We’re on an airplane right now, cruising over Montreal with about 2 ¾ hours till we reach Cincinnati, then on to Seattle tonight. Our bags are stuffed full, almost to the legal limit, with 1 extra carry on so we can haul back some good beers and wine. We went out yesterday in true French Riviera fashion, with an early morning trip to Monaco (true, not really French, but Riviera all the same). What a funny little principality! It was so lush and gorgeous, with bougainvillea growing out of every nook and cranny, and enough gilded balconies to last a lifetime. We hiked around the town (?) for a while, checking out the prince’s palace, complete with Buckingham Palace-esque guards out front, and the chapel where Grace Kelly is buried. On our way out of town, we swung by the casino, which wasn’t really open yet (not till 2pm), and dropped 5€ in the smoke-free slot machine room, which is shockingly open 24/7 for all us stupid tourists.
Our main goal of the day was beach time, so we cruised back down the coastline to Villefranche-sur-Mer, a beautiful Mediterranean town between Nice and Monaco. After finally getting a parking spot-apparently Mondays are a great day for the beach in France-we hit the sand…or in our case, pebbles! The beach in Villefranche is all pebbles, which is surprisingly much more pleasant than sand. Pebbles come off easily and don’t stick in your bathing suit. The sea was incredible; bright blue and clear, and so salty we floated without any special devices! We alternated between beach and water for over an hour, until we sweated our all of our bodies’ water reserves. Mark especially loved sunning himself half in/half out of the water. We rinsed off European style in a little shower shack on the beach, had some delicious gelato desserts for lunch, and headed back into Nice to get cleaned up for our last night of vacation. After discovering most of the recommended restaurants in Nice Etoile (the swankier part of town) were closed for vacations, we finally found a sweet place called Maison du Marie. I was feeling brave after my foie gras experience in the Dordogne and ordered the fish soup for my entrée. Wow, who knew pureed fish and broth could be so….fishy? Thank God they gave me a bowl of whipped egg yolks to throw in it. Yeah, that really helped. We had an otherwise delicious dinner, walked down the Promenade Anglais one more time, and headed back to our teeny tiny room early enough to get a few hours of sleep before our 7:55am flight. So far our flights have gone well, but 9 ½ hours on a plane should be criminalized. Fingers crossed all will be on schedule in Cincinnati and we’ll be in Seattle by 7pm.
Thanks for following our blog! Sorry for the patchy posts and spotty photo postings (and sorry to my mom for her computer freezing up every time she opens the blog). And and extra special thanks to Kimo and Diana, the world's greatest neighbors for taking such good care of our house and most of all, our cats, while we were away. We can't thank them enough for all they did for us!
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