July 19, 2009

Today was our day on the French Riviera. We arrived in Villefranche-sur-Mer around 7:00 a.m. We took the tender ashore and hiked up the hillside to catch the bus for Nice, a few kilometres away. We spent a few hours in the city, walking through part of the old city and through the Sunday market before arriving at the Promenade des Anglais, a fancy word for the beach. The beach was packed but we found a spot and the boys jumped in. The waves were pretty high – sometimes 3-4 feet high. Being a little more cautious, I only ventured in up to my waist, but the boys had a great time trying to ride the waves. We strolled around the city a bit more before catching the bus to a little town higher up the mountainside – Eze.

The bus ride gave us an opportunity to view the incredible scenery of the area. Eze is a medieval town surrounded by a wall. We walked around the town, climbing the various narrow streets and enjoying the scenery. After about an hour or so we were ready to get back on the bus and drive around 6 kilometres to Monaco. Unfortunately, we had to adjust our plans a bit because the bus we thought would take us directly to Monaco does not run on Sunday. So, we joined around 20 other fellow Summit cruisers along with some other tourists and figured out that we needed to take a bus down to the beach in Eze-sur-Mer, and then take a bus from there to Monaco. Believe it or not, my French came in handy as I figured these things out with a police officer.

We caught the bus after around a 40 minute wait, and once we arrived in Eze-sur-Mer, waited another 20 minutes or so for the next bus to Monaco. Fortunately, the bus driver allowed all of us to pile on to the bus, with Karen and I standing right beside the driver. This was actually the best place in the bus, because we had a great view of the drive along the Riviera to Monaco, stopping near the casino in Monte Carlo. Again, my French came in handy as I figured out where we needed to get off the bus.

The boys were absolutely thrilled with Monaco, not because of the incredible sights, but because of all the exotic cars they spotted. I lost count, but I know we saw at least two Rolls-Royces, two Lamborghinis, several Ferraris, a Masserati, and a Bentley, along with a customized Porsche 911 and plenty of German luxury vehicles. Monaco truly is in a world all its own, with money everywhere you look. After around an hour we caught the train back to Villefranche and Abram and Sol swam at the beach while Isaac and Karen’s parents went back to the boat. The boys were a little taken aback by some of the topless women nearby, but they handled it okay!

In the evening we had our last formal dinner, and I slipped out early for a hot stone massage. Karen had won one of these for herself a few days ago at a spa auction for around half the regular price, so I was able to cash in on this as well. It was great.