I need to marry rich

DAY 18

Today we woke up the earliest we have in a while to hit the road to The French Riviera. We will be making stops in three different countries today which is pretty cool, if I do say so myself.And today, it finally happened... I had to repeat an outfit. After 18 days, it was time to re-wear a dress. Aaaahhhh! Oh the humanity!  I actually have a few others I haven't worn yet, but they are nicer and I don't want to stretch or sweat through them so repeating is my option. I think I'll survive though. At least they are clean from laundry. 

After breakfast, (yummy fresh ricotta for me again) we headed out to Pisa. We got there pretty early to beat the crowds and headed over to their Duomo and the famous Leaning Tower. It was pretty incredible to see in person. What wasn't so incredible was trying to get the perfect picture there. The sun was out right over the tower which made it rather difficult to get a non-dark photo. Eventually the sun got behind the tower and we were able to get some decent pics. It was extremely hard to get the perfect angle for the cliche holding-the-tower pic. After many many takes, I finally got one. Nothing great, but it'll do. 

In Italy, it is illegal to buy counterfeit goods on the street. There are even street signs saying just that. Just like in New York, there are many Nigerians selling fake purses, watches, etc... If you are found purchasing goods from these people you can be fined 200 euro. As we were walking back to the bus, I wanted a pair of plastic sunglasses. Each shop we passed didn't have ones I liked but when we got to the bus, a guy was selling them. I haggled him down from ten euro to three. He was really rushing me and I couldn't figure out why. He basically tossed me the glasses, took my money and ran away. So rude. Then I realized the plastic sunglasses were fake Ray-Bans (not just random plastic sunglasses) and the cops were coming up the street. I didn't even know the glasses were knock-offs,  I just liked the color. Neon (coral) of course. I could have gotten a ticket and had to pay a 200 euro fine for a stupid pair of $5 glasses. That freaked me out a bit. But thank god the cops didn't see and I wasn't fined. Sigh. Phew.

After an hour or so in Pisa, it was on the road again. The drive was along the Italian Riviera which was super beautiful. I had never seen the Mediterranean Sea up until this point in my life. Tomorrow I hope to swim in it! We also drove through the mountains through ?? tunnels. So many tunnels. We stopped at our last Italian truck stop for a late lunch and continued to Monte Carlo, Monaco. (Monaco is the smallest country in the world only second to Vatican City. I've now been to both. How about that?!?) 

We had about an hour and a half in Monte Carlo on our own. This is a town of major bucks and luxury. Serious money here. Serious. The first thing I did was head to the Grand Casino. Parked out front was a ridiculous amount of luxury cars: Ferraris, Lambos, Bentleys, Maserati's, etc... Holy shit, it must be nice to have money like that. I need to marry rich!! At the Casino, I figured I'd throw down a few euro and play some slots and blackjack but in order to enter the casino you had to check your camera and phone. I was not going to do that. I have two and a half weeks of pics in there and didn't want to risk it. So with the free time, I wandered down by the water and scoped out the amazing, enormous yachts. It reminded me of a Jay-Z or Diddy video. My oh my! I'm just going to go ahead and say it again: I need to marry rich. 

Down at the water, I decided I must put my feet in the water. And so I did. The sand here isn't sand at all, but little. Certainly not something I have seen before. The water was very calm and pretty warm and it felt great. Soon enough, it was time to head back to the bus and head to our hotel in Nice. 

The hotel is right on the Mediterranean and has a roof deck pool and bar. (And my room is enourmous and soooo nice yet again!) We had a mini happy hour on the roof deck when we arrived. And after yet another 90 degree day of walking around and sweating, I of course, put my suit on and got right in the pool. There was actually a group of American men in the pool from LA, NYC, and Chi. I chatted with them most of the evening until the pool closed and then I headed down to the beach with some people in my group and drank. A lot. Prob the most I have drank this whole trip. It was gorge to see the sunset as we were on the beach of the French Riviera. Totally unreal. There also happened to be fireworks going off down the beach too. It was awesome! I even peed in the Mediterranean twice. Yup. And it was a free pee.Yes! After that, I went up to the bar with some people in my group and then headed to bed. I had a liquid dinner tonight which prob isn't the smartest thing, but it is what it is. I am going to drink a ton of water before bed so I can hopefully not be hungover in the a.m. and run along the beach when I get up. Fingers crossed. It's absolutely beyond beautiful here and I want to take full advantage of the free day (including no wake up call) tomorrow. Can't wait!