Our first port of call was Villefranche - the port for Nice, Monte Carlo, & Eze. We started off the day with a jog on the 12th deck of the ship overlooking the Mediterranean Sea and the French coast.
Our plan was to spend the afternoon checking out Nice and Eze - (and, yes, we did say “nice and easy” and chuckled every time). We took the tender to shore right after lunch and hopped on a local bus for the 10 minute ride to Nice. We were off to a pretty good start, but that’s as far as it got. We ended up getting of a couple of stops short of our final destination. You would have thought it would be a simple task to get back on a bus and get back on track. Hah! As far as I can tell, nothing is that simple for an American in France - especially if you don’t speak a lick of French. We ended up spending the rest of the afternoon getting back to the bus station so that we could get back to Villefranche. Originally, we would have taken the bus back through Villefranche on to Eze, but we didn’t want to risk not getting back to the ship before it left port that evening. The major complicating factor was that it was Sunday, and the buses run a shortened schedule on Sundays (which I guess is to be expected). Ultimately, we got back to Villefranche with plenty of time to spare. We did get to explore a little and got some nice photos. And, we did get some great exercise!
So, what did I take away from our time in France?
· The parts of Nice we saw - not so fabulous. I’m sure there are some great parts of this town, but we didn’t find them in our quest for the bus station.
· The French really do see us as entertainment when we’re wandering around their country trying to figure out their bus system.
· Europeans in general have no sense of personal space or of an orderly line. When we tried to board the bus, we almost didn’t get on - even though we were the first ones there waiting for it. As soon as the bus driver opened the door, it was a crush of humanity to get on. NOT what we’re used to! Thanks to a pair of super friendly Scotsmen, we finally figured out what was going on. On the ride back to Villefranche, they clued us in to the way things are. After that, I wasn’t afraid to shoulder my way in where I needed to be! Grrrr ....
In case you missed the previous post, here's a link to the photos. All in all, it was an interesting day. Yeah - that’s how I’ll put it. :-)
That evening was the 1st of 2 formal evenings. We clean up pretty good - if I do say so myself.
Check out this link for a couple more photos: http://audreyreed.info/PhotoGalleries/Day-2-Villefranche-Evening/index.html.
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