Post #28: Vilefranche/Nice

Waiting to be called for our priority tender boarding.

On the tender.
View of the harbor.
The sun trying to burn through the clouds.
Getting out of Alain's van at the first stop.
Millennium at anchor (this is where she hit a rock with a propeller a couple of months ago)

Eze
Besides charm, if there is one thing Eze has its steps.
Nice jugs.
I guess the tree was there first...nah, could it be THAT old?
Interesting architecture.

What goes up must come down.
Our next overlook...trying to figure out where we are.
Nice panoramic views.
The scenic over-look above Nice.
Same basic shot, different zoom and angle.

Driving into Nice.
A singer in the flower market. She was VERY good.
Shopping.
The rocky beach.
Very aromatic spices.

Inside the beautiful church.
Another shot of the church.
Now we follow the signs to St. Paul de Vence (I think)
Piece of cake
Clearly

Now I REALLY feel at home...I like this place already!
Where we were unloaded at the Village.
Walking past the bocce court and fortress wall.
Our restaurant.

Another day in paradise...another bottle of house red and house white.

My shrimp were looking back at me.
The map of the village.
Cute place.
Different village, different jugs.
More narrow alley ways and shops.
Overlooking Monacco.

Wow.
Morty not missing a shot.

Scenic drive through 'town' down to sea level.
The casino in the background. We didn't even get out to take pictures.

The front of the Palace.
The Cathedral.
Beautiful inside.
The bodies at rest.

The drive back to the Vilefranche and the launch back to the ship.
The harbor from the launch dock.
The Millennium awaits.
The sun setting just before our sail-away.
The band awaits the arrival of our Baked Alaska.

The tension is mounting.
The excitement level rises.
Ta Da...Gede and Johnny deliver the goods!
Representative staff at the Captain's farewell in the Theatre.
The line-up for viewing the the Midnight Buffet, and examples of the artwork.

The Blog:
Up at 6:30
Tendering into port today
Meeting Alain at 8:30 for a tour
I arranged the tour for the four of us
Then Gerry and Marcia and Morty and Dorothy
From the Cruise Critic roll call joined us.
Got coffee from Aqua Café
Went back up later and got ‘real food’ from the Ocean Café
Daily news letter said to ignore ‘shore time’ and go by ship’s time
Did that mean our tour guide would be off by an hour?
Called Guest Relations…time is the same…so why the note? Oh well.
Rich and Lynn called and said they had priority tender passes…
Hey, we’re Concierge class too!
Called Guest Services again…delivered ours ASAP
Met at 8:00am, got on tender 10 min later, in port by 8:25
No Alain
Waited 10 minutes…getting concerned. Still no Alain.
Was the time really an issue?
Good old international cell phone came through again.
Called, he hit traffic and was running late…no problem
He was very apologetic.
We boarded and he started telling stuff about where we were,
And where we would be going…busy day.
We did a stop looking back over the bay and Millennium.
Our first ‘real’ stop was Eze. What a cute little town.
Not much there there, shops, restaurants and hotels (great views)
but it is amazing to think illages were built like that
(narrow roads…no, paths)
As a means of defense against marauders from the sea
NO, not sea monsters and dragons, PIRATES!
Then we went to the highest point in Vilefranche
And enjoyed the panoramic views.
Although maybe Marcia didn’t like the drive up too much ;-)
Then it was on to Nice.
Along the way Alain said that even though he has a website,
Almost all his business comes from Cruise Critic referrals.
We stopped for pictures along the way at a vantage point over the port.
Very scenic. Alain explained all about the history. Interesting.
We went to another scenic overlook and drove by Elton John’s house.
In Nice we drove around a little and then stopped at a famous flower market
It is too bad cameras can’t capture aromas.
The smells of the seasonings and spices was amazing.
And went into a lovely old church.
One of the most beautiful places we saw on the whole trip.
I walked across the street to get of picture of the rocky beach.
Then it was on to another Medieval village; St. Paul Vence,
Lunch at a cute place there; La Petite Chapelle
Pasta and wine and crème brule. The 4 of us split one. (darned good!)
Alain had planned to leave us in the village a while,
But we all decided that we had had enough old villages
Besides, this one seemed to be just a series of expensive shops
By now everyone was just about shopped out
(and I thought that could NEVER happen)
I called him and we moved on to Monacco.
Lots of history, stories and picture taking.
We decided not to go into casino…10E just to go in…and passport!
Got an overall tour of the area from the vehicle
Then stopped at the Palace and Cathedral
Where Prince Ranier and Princess Grace were married and buried
I left the others to go buy another pin for the hat (Monacco)
Then it was time to drive back to the ship.
Before boarding I stopped and bought yet another pin (France)
Only one to go (Barcelona/Spain)…time is FLYING.
I was fortunate to get one of the launches back to the ship with ‘roof top’ seating
Lots of pictures…and more fun than being stuck inside with the ‘peons’.
Final formal night…phew.
Everyone looked quite nice I might say…well, I guess I ‘did say’
Lobster and/or prime rib for dinner…some of us had both
Baked Alaska with lots of hoopla and napkin waving
Captain’s farewell in the theatre…
Then a musical show by the Ship’s singers…very talented group!
Hard to stay awake though after a long day and then eating and drinking!
Tonight was the mid-night buffet, so Rich and I went down for the 11:45 viewing.
What a crowd! I didn’t know food watching was such a sport.
But they do a VERY nice spread and it was quite beautiful!
Took lots of pictures…but did not touch!

As a post-script, I am going to recommend to Alain that he get
A head set that would allow his voice to go over the speakers of his van.
Other guides did that and it works well for the people sitting in the 3rd row.