Opfuchueche

That is Swiss/German for apple flan. It was homemade by my stepmom's mother who is very Swiss...it was delicious! We made it back to England from Nice in one piece. My brother filled out his immigration card with his place of birth as "USA #1 !" and coincidentally the immigration officer totally messed with us. It sucked! Johnny claims his paperwork had nothing to do with the pissy attitude we got, but I kind of doubt it. We had dinner at The Raj, a tandoori restaurant. It was the best Indian food I have EVER had! The curry was amazing, and all of the other dishes had a "healthy" option which just meant that they added tons of garlic. I feel sorry for the people sitting next to us on the plane tomorrow!

Monaco

We decided to take the train to Monaco for lunch today. Its a unique place where if your car is worth less than 100k you are a total loser. The casinos in Monte-Carlo are surreal! The whole place is 1 1/4 square miles, the smallest state in europe after the Vatican. We headed back to Nice to join the locals for more soccer. The Spain vs. Russia match was pretty uneventful, but I was cheering for Spain and they killed it! I was able to scream "GOAL!" so the night was a success. I think its over...I'm turning into a "football" fan.

Marc Chagall...GOAL!!!

Today was pretty fun. My brother and sister forgot they hated each other and I was able to hear my own thoughts! We went to the Musee d' Art Moderne and the Musee d' Marc Chagall. Marc Chagall is clearly an artistic genius without question! We ate at China Park again for dinner...if you actually find something my sister likes it pays to just repeat. Johnny and I went out to the pubs and watched soccer with the rest of Nice. Germany won tonight, but I was cheering for Turkey. I was fun to yell "goal" with 50 other people! GOAL!!!

Day 11

It took 11 days of traveling with my family for a total and complete meltdown to occur. I needed this giant glass of wine at the end of my day. Without going into details, my brother and sister almost killed each other right on the promenade des anglais. People were staring, I wanted to hide. As I type this they are fighting over who is better, Obama or Hillary...hello?! Christ on a bike! I wish I had my own room!

My view

This is what my view looked like for most of the day. The other view I had was from about 50 feet in the air when Johnny and I went parasailing. The view alone was worth the 30 euro! Later we ate dinner at a place called China Park. The food was so good that I actually worked up the courage to try a piece of my brother's duck. I blocked all of the images of mallards and little ducklings out of my head and I just chewed. It was my first time and it might be my last.

Nice is nice

So far the French people have lived up to all of the stereotypes in every way. They are topless on the beach, rude to the loud Americans...too cool for school in general. This is our hotel and the cool thing is the French Ironman race is taking place right in front of us. Cheering the runners and cyclists on has been fun...I could eat bagettes on the beach all day. Its beautiful!

Buckingham surprise

We thought we would try and catch the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace, instead we stumbled upon a dramatic "pageant" celebrating the Territorial Army's 100 years of service. They drove past in vehicles from 1908-2008...some of the old Land Rovers were pretty cool. The rest of our day was spent shopping at the Portobello Market in Notting Hill (over-priced junk, good flowers and fruit), at Whole Foods (my Dad insisted, apparently its the largest Whole Foods in the world), and at Harrods (I insisted, and it was worth it!). Johnny got hit by a double-decker bus. He is fine, it just clipped his arm and left a bruise, but it was a close call. Au revoir London! Tomorrow we are off to Nice!