well, nice was nice, but "the dungeon", where i was staying, was not. it was rather fun though, i hung out with the iowa girl last night, and then headed back to the dungeon and met these two turkish guys, jon and levant, who were absolutely hillarious. we laughed about the dungeon, about how the ceilings were about 5 feet high, and how there was this big gooey moldy thing on the wall by my bed, and how if for some reason one of us didn't make it through the night well, nice meeting everyone. it was great. buuuut, i couldn't stay there much longer, my lungs were filled with too much mold after the 6 hours of sleeping that i spent there..
sooo, i packed up (the place actually had a wonderful breakfast, by hostel standards anyway), went to the matisse museum there in nice, then caught a train westward. i had no reservations anywhere, cause where i wanted to go, montpellier, wasn't in any of my books. nor on the internet really. but, i decided to wing it.
i role into town about 6, first goal, find a place to stay. i get to the tourist info place 5 minutes before it closes, and luckily they find me a place. the youth hostel was booked so i get a hotel room! with a double bed! i'm so excited, it need it after the dungeon.
out walking around, there's this large group of protesters, protesting something or another. i move by, cause i'm starving, and want a CROQUE MISSEUR!! mmmmm, one of THE BEST things about france. i polish that off in no time flat, and head back towards the main square, where the protest has grown larger, and the police are shooting people with MACE!! naturally i join in as they march on, clapping and chanting. its always been one of my life goals to be in a riot where there's tear gas, so i'm secretly hoping things will get out of control. alas, they don't. the police guide the whole group of a couple thousand people up to a park, where things disperse on their own. bummer. no tear gas. in talking to some people, it seems that this guy, jose bove, got jailed by the french gov't for destroying some GMO corn. thats what this was all about. aparently. eh, everybody's gotta have a cause.
so now i'm waiting around to hear from jim and vanessa, hopefully they're in town, i haven't heard from them in a couple of days.. if not, in a few days i'll pack up and go to barcelona. its nice here though. not the absolute hustle and bustle of nice. which is nice. man, i just can't get enough of that joke. haha.