NICE to meet you anyway…. --Nice, France

I went to bed on Friday assuring Eric that the “45 minute” delay would not be a problem as he had a scheduled 1 ½ hours to make his connection and all the signs in Zurich are in English so he would have no problem navigating around.  The next morning I woke up, checked the flight status—still reading a 45-minute delay—and then made my way to the airport.  I had told Eric that if anything did go wrong he should find a phone and call my international phone.  I hadn’t received a phone call and the flight from Zurich to Lugano ended up being over an hour late as well so I waited patiently at the arrival gate expecting to see him since both the planes had been delayed. Lugano airport is TEEEENY TINY… literally 2 gates

Slowly everyone is filing out into the happy hugs and kisses from family members and friends until soon enough I find that not only am I the only one still waiting by the arrivals…. I’m also the only one still in the airport.  Confirmation from the Swiss Airlines lady of what I already knew- Eric missed his flight- brought me to tears…. The poor woman was so surprised she didn’t know what to do but assured me he would most likely be on the next flight at 1:40… only to make me more upset because I knew that would mean we missed our train to Nice as well.  So… I dried my eyes and headed back to the Montarina with not very much time until I’d turn around again to try to refigure everything out by 1) seeing if he contacted me via internet or 2) there were ANY other trains to Nice that night.  I get back to 6 missed viber calls and even more messages…. And a few on Facebook.  He didn’t know why I wasn’t answering… but it was because I had no internet because I was waiting for 3 hours at the airport for the delayed flight he wasn’t on!  It was a mess. I had messaged him before I left “just in case” saying that if he did miss his flight to see if he could get one faster to Milan (where we would be stopping on a connection on the way to Nice) and that I could meet him at the train station.  I also told him that if I didn’t hear from him I’d meet him at baggage claim in Lugano—obviously I would never go to Milan without hearing from him first—but for some reason in his delirious/been up for a full 24 hours state of mind he wasn’t so sure and started to get really nervous himself that I wouldn’t be in Lugano when he arrived. Needless to say, when he arrived around 1:50 we were both extremely relieved to see each other on the opposite side of the arrivals exit.
      Our first stop was the train station to try and get our reservations and tickets switched.  I had found a later train but unfortunately for us the woman that I got to assist us at the train station DID NOT understand at all and we ended up giving up our request and accepting a train the next morning around 7:30—but not the entire ticket, just from Switzerland to Italy.  She INSISTED it was impossible to buy a ticket to somewhere in France from Lugano.  A few hours later (after the train I found for that day had left) we went back to a very friendly gentleman who sold us the ticket to France no questions asked!  I was so annoyed at that woman because I knew we could have been in Nice that night but she just continued to say “It is Impossible! There is no way you bought these tickets here, we cannot sell them, I’ve worked here for years!” -- funny because I bought them there the week before.
      The weather wasn’t so nice in Lugano that day—pretty rainy—so I just showed Eric around the Montarina and then we walked down to the bottom of the Venicular (we call it the fat girl train—you can take it up the hill instead of walking if you’re feeling lazy) and he enjoyed his first Doner Kebab—can’t get enough of those here they’re so delicious!

 After lunch we walked around by the lake and then back up to the Montarina to rest before dinner and get fully prepared for the next day.  For dinner I took Eric to our favorite spot, Quattro Sorrelle (Four sisters), for authentic Italian pizza.  

The owner was so friendly and funny as usual.  At the end of the day, I was actually pretty happy that Eric got to experience a little bit of my life in Lugano—a good thing that came from all our catastrophe with the original travel plans. 

       We caught the train the next morning early—around 7:30 and arrived in Nice around 2:30. During the trip, I introduced Eric to a few of our favorite European snacks—brie with apples and crackers and nutella with pretzels and peanut butter…deeelicious! 

 The last 3 hours were brutal because we were riding along the coast and it was such a beautiful day outside-- they weren't so bad for Eric though... he was a little sleepy :)

The French woman in our little train car and I shared a laugh over that little video... it went on

for a good 5 minutes before he woke up from our laughing :)

     We stored our bags at the train station and found out that we would have to be back to collect them by 6:45 (even though our train to Barcelona wasn’t until 8:00).  That gave us about 4 hours to explore Nice and then head back to the train station.  Our first stop was to try to find the hostel we were supposed to be in the night before so that we could try to convince them not to charge us for the night we didn’t show up and we needed a map.  WELL it would seem a blessing in disguise we never made it to that place… probably would have been the sketchiest of hostels yet.  It was down an alley with NO sign and the only notice was a push button to call to the floor of the building that it was on… once you were inside it was dark and there were still no signs to find the right entrance.  They also didn’t have ANY maps (what hostel doesn’t have a map… seriously?) and they only spoke French… suddenly I was even more happy to have spent the night in Lugano.  We made our way out then explored the streets of old town Nice with the semi-decent map I had printed off the internet (THANK GOD I did).  We got some gelato—caramel, nutella, and mint chocolate flavors—so yummy

Then we headed up a hill that led to some great panoramic views of the city and a really beautiful waterfall. 

Afterwards we headed down to walk along the beach.  Nice doesn’t have sandy beaches but rocks instead!  I had never been on a beach like that before.  The water was so clear and pretty and it was such a nice day outside, it was a perfect break in our travels.

After that we indulged in a delicious French dessert—Nutella and banana crepe.  Everything at the pastry shop looked so amazing but I knew the crepe would be a winner. Eric was already getting a taste of everything on this trip—French desserts, gelato, Italian pizza, doner kebabs (who knows where they originated in Europe, Germany maybe?) and Spanish food soon to come!

We walked along the streets some more and saw some of the plazas, then made our way to a restaurant my friends had recommended for an early dinner before heading back to the train station.  The restaurant was called L'Ecurie.  I got the lasagna and Eric had the ravioli, both were deeeelicious!

 

 

 

We took a little more time at dinner than we should have and ended up power walking (more like sprinting) back towards the train station to get our bags.  We made it just in time at 6:42.  It was dark outside by this point and we didn’t have a proper map so we decided it would be best not to stray from the train station with not too much time left so we sat down and relaxed until our overnight train to Barcelona at 8:00.

The overnight trains come with beds! There are 6 in each car--3 on each side.  We lucked out because we got the two on the top of each side, so we could sit up if we wanted... everyone else had to stay lying down the WHOLE time....

Nice was short but sweet!  I would love to go back to the French Riviera one day …. maybe when it’s warm enough to lay on the beach!!  It was definitely a beautiful area that I'd love to explore some more.