I just arrived at my Hostel in Nice and it seems to be pretty awesome. Free internet access is certainly a plus. I can't remember exactly where I left off, so I repeat something I've already said I apologize.
We went to Vence to see the Matisse Chapel, among other things, and were very dismayed when we found to be apparently closed. However, nosiness and a good old aggressive American spirit helped us for once and we learned that the Chapel was, in fact opening in two hours. We decided to act like the French and... eat. My dad claimed to remember going to an amazing hotel for the best meal he has ever had in Vence so we set off to find the Relais et Chateau (sp?) he thought he remembered. After countless loops around a small part of town, we ended up finding a Relais et Chateau hotel, but we weren't sure if it was the correct one. Needless to say, my parents debated over whether in fact this was the one and ultimately they agreed that mother was correct and it was not the one they were thinking of. For those of you who are unaware of what a Relais et Chateau is (like i was about a day and a half ago) it's a designation given to small, unique inns. It's a way for non-chain hotels to compete with bigger ones. All of the Relais et Chateaus are pretty incredible and all very special. Although the one we went to wasn't the one my parents were thinking of, it was still pretty incredible and the four of us had a nice, quiet lunch.
We returned to the Matisse Chapel after lunch and it was really breath taking in an extremely simple way. It was very cool to see the Chapel after looking at Matisse's studies in the Matisse Museum. (For anyone going to Nice, I highly suggest going to the museum and then the chapel). I'm going to try and go to mass tomorrow at the Chapel to see the robes and the rest of the stuff Matisse designed in action. It's pretty inspiring though to see one man's vision outlined and then actually produced. He really used simplicity brilliantly.
Next stop was St. Paul du Vence which was very nice but much like every other old town in southern France. My parents remember it differently but who knows. Still there was a lot of cool art throughout the streets and it was certainly worth going.
I'm gonna gloss over some stuff that isn't super interesting unless you were there because this is starting to get long and there's a lot left. We walked this trail to a good view of Nice. Went to dinner at a very local seeming restaurant that only let us in because dad spoke French (so we thought). Afterwards we went to this unbelievable gelatto shop with, if I remember correctly, 96 flavors. They had flavors ranging from cactus and corona beer to simple chocolate. All ice cream, of course. If I'm in the area I might get a beer flavored one (now that my parents are gone) just because I'm unbelievably curious.
My dad and I then ventured once again to the casinos, this time hoping to try some roulette or blackjack. We once again had some issues since we weren't allowed into the gaming room with shorts on. We were quite determined to make back some money so we got a cab back to the hotel and changed. On our second try, we got in. My dad had them checking his ID while i walked in quickly, so they wouldn't notice my sneakers weren't shoes. We got 25 euros converted in chips and then we learned that the minimum for blackjack was 20 euros a hand. We tried our luck at roulette which was just 5 euros and won once but then lost twice. With 20 euros left, we played a hand of blackjack... and lost. Tears. We were very distraut, but decided to try the other casino where the minimum might be less. Here it was 10 euros. Well... we'll skip to the good part where I was walking out with 85 euros more than when I came in. Ba da boom! How do you like 'dem apples? It was one am though so we went to sleep.
Today mom, dad and lily left and I went down to get my train ticket to go to Florence but was upset to find that, like yesterday, the Italian reservation system was completely shut down... great. Hopefully I'll be able to get a ticket later today or tomorrow. Oh yeah, in hindsight... don't forget your map. Things take longer when you get lost, in case you didn't know.
I have now made the long trek with my huge backpack to my hostel which is somewhat removed. The people here seem very nice. They live in Nice afterall. HAH! Jk LOL. Being alone is strange... liberating, but lonely. Very weird. I'll let you all know what I think of it more later. It is a bit of rush though. Anyway, there's an advertisement for a Chinese speaker and something about a free night here if you help them out so I'm gonna go and inquire about that. I'll let you know how it goes.
You can't imagine how gratifying it is to have some comments and it's great to hear from you so keep them coming. Even if you have nothing to say... the occassional "Sounds like you're having fun!" is much appreciated. At least this way we know people are reading.
Keep it real,

Charlie