Kerry and Kristin's trip to Europe

Today was yet another long, and sunshine filled day in beautiful Nice...and marks a milestone in our trip -- we're more than 2/3rds done! We got off to a bit of a late start, and headed out of the hostel shortly after noon. We walked down to the bus stop to catch a bus to the train station. Two buses later (because we missed our stop the first time) we hopped on the train to the lovely medieval town of Antibes. From the train station, we walked to the yacht harbour and along the ancient sea walls to the fisherman's port. After walking through the large arch entrance, we walked through many covered fruit markets and outdoor cafes. We didn't spend much time here though because we were eager to get back on the train and head 10 minutes further to Cannes.
For those of you who don't know, the world-renowned Cannes Film Festival is happening right now. What an experience that was! It happens each May, and is attended by many well known celebrities. We arrived a bit late, but were able to catch the last part of the Red Carpet entrances. We caught glimpses of Michael Moore, the mom from Little Miss Sunshine, and Andie Mcdowell. However, we're hoping to go again at some point and maybe get some pictures of some bigger stars.
We left Cannes mid-evening, and arrived back at the hostel shortly before 10pm. After ordering another 5 Euro pizza, we sat around and visited some more -- the hostel has a great big common space which is awesome for meeting people. Hope all is going well back home. We're looking forward to seeing all of you in less than 10 days!
Love Kare & Kristin

P.S. Because our picture files are so large, we've exceeded the allotted space for uploads aka, we won't be able to put up any more pictures. Sooo, you'll just have to wait in anticipation to see them all when we get back! Sorry!

So today was our first full-sunshine-filled day in Nice!
After having breakfast here at the hostel, we got ready to head out, not quite sure of where we were going. The staff at the hostel are absolutely incredible -- by far the most friendly, accommodating, and helpful we've come across yet. They supplied us with several maps, concise directions to and from popular destinations and gave us lots of useful tips. As we were heading out to catch the bus, we met two girls from Calgary who were heading out to a secluded beach, known as Cap D'ail , so we decided to tag along with them. What a great decision!
2 buses, a lot of stairs, and just over an hour later, we arrived here:

It was stunning. The cove is not known by a lot of tourists, and it is mostly locals who visit. But thanks to the tips of our hostel staff, we were able to enjoy a beautiful, and significantly less crowded beach! We spent the afternoon there, soaking up the sun, taking periodic breaks of swimming in the mild-yet-refreshing Meditteranean Sea.

We returned around dinner time, ordered a 5 Euro pizza (which they offer every night at the hostel), and enjoyed the rest of the night relaxing and hanging out with other travellers. All said and done, our first day in Nice was a great one!

Today was yet another travel day for us.
We woke up early, checked out of our hotel, and caught a morning train to Nice, By way of Marseille. We spent cumulatively about 6 hours on trains today, not counting the waiting time spent in stations. To our delight however, the sun was shining and the weather was warm when we arrived in Nice. We were able to get directions to our hostel, and upon our arrival in Saint Maurice Square, we were picked up by workers from the place we're staying.
Villa Sainte Exupery is wonderful! The atmosphere is really laid back, and everyone seems really friendly. Through a series of mix-ups however, they had over booked the hostel and just for the one night, Kristin and I would have to stay in the storage room. Iranoy of it being? the fact that it was still nicer than some of the other places we've stayed!
Once settled in, we went for a walk in the surrounding area, but being the eveing, most things were closed. The view was amazing though, as our hostel is nestled at the top of a hill looking down on the rest of Nice. We haven't seen much of it yet, but from what we have seen, we are in love with Nice!
Talk to you soon!
Love Krisitn and Kerry.

So there really isn't very much to say about today. We woke up this morning, went downstairs to get our breakfast and set off for what we thought would be a day of sightseeing, but soon discovered that because it was a holiday, nothing was open. So Beside wandering around the local area, there isn't much to say about today.

Oh...except that we hate rain.

Miss you all!
Love Kristin and Kare.

So in the spirit pf true adventure travellers, Krisitn and I decided this morning that we we're going to Lyon, about 3hours south of Paris. After packing our bags, we made our way to the closest Metro and took it all the way to the Main train station, Gare de Lyon. What Krisitn and I had failed to realize was that this upcomming weekend was a long weekend for the people of France, so without prior reservations, the trains to Lyon for the next three days were all booked up. We did however get a bit of sympathy from the man in the ticket booth, who said that we should try just standing on the platform and asking the conductor to let us on for stnading room. I t was a long shot, but he said that the fact that we were canadian could earn us a decent chance at getting on. So the train stops and after whipping out every bit of my acting ability (really glad we learned to cry on command in theatre this year!), we were safely on the train and on our way to Lyon. Upon our arrival however we faced a new challenge, the fact that no one seemed to have heard of our hostel or have any idea how to get there. After asking a number of people and walking back and forth through the rain, Krisitn and I decided it would be for the best just to check into the nearest hostel or Hotel we could find and call to cancel our reservations at the other one. After finding one and checking in, we called our original hostel, only to find that our reservation didn't go through and we wouldn't have had a place to stay anyways! Lucky day for us!
Tired from a long day of travelling, we went out to grab a bite to eat and spent the evening upacking, and enjoying our private room and full size bath tub to the fullest extent!
Talk to you soon!
Love Kristin and Kerry.