lead you down to the rectangular shaped pool. To the left of the pool was a grand bar, which was more crowded than the food area. Past the pool were scattered tables for guest to dine and chat. We ate the delicious buffet of grilled chicken, hamburgers, fruits, salads, pasta, and much more. We filled up quickly then went to mingle with the guests. After about 3 hours we had had enough, my sister and I weren’t really in the mood to stay and so we decided to visit St. Tropez more. We drove around then headed back toward Nice for my flight, cancelled so I had to stay at the villa until they could rebook my.

St. Tropez is a 3. It is small and pretty, but its for a select bunch of people! Not me!

Bremen, Germany

Bremen

July 19th 2008

Bremen is very picturesque, dispute the fact that it was raining!

Day Trip
Victoria and I took a train form Rheine to Bremen on Saturday to meet up with my sister and check out the city. We arrived at 11:15, shortly before my sister, and went to her track to collect her. We put her bag in a locker and left the train station. We went to tourist information first, to see where an original version movie theater was. We got directions, followed them, and arrived at the movie theater within 5 minutes. Unfortunately the OV movies were showing too late in the day for us to see, as we had to catch a train back at 4. After the disappointing trip to the movie theater we walked toward the center of the city. On the way we passed this nice little park area with a windmill-turned-restaurant in the middle. It was a lovely scene despite the awful, rainy, grey weather. After taking a few pictures of the park we ventured on, finding the shopping district of the city. We popped into a couple stores, but weren't really in the mood to shop so we decided to be tourist. We went to the Rathaus, the platz and medieval quarter. We got hungry so my sister ate a salad while we sat and ate Chinese restaurant. After lunch we walked toward the harbor stumbling upon a small festival. There we found this stand with mini pancakes, that would have been amazing, if cooked all the way! We were tired so we sat on a bench by the canal leading to the harbor. In front of us was a massive pirate ship! We sat and admired it for a while until it started to pour rain. After the rain let up, we headed back to the train station to catch our train.

Bremen was a 3. It was pretty especially for being one of the oldest cities in the north.