Cruise Day 10 - Villefranche

Hello everyone … It is day 10 and today we are in Villefranche. Today’s tour is Nice and Monaco! The day started a little later than usual, at 9:00 am. We met in the Studio Sea and were assigned to bus 23. Today was a tender day, like in La Spezia, but the ride to shore was shorter. Once on shore, we had a short walk to our bus.

Our bus made its way to our first stop, Nice, named after the Greek Goddess of Victory, Nike. On the way, our tour guide pointed out the villas of Elton John and Bill Gates. She said that Bill Gates paid 90 million Euros for his villa and hardly ever stays there (must be nice). The villa was beautiful from our angle, and I could see why it cost so much. When we got to Nice we had an hour to visit. The guide took some of the guests to the antique market, but Kirstyn and I decided to tour on our own. We bought souvenirs and discovered a new alternative to Dippin’ Dots. It’s called something Shots and is more like popsicles versus ice cream. It was really good. We next visited this beautiful fountain that resembled a geyser. It kept shooting water up in the air. When you were up close you got a really cool spray. It was over 30 Celsius today, or about 90 Fahrenheit.

We then boarded the bus in Nice and headed over to Eze for lunch. Lunch was good; it consisted of Nicoisse salad (with tuna and egg), chicken and ice cream. All in all the meal was very tasty. Eze is a beautiful little town, but we only got to see the restaurant.

We then boarded the bus and headed to Monaco. What a difference when you enter Monaco. The first thing we noticed was the lack of graffiti. In Monaco, only people who live there can drive there. Everyone else has to park their car and take the escalator, elevator and escalator up to the top. We walked past the Oceanographer’s museum; saw Jacques Cousteau’s submarine, then walked to ward’s the cathedral. On the way to the cathedral, we passed Princess Caroline’s house and Princess Stephanie’s house. Princess Caroline was home, as there was a guard in front of her home, and Stephanie has since moved, so it is not her real home anymore. In the cathedral, we got to see the tombs of Princess Grace and Prince Rainier. Oh yeah, at some point, the tour guide showed us the spot where the accident occurred that Princess Grace died from. Just thought I would add that morbid detail.

After the Cathedral, we made our way to the palace where Prince Albert lives. He was in residence, as the flag was flying. We had 20 minutes free time, then got to see the change of the guard (note the singular use of the word guard, unlike Buckingham Palace). We then boarded the bus and made our way to Monte Carlo. On the way, we saw sections of the road used for the big Monte Carlo car race. Sorry but racing is not my thing and I can’t remember what the race is called. We next made our way to the Grand Casino. What a beautiful sights. There were Ferrari’s, Bentley’s, Gucci’s, Cartier, and, oh yeah, the casino. We had a half hour to explore. Some went in the Grand Casino, but Kirstyn and I strolled, then I entered the smaller casino. I bet 10 Euros at this Monopoly slot machine and won 63. Not bad for someone who had no idea what they were doing. Kirstyn was waiting outside for me, as you have to be 18 to enter, so I took my winnings and went shopping.

We next met at this café for Ice Cream before heading back to the ship. The Ice Cream was fantastic. Some of the best I’ve ever had. My favourite was the strawberry, and Kirstyn liked the vanilla. You got three small scoops of Ice Cream in a small dish made of chocolate. The third scoop was chocolate. It too was good. We then made our way back to the ship, where we went directly to the Mickey Dreams show. This was a new show and included acrobats. It was really impressive. After the show, we made our way to Shutters to look at our pirate pictures, then made our way to dinner. Dinner was good as usual, but I wish I kept my early dinner. This is the sentiment of a lot of people I’ve talked to. We were so late finishing, that we ended up missing a lot of the deck parties. Last night Kirstyn and I made it up to the Pirate party just in time to catch the fireworks and that’s it. Plus tonight we were so full, that we actually passed on the dessert buffet!

Well that is it for now. I hope you are enjoying this. Tomorrow is our last full day at sea. I’ll talk to ya later!!!