Not So Nice Nice

I woke up to rain today. It was hard to pull myself out of bed, but I did it because I knew I had to meet Bryce at 9:30. We were both late but we still ended up showing up at about the same time in the lobby. We headed out to a museum but the second we got there I realized it was Tuesday and all museums in France are closed on Tuesdays. So we walked down a street and found a boulangerie to get breakfast, then we went to a cafe and got some hot chocolate. We sat there and talked for a while before heading back to the hostel. It was still raining so hard to we decided to play some games inside. We played cards for a while, then the sun came out so we headed to the beach. We stopped for some noodles at a little restaurant where I had to speak French for him. He's studying in Italy and knows no French.

We headed down to the beach where the sun couldn't decide to shine or not. But we got some really great sunny pictures though. Just 10 minutes later however, the waves started getting huge. We were watching people run from them on the beach and at first it was funny, then as we passed a restaurant farther down on the beach we realized it wasn't funny anymore. This guy was frantically carrying chairs up the stairs but the waves were so big and fast that when we went down to get more he had to jump up on them to stay out of the water, but it was so big it crashed over him and the chairs, and then took half the chairs out to sea. They were desperately trying to save their restaurant but it was hopeless.

(Sunny beautiful day in Nice)

(10 minutes later)

Soon the waves were so big they crashed over the roof and ripped it right off. Everything inside was being swept away. We were standing on the Place 8 Mai 1945 and the waves got so high that they were crashing up onto the place, and it's normally way above the water. We got yelled at by the cops to stand back. When the waves started coming up onto the road they closed off the sidewalk and put tape up to keep everyone on the other side of the road. We decided to go get crepes while all this was going on, which were amazing by the way, but when we went back the whole road had been closed and there were rocks from the beach everywhere. I asked the police officer if this happens often and he said no, never. He'd lived there for 30 years and never seen anything like it. But he did say that they had known the storm was coming. They obviously didn't prepare hardly enough.

We went back to the hostel for a while where we showed the pictures to everyone of the mess down at the beach and then we decided to go back at eat dinner somewhere around there. It was the first night I had been able to go out late at night because normally I'm alone so I come home by 7. Everything was all lit up and beautiful. We went back to see if there had been any new damage and we just saw a lot of rocks and the rent-a-bikes were all tipped over. The road was still closed and the police were still everywhere. So we ate in Vieux Nice at a little restaurant where I got Gnocchi and a cheap glass of wine and Bryce got the plat de jour. We talked about anything and everything and just had a really good night. The walk home was far too cold for this time of year though. When we got back some people were outside talking in the garden so we sat with them for a little but I was too tired to stay there for long. I went to my room and fell asleep in seconds. Soooo tired!

Another long and CRAZY day! I saw something no one ever sees in Nice. Nice.