What Happens in Monaco Stays in Monaco

I liked Monaco much better than Nice or Cannes.  It was super clean and nice, but I guess when your country's only population are wealthy people, that just happens naturally.  I tried to take some photos from the bus I was on as I rode into Monaco, but they mostly didn't turn out with things like trees or fences rushing by, or weird reflections off the bus window.  I got some MUCH better views later on, but didn't have a camera at that point.

I walked around the city a little bit before going to meet my friend for lunch on the beach and a drive around Monaco/France in his car.  I stopped by the Prince's Palace, which was nowhere near as cool as I thought it would be.  As a arrived at the casino, it was surprisingly super small, and I actually thought it was the opera house at first.  There were signs for the opera house right next to the signs for the casino, and me, being used to the Las Vegas casinos, just assumed this small and fancy building in front of me was the opera house.  Turns out it was the casino, and I'm not sure if I ever did see the opera house.  I ended my time in Monaco by going through their Christmas market, which oddly was the most delightful Christmas market for children of all of the markets that I have seen.  You don't really think of children when you think of Monaco, you mostly just think of James Bond or something like that.  But it turns out children do exist there, and they get treated to a most enchanting Christmas market.

Obviously the best part of the day was hanging out with my friend, enjoying fabulous conversation, listening to amazing music and riding in a convertible Porsche around some gorgeous countryside.  It was basically the only reason I was in Southern France to begin with, and it definitely made the whole trip well worth it!

Cannes

I liked Cannes better than Nice, but there still wasn't really anything to do.  I did spend the morning in a market, gathering goods for a nice French picnic, which was quite successful.  I saw interesting buildings, strolled along the beach, and saw the theater where they have the film festival every year.  The handprints were kind of cool, but there wasn't any celebrity there that I was too interested in.

And of course, ate more delicious food!

Nice is nice

Despite being in Southern France for 3 days, there wasn't a lot to do or take pictures of.  Don't get me wrong, there is some very gorgeous scenery which I tried to capture, but in general the area is a nice place to go to get a little sun and relax, preferably with a friend, because there isn't too much else to entertain you.

Flying in to Nice I was sitting on the wrong side of the plane.  Everyone on the other side got a great view of a spectacular sunrise over the Alps.  I heard everyone's camera's clicking for like 5 minutes straight.  Not to be left out, I took a picture myself of what I could see:

The first thing I did when I arrived in Nice and got into the city was go to the Chagall Museum, which I ADORED.  It wasn't very big, but what it did have was fantastic.  The focus of the museum was Chagall's biblical works, and included some fantastic stained glass that represent the 7 days of the creation and a bunch of fabulous Old Testament paintings.  My favorite painting was one where the angel stops Abraham from sacrificing his son Isaac.  In addition to the main scene, there is another scene showing a man carrying a cross.  While Chagall meant this to represent the struggles of the Jews, to me it was a stark reminder of the compassion of Heavenly Father who knew the pain of a Father who must sacrifice His Son, and how glad He must have been to give Abraham the joyful news that he wouldn't have to sacrifice Isaac after all, though there would be  no way to stop the sacrifice that the Savior would have to go through years later.  Another highlight was in the gift shop when I saw a plate depicting the dome of the Opera Garnier in Paris, my all time favorite building in the entire world.  Alas, it was a bit out of my price range, at 435 euros...

Later in the day I stopped by the Palais Massena, which was a "palace" given to a general in Napoleon's Army as a reward for doing something.  

I also swung by the Russian Orthodox Cathedral and the Opera house, and saw some lovely things on the way.  I ended the day by strolling on the beach during sunset, which was marvelous! 

And of course it isn't France if you're not eating delicious food!  This was socca on the left, like a garbanzo bean pancake, and on the right was petits farcis niçois.

Christmas Holiday 2013--An Overview

So this post is to provide a little summary and easier navigation for the later blog posts which will cover each step of my vacation a little more in detail.  So for my Christmas holiday this year, I spent 3 days in the Southern France area (in Nice, Cannes and Monaco), then went up to the Munich, Germany area for 3 days (Munich, Ludwig II Castles tour outside of Munich and the Frankfurt Temple, which is nowhere near Munich), and then I rounded the trip off with a couple days in Salzburg, Austria.  There were parts of this trip that were amazing and beautiful and gorgeous and unreal.  There were also parts that were annoying and tiring.  But I guess that happens with every vacation.  My overall thoughts are this:  Southern France is boring unless you are with a friend.  Salzburg is the most amazing place on earth.  Christmas markets are fabulous.  And the more I learned about crazy King Ludwig II, the more I'm convinced we would have been great friends.

So the more detailed blog post with endless photos are thus:
Nice is nice
Cannes
What Happens in Monaco Stays in Monaco
Meandering around Munich
The Wittelsbachs
Oberammergau and Oberndorf
The Castles Tour
The Hills Are Alive
Salzburg, Österreich
Mozart & Marionette
The Fortress


Here though are a few photos that didn't really fit into one of the above catagories, like the photos of the souvenirs I brought home.  The first one is all of the Christmas stuff I collected, the second the edibles goods, the third the books or postcards I bought, and the last is a picture of my Christmas tree in my dorm room in Oxford with my new ornaments on it!