Mediterranean Day Twelve

Day Twelve – Villefranche

Today was the life among the rich and famous. We tendered to Villefranche and headed to Monaco. You would not have believed the yachts in the harbor of Monaco. There was some guy – Paul Allen I think – who is some muckety muck at Microsoft – who has the hugest yacht in the harbor. We took a tour of the gardens which were magnificent. Then we went into the palace at Monaco and learned about the Grimaldi family which has been the ruling family for decades. They told us the story of Grace Kelly and how she became the chatelaine of Monaco for years. It was quite a romantic story. We then watched the changing of the guard, not quite as impressive as Buckingham Palace but still pretty interesting.

Then we went to lunch at the Fairmont Hotel in Monte Carlo which was totally delicious. They served the local meats (prosciutto, salami, some roast beef that was amazing and amazing cheese and they had macaroons! Which are French macaroons not American macaroons . They are melt in your mouth pastries which are amazing. I love them and I’d forgotten about them. Then we went to Monte Carlo and the area was still full of the Grand Prix materials. It was actually pretty exciting.

We went into the casino at Monte Carlo but you couldn’t take bags in so Tom and Gary went into the casino and Shelley and I were standing there before we decided to look for some stamps and while we stood there an Aston Martin and two Bentleys – one a beautiful blue convertible – drove up and parked right in front of the casino. And man it was hot. So we then searched around for a place to sit (none even in the sun) and some cool wind (also none).

After leaving the casino and Monte Carlo, we went to the Village of Eze which is a hilltop location that has this amazing church on the top. It’s a medieval village and it’s completely constructed of stone on the top of a mountain. It has the ruins of a castle at the top but we only went as far as the church which was amazingly baroque in style and beautiful. Nobody thought I was going to make it but Sydney – who is the lovely four year old girl who totally reminds me of Kyla – told her mom that I looked like I needed help so she came back and helped me climb the mountain. The path up was lots of steps and steep paths. Very steep. I should say “helped” but she was so cute and her constant chattering really distracted me from the physical exertion. So she really did help me up the mountain. But Tom and our friend Robyn also came along very slowly to help me but I made it!! I was so proud!! We took some pictures of me jumping up and down at the top. Well not jumping but I was really excited.

So then we went down to the bottom and I got some herbes de Provence which I love but hopefully customs won’t confiscate. You never know what customs will call produce. I don’t think that I told you that the animal of the day yesterday was an orangutan (I automatically thought of the Librarian (discworld reference)) and the towel animal today is a lobster. This was our last shore excursion. When we came back to the ship, we went to the crew talent show, and then we were on our way back to our cabin and first of all we ran into Belle, so I had my picture taken with her, and then around the corner we ran into Aurora for another picture opportunity. Tomorrow we have a day at sea and then our cruise is over. It certainly doen’t seem that we’ve been gone this long although the shore excursions have been exhausting. Extremely fun but exhausting.