Day trips

The past two days have been full of traveling and beautiful sights! On Friday, the photography class took a trip to Monte Carlo in Monaco.  The architecture and the view were breathtaking and you could feel the luxury in the air.  As we walked up to the casino from the train station, we passed many designer stores (Chanel, Gucci, and Hermes to name a few) and some ridiculous cars casually driving down the street.  The casino, built in the 1850s, is beautiful and I can see how it is tempting to gamblers from all around.  We couldn't go inside (since we're minors) but I'm sure it is equally amazing.  Although we didn't have much time and it was very hot out, we climbed up the old steps to le Palais Princier de Monaco and got an amazing 360 degree view of Monte Carlo.  We were just in time to see the changing of the guards as well! We had about 20 minutes up there to take some photos, get some ice cream (as we usually do), and take everything in. There were lots of Russians around, which I also thought was funny! When we got back to St. Laurent, we went back to our homestay families and spent the rest of the evening with them.  Our family's friend who teaches English came over and we got to talk to her in English for a little bit, but we mostly used her as a French-English dictionary.  It felt very French to socialize outside on the terrace until about 11:30! On Saturday we got to sleep in a bit and then took the train as a group to Cannes.  We had complete freedom all day (with check-ins every 2 or so hours) and most of us spent it at the beach, shopping, and eating more ice cream! My friends and I spent the first half of the day at the beach, swimming in the Mediterranean.  When we dried off and changed, we went to Rue d'Antibes--the street known for all the shopping (non designer of course!).  We walked into lots of shops to look around and most of us bought at least one thing, especially because there are sales in all stores in France right now.  The leaders got us pizza, fruit, and drinks for dinner on the beach and some more free time on the boardwalk.  Our trip home was nice because we were all tired and luckily got seats on the train.  Today we got to sleep in and in about 10 minutes we're leaving to the train station to go to St. Paul de Vence, a medieval village with a great view of the sea.  Photos coming soon!