France - Èze Village

This village is very close to Nice by car, but I think it's quite difficult to reach by public transport.

The parking area is pretty limited, so it might take quite some time on a nice, sunny day to find a spot. You might have to wait for around 15-30 minutes, depending on your luck. I also saw a couple of coaches nearby the parking area.

Èze Village is located up on a hill, so be prepared for a little hike. The village itself is like a little maze comprising of buildings with stone walls and ceilings. It really gives 'medieval' feeling, although I don't really know how it feels like to live in medieval age. Oh, but don't expect to see knights in armors and stuffs like that ;)

Various crafts and antiques are sold in this village. If you are a collector, you would probably be interested in looking at some of the paintings or sculptures. Even if you don't buy them, they're still nice to look at.

There is a famous 2-star Michelin restaurant called Chateau Eza, although it's impossible to get a seat unless you have a reservation. There are various restaurants and taverns within the village, and although you can find dishes around 12-15 euros for lunch, the bigger restaurants are pretty costly. If you are on a tight budget, I suggest getting lunch somewhere else, or you could try some restaurants at the foot of the hill, close to the parking area.

The view from the hill is splendid: the Mediterranean Sea.

It was rather gloomy, but I think when the weather is better, the sea would appear much more blue than it looked on the photo.

Since we could not go to Chateau Eza, we went to Chevre d'Or, a hotel and also a 2-star Michelin restaurant.

I don't think I've ever been to a Michelin-star restaurant. A two-star Michelin, to boost. 

As one could expect, the food was extraordinary. The starter, crispy soft-boiled egg, was mind-blowing. You can look up for its recipe on Google, but I don't know if the execution will be easy. This is something I'd like to try when I'm back at my apartment after this trip. The duck breast was okay, and I didn't quite like it, sad to say. The meat was a little tough (maybe I should have ordered medium instead of medium-well), and the sauce is just not to my liking. It's sweet and it's just... weird on my tongue. Maybe someone else will find this delicious, but it was a little bit disappointing for me.

By the way, it's interesting that female guests at the restaurant can't see the prices of the menu; only the gentlemen see them. It's nice that the restaurant gives a hint on who should be paying for the meal, but I'd like to know the price before I order something, so I don't really appreciate it. I mean, it's just nice to know how much you are paying for what you are eating. 

We didn't take too long exploring the village; it's not a very big village, and it's quite exhausting to climb up and down the hill. It's a really unique experience, and I think the whole setting is pretty cool. I'd recommend people to visit this village, although I probably won't come for the second time just because it's rather far and I don't have a driver's license that is valid in Europe. I don't understand why getting a license will cost you at least 800 Euros. Even though you know how to drive, you're forced to take a number of driving lessons before taking the test. I heard the test itself costs 200 Euros, and if you fail... you'll have to pay again. I got my license in the United States for only... 20 USD? Or 30, at most, including the written test and the practical test. I failed once because I was not used to drive a car with the steering wheel on the left side, I didn't have to pay again for the second practical test (in which I finally passed).

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France - Nice

This post is not about how nice France is. Nice is a city in southern part of France, and if you want to know how it should be pronounced, visit my good friend Wikipedia. It's like the Miami of France.

We stayed at Promenade des Anglais (or the Promenade of the English), facing the Mediterranean Sea.

The beach was very beautiful. There was no sand, but smooth, round stones that seemed to be polished by nature. The weather was very beautiful when we visited; not too hot, not too cold. I could wear a T-shirt with short sleeves with no problem in mid-October, and this would be impossible in the Netherlands. At least for me.

We took a touristic train called Le Petit Train de Nice from Promenade de Anglais that lasts for about 45 minutes in a loop.

We explored a lot of the touristic sites of Nice. The train ride was smooth and there was an audio guide in 8 different languages. What we didn't expect was that the traffic in Nice was quite heavy in the afternoon. Sometimes, I felt like exploring Nice on foot might have been faster. But in the end, it wasn't that bad.

Palance of Justice

One of the advantages of riding the train is that you save the energy and the time climbing the Castle Hill. You have 10 minutes at the top of the hill before the touristic train leaves, and it might seem to be quite short, but actually we managed to take good photos and also buy souvenirs :)

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Vatican City - St. Peter's Basilica

When you're in Rome, might as well visit Vatican City's St. Peter's Basilica. Now, the last time I took geography was when I was in the fourth year of secondary school, and that is roughly about 8 years ago. My good friend Wikipedia said that Vatican City is an independent state. It is not to be confused with The Holy See, although to be honest, I don't even know what or where The Holy See is. All I understand, from this trip, is that if you want to post a postcard using a stamp bought from Vatican City, you cannot post them from Rome.

I think it's true that the older you grow, the more specific your knowledge becomes (in my case, I become more focused with food technology knowledge), and the less you understand about the world.

Anyways, the queue to enter St. Peter's Basilica is always long no matter what time you go. It took us about half an hour to pass through the security gate.

Be warned that you cannot wear anything sleeveless or anything that shows too much of your legs (i.e. mini skirts). If you want to wear them, make sure you have something to cover those parts up, like a scarf or a jacket. You are not allowed to enter without "proper" clothings. This wouldn't be a problem in winter, though.

After the security check, you can choose to enter the main hall or the Cupola (Dome). We thought of going to the dome first, but there was quite a long line and the staff carefully regulates the visitors so it would not be overcrowded.

With very tall ceilings, St. Peter's Basilica was really grandiose and majestic. A lot of the decorations are covered in gold, and I started to wonder if these were sold in black markets or in auctions, and the money goes to charity, how many starved people can be saved. But that's just my wishful thinking. And anyways, feeding them once or twice doesn't really mean saving them if they can't make their own living in the end.

To the right of the entrance lies a golden cross. I'm not sure what the significance is, but many people were queuing to touch the base of the cross.

There are multiple chapels surrounding the main hall of St. Peter's Basilica.

There's also the famous bronze statue of St. Peter, and it was believed that touching its right foot is the same as asking St. Peter to be merciful and open the gates of heaven for you when you die. I'm not a big fan of this kind of superstition because this is like saying that you can be forgiven when you touch a bronze statue. Might as well make a bronze statue of my favorite anime character and keep touching its foot to make me feel safer (and that actually sounds a bit like a gross hobby).

I'd say that you'd spend at least an hour to explore the magnificent sculptures and decorations of St. Peter's Basilica. If you're into details, then expect a much longer visit, because there is also the treasury to see (there is an entrance fee to it).

We finally decided to go up the Cupola of St. Peter's Basilica because I don't think we are going to be back here again in near future. Going up by stairs costs you 5 euros (551 steps), and going by lift + the stairs costs you 7 Euros (320 steps). We chose the one with the elevator.

Even though the number of stairs has been cut by roughly 200 steps, it was still quite a challenge, especially when you have a heavy bag to carry.

The steps are rather tiny, and there were not that many places to rest. I guess in the end it wasn't so bad, but remember that you'll have to climb down 551 steps to exit the dome.

So what's upstairs?

A closer look at the mosaics. There is only one circular platform to walk around before you go back downstairs. I personally think it's not really worth the effort. You'd probably spend about 15-20 minutes up there, gazing at the ceiling...

... or looking down at people down there, thinking "oh, so I was there; look at how tiny everyone is!"

And that's it. Oh, okay, I lied. You can see more things from the top of the Dome. After this scenery, you'll be climbing more stairs (yay!) to see Vatican City and Rome from above.

It's quite a scenic view, although it's a little bit crowded. I can imagine that there would be quite a number of people who were tired from climbing the stairs, decided to take a little breather and enjoy the scenery earned with a lot of effort before going down again. Myself included, of course.


Upon leaving the Basilica, I saw these guards in very, very flashy uniform. It's so eye-striking and I start to wonder why they would make the guards so visible. I mean, if you compare it to the modern-day guards (not necessarily in black suits), they are way too flashy.

Although I must say that I love the color combination. It reminds me of my old secondary school colors, minus the red.

On the way out, don't forget to see the statue of St. Peter holding the keys to the gates of heaven. If you believe in it, or if you love statues, or if you are a tourist and you won't be back here in a while.

Close to St. Peter's Basilica is a rather famous gelato shop called the Old Bridge Gelateria.

It's not as good as I thought it would be. It's a little bit too sweet for me. It's definitely not the best gelato I've ever had, but it's better than the gelato sold on the trucks near touristic sites of Rome.

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Italy - Rome part 2

Exploring Rome in 1 day definitely not enough. Well, it depends on your stamina, and how tired you are willing to be at the end of the trip. I have to be back at work on Monday, so I can't go all out. 

The second day was started with spaghetti carbonara, a dish classic to Rome. 

It's definitely very different from any pasta carbonara I have ever tried in the United States and in Asia. The pasta is definitely more dry; no cream was used. It was delicious.

We then headed to the Scalinata della Trinita dei Monti or the Spanish Steps using the Metro, stopping at Spagna. It was worth the hike up the flights of stairs. According to Wikipedia, the Scalinata is the widest staircase in Europe.

When you reached the top, you could enter the Trinita dei Monti church. The church was not very big, but it doesn't hurt to feel the serenity of the interior.

The Pantheon is located not too far from the Spanish Steps. It's also very close to Trevi Fountain, although we did not go there on the first day because it was closed by the time we were done taking pictures of Trevi Fountain after sunset.

The exterior of Pantheon does not really tell that it is a church. At least to me, it doesn't look like a church.

It actually is a church. More accurately, it is also called the Basilica of St. Mary and the Martyrs. Ho
 

However, what I found very interesting was not the fact that it is a church. The circular shape of the church is already unique enough. Well, I'd say the most striking feature of this church is the dome.

They look LAN ports in circular arrangements directly from below. Well, of course that's not the first thing I noticed. The hole in the middle of the dome allows sunlight to enter the church, acting like a natural spotlight shining on the heart of the building (you can also imagine Mr. Bean falling from there - if you have watched the original Mr. Bean series before). It was a really interesting design. For one time, I was curious if the hole is covered by a glass. Logically, it would be (otherwise, it's gonna be fun when it rains).

Rome is really beautiful. It's a shame that I know some people would visit Rome just to take picture of the Colosseum and not even knowing what it is called. No, they're not fifth graders. They're proper, rich adults.

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