I arrived in the French Riviera on the largest and most expensive yacht in town. Too bad I don’t own this ship. I could stay here all the time- or all of you could come party on it with me.
For now I must settle for working on it and exploring wherever it takes me.
I am now into the single digits of remaining cruises. As the excitement to go home builds, the pressure to see everything the Mediterranean has to offer increases. It is my goal to go on two tours a cruise until I have been on all the ones that interest me. Last cruise I did “The Best of the French Riviera” and “Imperial Rome.” I crammed so much information into my head during these two tours, but I’m not sure how much remains there.
The French Riviera tour was taking me back to Cannes with a stop in Grasse on the way there and a stop in St. Paul de Vence on the way back. Complete with a guided bus tour of Nice as we drove through it each direction. The guide was amazing- she knew so much about each stop and she managed to keep it interesting and not just recite a bunch of facts. She was so interesting, in fact, that I didn’t want to sleep on the bus. However, my natural instinct won out and I was soon asleep. I don’t know what it is about busses now, but they put me to sleep. I lived on a bus for 2 years and I didn’t sleep much on it, but now that I know a ship is my primary means of transportation automobiles put me to sleep.
I woke up as we arrived in Grasse. Our only stop here was at the Fragonard Perfume Factory. Strangely, this is not the first perfumery I have ever been to- I visited one in Bermuda a few years ago. This one was a little more high tech and had a much bigger operation. I learned how perfume is made, that it is better to store it aluminum bottles than glass bottles, the bathroom is the worst place to keep your perfume, and how extensive your training is to become what they call “a nose.” A Nose is the person that creates the new scents and is quality control for all of the old scents. While all of the ingredients mesh together into one smell for us, a nose can distinguish each fragrance. I also got to see soap being made here.
Then I was off to Cannes. I have been to Cannes many times so I didn’t feel much pressure to see or do anything here. I went back to the Palais des Festivals and finally got my picture taken on the red carpet. Then I went to the grocery store and bought some juice to take back to the ship with me.
It was then time for lunch with my tour group from the ship. I sat with a family of 5 from Missouri. They had 2 girls in high school and one boy that just graduated. They were really nice and a lot of fun to talk with. I saw them throughout the rest of the cruise as well.
After lunch we were off to our final stop- St. Paul de Vence. Actually the town is only called St. Paul, but there are so many St. Paul’s in France that they have to clarify which one it is so they added “de Vence.” It literally means “The town of St. Paul near the town of Vence.”
St Paul is another fortified mountain top city- similar to Eze and Castellet from my earlier posts. Today St Paul is an artist town and the rich and famous like to retreat to here as well. In fact I passed a restaurant that ex-James Bond Timothy Dalton has lunch at once per week. He lives in nearby Monaco.
I spent my time in St. Paul wandering the narrow, crooked streets. It actually reminded me of Amalfi. You cannot drive though town and you have to take a series of confusing sidewalks and staircases to get to each residence. How to people live here?
My second tour of that cruise was a trip to the Roman Forum and Coliseum, but I’m afraid my battery will die before I can write about it…so we will save that for next time.
This week my tour to the Tuscan Countryside was canceled and I may have to choose between a tour of Naples or a private lesson on the Flowrider….these are the decisions I have to make….
