Nice - Day 1 - Early Mornings, Flights and Wet Weather

After waking up at 2 o'clock in the morning to travel back to school, the excitement slowly built, in between the lack of sleep and nervousness of leaving my family behind for the week. I don't usually get nervous at this type of thing but, this time, it was different because I hadn't been away from my family for this long, for a long time.

We spent 2 hours on a coach to get to London Gatwick Airport, where the sky was still dark and our eyes squinting at the amount of noise. We walked through the airport, dropped our bags off and went through security, waiting impatiently for the food that awaited us in the main section of the terminal. An early breakfast was needed, but I didn't want a lot, so I had a fruit salad and an orange juice.

Then, it was time to get on the plane. Nerves built up inside me, as I have never been on a plane where I am not sat next to either my friend Maisie or my mum. However, once we got on, I relaxed and looked forward to the journey ahead. After waking myself up with an in-flight cup of tea, I was ready and eager to explore the new territory that we were about to land on.

It was beautiful. The horizon was pink and fluffy with clouds and the sea below was as blue as the sky that it was reflecting. However, getting out of the airport was a different matter.

As we left, luggage in hand and bags on our backs, the sky turned grey and a drop of water slid down my face. Brilliant. Rain.

However, it brightened up as we got on the coach and spirits were high, yet again. We took our bags inside of the hotel and left them, ready to walk the distance to the supermarket and then to the Matisse museum.

The moment we stepped outside, the heavens opened and everyone's umbrella popped up, except mine. My hood went up on my parker coat, which was not waterproof. We ran to the supermarket and bought a picnic to share between 4 of us. The, we had to walk for 40 minutes in the rain, up a hill, to get to an open park, which had a few trains and many puddles. There was little shelter, and my friends and I were lucky enough to get shelter under a big tree, which kept us dry for the length of our lunch.

We went to the Matisse museum a little while later and looked around for a bit. Me and two of my friends went and sat on a really nice sofa in front of a piece of artwork and laughed at the statues which were creatively named Janette 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5.

We then had to walk back the hotel, which took another 40 minutes and by the time we got back, I was able to ring the sleeves of my coat out and achieve a small puddle of water on the floor. We were able to have a shower and a couple of hours of free time to unpack and relax before a dinner of interesting French food.

The sleep was well needed after a 20 hour day, but we all looked forward to the next day, with new adventures and new places to explore!

Stay happy,
Katie xx