Sleeping in the Palace Backyard

After going to bed around 5 am, Nick violently shook me awake around 9:45 am. We make a good team because he relies on me to get from point A to point B and I rely on him to wake me up each morning. It usually takes between 3-4 violent shakes for me to have the strength to crack open my eyes. Breakfast was good. Usually we only get warm milk on cornflakes but this morning we could choose between about 10 different cereals. I stuffed myself full by trying each kind. 

Finishing up my first jar of Nutella and second loaf of bread.

Before leaving the paradise hostel, I quickly checked my email to discover that Quitterie’s sister was birthing a baby that day, so she wouldn’t be able to meet up. Although disappointed we wouldn’t be able to see our good friend, we pressed onward to Cannes. 

These are the best places to fill up our water bottles.

We spent the majority of the afternoon walking through the old, windy streets of Cannes followed by a 2-hour nap on the beach. We had heard that Monaco was another beautiful city along the French Riviera, so we decided to stash our big backpacks in a large locker in the Nice train station, grab only our sleeping bags, and take a train to Monaco.

We took a good long nap on this beach.

Overlooking the old city of Cannes (The old German man taking our picture was hilarious).

We quickly found out that Monaco wasn’t just another beautiful city—it’s a kingdom squished between Italy and France. The world’s wealthy dock their HUGE yachts at the harbor as they spend a fortune eating and playing. It was after 10 pm when we jumped off the train, As soon as we came out of the train station, an enormous firework show lit up the sky. It felt like a dream—a very magical dream. Little did we know that this beautiful dream would get even better.

Once the last firework lit up the sky, the city of Monaco became alive with an outdoor concert, carnival, and fine dining on the harbor. We walked around for a couple hours before climbing a nearby hillside to check out the Monaco palace. This gorgeous palace, illuminated by pinks and blues, reminded me of Disney Land. However, a real prince and princess lived in this real palace guarded by a real palace guard.

Still homeless after midnight, I struck up a conversation with a nice Italian couple. It was during this conversation when we realized we were no longer in France. In broken English, they told us some of the history of Monaco. They pointed a few miles westward and said, “That if France.” And then they turned and pointed eastward and said, “That is Italy.” Eventually, our current state of being homeless surfaced in the conversation. Once they were finished laughing, they said they would help us find a place. So we followed them for about 20 minutes and found ourselves staring at the most secluded beach (about 30 yards long) behind the palace of Monaco. It was more than we could hope for. We thanked them for their generous help, positioned the less jagged rocks under our sleeping bags, and doze off listening to the crashing waves only a few yards away.