European Outtakes:

When one is snapping photos at seemingly every moment, it is inevitable that there will be some photographic duds. It is also inevitable that you capture some real candid gems...

Rather than have these moments collect dust within my iPhoto library, I have decided to let them see the light of day. I may regret this later. 

[Just doing some parkcore while hiking up the mountain over Nice. When the beau caught this moment so perfectly it sent us into giggle fits. I still laugh at this shot!]

[Keeping ones eyes open in direct sunlight for multiple photos can be taxing. Seriously.]

[Remember when we rode that ferris wheel in Nice? I neglected to reveal that I am terrified of heights and the moment we started to gain some real altitude I got the nervous giggles, big time. This was a child's ride, right? It hadn't crossed my mind that it would be terrifying!]

[Okay, this was the part where the nervous giggles turned into shrieking. Check out the death grip I have on that pole as well! I couldn't bring myself to let go for over half of the ride.]

[While in Monte Carlo the wind was out of control near the water. Here I am trying to get a handle on my hair for a photo op for a solid five minutes before my boyfriend was finally able to get a decent shot.]

[Still attempting to wrangle in my tresses...] 

[Oh look, I still can't get it under control.]

[JR would always have to wait for my to do a little self-styling for a picture... He got tired of this and opted to start snapping photos during this process on our way to Cannes. Here I am making my scarf just right...]

["Babe! I gotta put my sunglasses in my bag first!"]

[Lost in Parc Güell.]

[Candid frustration.]

[The wind strikes again!]

[Full disclosure, our last meal (at the airport, mind you) was none other than McDonalds. This honestly embarrasses me more than any of the former pictures! We just had to fill our bellies quickly and the smell of the french fries proved far too comforting to resist.]

Tomorrow, I share some of the highs and lows of our trip!

Monte Carlo:

A brisk walk to the Nice train station, some mild confusion, then two tickets later and we were off to Monte Carlo, Monaco for the day! The boyfriend is an avid Formula1 fan so he naturally loves this city in particular and wanted to show me its beauty... I happily obliged, especially since I could technically add another country to my list with just a simple day trip! 

The pure opulence of Monte Carlo was apparently the moment we began walking down the hill from the train station towards the bay. Pristine streets were lined with exotic cars and docked yachts rivaled the size of every apartment I have ever had in my life. The weather had grown to be rather warm by this time in the week, and we soaked it in by walking along the waterfront and eating lunch right next to the white sands...

On our own little walking tour of the tiny country we went through the tunnel that is an integral part of the Formula1 course which runs throughout the city every year, found a darling Japanese garden, and eventually stumbled out of the 2.5 mile long nation and back into France accidentally...

Once we made our way back into Monaco, we hoofed it on over to the Monte Carlo Casino and the world famous Hotel de Paris. We sat at the café opposite the hotel in the square and while the boyfriend did some car spotting, I did some handbag/shoe gazing! It was a win/win situation.

Afterwards, I did some shopping and then we walked back down towards the water to grab some dinner before catching the train back to Nice. We ohh-ed and ahh-ed at some more yachts, like this one with its own personal helicopter on the back of it along our way.

Getting back to Nice as the sun was almost done setting, the streets were rather calm since the shopping crowd had since called it a day and yet the dinner crowd had not yet emerged... Monte Carlo was beautiful, but we were glad to come back to familiar sights that evening and curl up into the same bed, so as to rest up for another day trip in the morning!

(In all actuality there was quite a raucous below our balcony every night at precisely 3:45 am due to the bars letting out their crowds. It woke me each time, but I have a feeling that I could get used to it if, per say, we just had to live in a place such as Nice...) 

Tomorrow, Cannes!

Europe Instagram (Part 1):

If you follow me on Twitter than you already know that I got in late last night from our trip to Europe! It was a complete whirlwind, and looking back through the photographs makes me smile so big, but there is much to do in the way of getting my life together today. Therefore, I figured that before I delve into the specifics of our adventures I would quickly share all of the Instagram photos I took throughout the week here...

{Barcelona, Spain}

{Nice, France}

{Monte Carlo, Monaco}

...to be continued...