Nice & Monaco

We arrived in Nice on Friday night around 9:30 pm. We got settled into the hostel before heading to Wayne’s Bar and Pompeii Bar for some live music.

Saturday we slept in a bit and headed the Monaco in the early afternoon. We went straight to the Monte Carlo Casino and I can officially say that I’ve gambled there. May have lost 5 euros… but it was worth it. It was beautiful, such an elegant casino. Then we headed to the beach. The water in Monaco and Nice is so blue and clear. After spending the afternoon walking around, we took the bus back to Nice and grabbed a nice dinner. Of course I got some tortellini in a mushroom cream sauce.

Monte Carlo Casino, super nice cars in front

In front of the casino

Fat Adam & Eve...?

Sunday morning we slept in a bit again and then headed to the outdoor market of Nice. It had a flower market with lots of beautiful flowers as well as other little trinkets. It had tons of olives and fruits, so I got some yummy strawberries. I miss fruit! There was also some amazing oil paintings on canvas, wish I could’ve bought one. After the market, we headed to the Nice beach. It was perfect timing because the carnivale parade was just getting started right where we were, so we got to stand there and watch it for free. Then we got lunch at a café along the water. I got a salad with warm goat cheese toast and bacon and ham.

Flower market

Unfortunately when we got out of lunch it started raining, even though it had been so nice out that morning. We headed back to the hostel to hang out for a few minutes before heading to the train station. We left Nice at 4:30 and got back to Lugano at 12:40 am. It was a perfect weekend after our ten-day trip. It was relaxing and cheap! 

Berlin, Germany

The last stop on our first ten-day trip was Berlin, Germany. It was a really neat way to end our trip. We arrived in Berlin on Valentine's Day (not a bad way to spend the day) so naturally we started our evening off with some V-Day cocktails.

After happy hour we headed to a local restaurant and I got the best schnitzel I have ever had. It was schnitzel cordon bleu in a creamy mushroom sauce. So good!

That night we went to a bar called White Trash which was a really cool bar, but we learned apparently people in Berlin don't really go out on Thursday nights. They do Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday- interesting! Also our DJ was a witch...

On Saturday morning we took a walking tour of Berlin. It was a bittt chilly, but a really interesting tour. We saw all the main spots of Berlin and learned a lot about its history. We even stood on the ground above where the bunker was that Hitler stayed and committed suicide.

 

The old Nazi headquarters. While taking this picture I was standing above Hitler's old bunker and where he committed suicide.

 
                     Checkpoint Charlie                                   Book Burning Memorial

Holocaust Memorial

Original Bratwurst & the profile of a German resistor who almost killed Hitler

Berlin Wall

After the tour we stopped for a quick lunch and I got goulash soup and a salad.

Then we headed to the Berlin Wall. So cool!

 

 

 


That night we had dinner at the restaurant attached to our hostel which ended up being amazing. I got the most delicious burger and fries- was craving some classic American food!

The next day I explored by myself a bit and went to Alexanderplatz and really got to know the train and metro stations. Then I took the overnight train home to Lugano and had all day Sunday to rest and recover!