Froliciing on the French Rivera

Monte Carlo
May 1, 2009
3:40 PM

Magnificent Day in Monaco. Temperature is about 77, the sun is shining and I am sitting out on the Veranda looking across a harbor full of Yachts. The Gran Casino shows just over the top of my computer screen about 300 yards across the water up on the higher ground. The panoramic view is quite attractive and a small sail boat and a power boat a gliding by our great ship down below our 6th deck vantage point.

Today we frolicked on the French Rivera. We had a half day excursion that left about 8:30 PM on a bus for the tour called Nice and Eze and it was nice and easy (which is not how you pronounce the cities). Our guide was a pleasant Italian lady (the tour company ran out of French guides). Today with 4 or 5 different tours they took 21 bus loads (nearly 800) of passengers of the ship. The difficulty is that everyone is trying to eat at same time both for breakfast and for lunch since most tours were back for lunch around the same time (1 PM).

Today is May 1 and it is a holiday in this part of the world they called it Labor Day in Italy and a bank holiday here in Monaco. That means at 8:30 AM there was little traffic as no one was working and no stores other than souvenir stands were open so we zipped over to Nice in France in about an hour. Nice is also on the Med so we followed the sea road around and the views were terrific. The bus dropped us right on the beach near a commercial area known as “the flower market” We had an hour to browse the flowers the vegetable and other artisan stands …..An open air market in other words. We did a little shopping and snapped a lot of photos. The area were in was the “old town” which was the part of Nice the Sardinian king ceded to France in 1860 to pay off for help in a previous war. Just above this area was the French part of Nice for always. What happened was that the Greeks originally settled near the coast and the Romans more up the hills. Amazingly we could see Mountains (Alps) with fresh snow from last Monday on them and we also saw people in water and in bikinis on the Mediterranean.

Our second bus stop was a medieval village called Eze. To reach it we had to climb up a very steep path to a walled in town with stone walls, narrow stone streets, and stone living quarters and shops. Since it was so steep Lyle decided to sit and wait for us. The other three of us had about an hour in the village. Again great photo opportunities were presented as there were gardens and the spring flowers are very pretty.

On the way back to Monaco, about 5 miles, the bus stopped and we were able to snap a photo of the royal place from above. Prince Albert is not here as the flag is not flying but shortly a lot of the world will be here in Monte Carlo as the scaffolding and other preparations are moving forward for the Gran Prix of Monte Carlo---a world event for Formula 1 cars.

After a quick change of clothes and a little lunch we were off the see Monaco and the Gran Casino. You must be dressed with no caps or shorts for the Casino and we heard it cost 10 euros to enter. Since it is a 40 minute walk around the harbor and up hill we took a taxi over for 12 euros. After taking pictures we went inside and had to check our cameras. We found there was a room off the vestibule where there were slots and you did not have to pay and present a passport. We did not have a lot of time so we played the slots (draw poker) Lyle won .80 euros and I lost 1.80 euros. Charlotte and I then walked back to the ship as it is a beautiful day and it was downhill. Just as we entered the dock area Marlene and Lyle were getting out of a cab (which cost 17 euros for the return but they were able to share with 2 other passengers.

At the moment we are trying to decide whether to go to a French themed dinner at the pool early or attend out normal dining. Regardless I believe we will drink some champagne and maybe a little wine before the comedy show and dinner. Life on the Rivera is just fine…. now where did I leave my Ferrari or was it the Bentley? There are over 300 Ferraris registered in Monaco and about 50 Bentley in a town half the size of Central Park and with only 32,000 people…Cost for new construction is 50,000 per square meter…………so I guess I will have to settle for my little seaside home in NC which is quite a bargain by comparison. Bon jour