Before going to Nice, France this past summer with school for a couple of weeks, a majority of my time spent exploring Europe had been over Pinterest. I have been fortunate enough to travel to Italy and London with my family in the past and even live in England for a few months (I was four though, so I do not count that experience unless I need to share a fun fact), but I still felt like I needed to see more. Luckily, this past summer, I did.

Out of my six weeks in Nice, I managed to go four places outside of the French Riviera. I had some very busy weekends.

Here’s the lowdown on the places I traveled to during my brief European stint:

Marseille

The first place I traveled to with two friends was Marseille! I’m pretty sure it was Pinterest that drew me into this place as well as the fact that it was a somewhat short and cheap train ride away. Because our train was delayed in certain areas, we arrived in Marseille in the early evening and made a beeline to our amazing hostel only a short walk away from the port. Our night in Marseille was great, at least for me. I loved walking by the water as well as through parts of the city. While the architecture in Nice is largely Italian, Marseille was mainly French, so I was excited to get a sneak peek of what Paris would look like. On Saturday, our morning and a chunk of the afternoon was also spent in Marseille. After eating breakfast at our hostel, we headed to Marseille’s Notre Dame, which was gorgeous both inside and with the surrounding views. From there, we made our long trek to the Natural History museum. I am not all that interested in natural history, but the architecture for the museum more than made up for that. The only bad thing about Marseille was that I couldn’t spend more time, especially after seeing some of the Calanques from a distance!

Aix-en-Provence

Next up on our weekend itinerary: Aix. Unlike Marseille, Aix is a relatively small city; it’s a university town. Although there was not much to see as Marseille, Aix was still a nice place to stroll around the narrow streets along with visit their impressive art museum!

Milan

The next weekend, I traveled to Milan with two friends by train. It was a long and somewhat interesting train ride, but eventually we made it to Milan in the early evening. PSA about Italy in general: Unlike France, you cannot purchase a bus ticket at the stops or on the bus. We were unaware of this fact, but luckily the men checking tickets were kind. I wasn’t expecting too much from Milan, but it was great! There was plenty to eat and we had a great hotel with a very kind manager. In that weekend, I’m pretty sure we hit all the highlights: DaVinci’s Last Supper, the Milan Cathedral, and several museums. Another PSA: Ticket Italy is not a good place to purchase tickets and take a tour. We were better off just going to the site early and purchasing tickets.

Paris

I couldn’t come to Nice and not go to Paris, right? Like Milan, Paris was a good weekend. Our hostel was decent (nice building, not-so-great area but near a metro station) and we saw a ton of sites. Since I’m going back to Paris for my Winter Term, I didn’t force myself to go to everything, but I did make it to the top of the Arc de Triomphe as well as the Musee d'Orsay. I also saw the inside of the opera house and the eiffel tower while it was sparkling!

Avignon/Plateau De Valensole

My last trip outside the French Riviera was Avignon with a long detour to the Plateau De Valensole to see the lavender. I wish my family was able to stay in the Provence region longer, but our flight home was the next day, so we just drove to these places. The lavender was beautiful and smelled great and Avignon was pretty too! We really just walked around in both of these places, but I thought it was a good day overall.