Day 8 (Wednesday, July 25) – Villefranche

Villefranche was Ann’s chance to visit her old haunts in the South of France. I lived in Antibes for a year in ’88 – ’89. It was a chance to play hostess so we headed off to do the port on our own. We rented a car, the Hertz rental location was in Nice – on the map it seemed like it would be a 10-minute drive but 30 minutes and 40 Euros later we finally made it.
To top it off, Villefranche is a tender port, so we got off to a later start than we expected. We made it to Monaco just in time to park and get to the changing of the guard at the palace. Then we did the palace tour – it was nice and fairly short, with a well-narrated audio tour included with the tickets. We took the Bas Corniche over to Monaco, returning on the Moyenne Corniche. Both are beautiful drives.

Then it was off to the Café de Paris for a nice lunch. Good food but not much of it (a recurring theme in France, Jim commented on it and candidly, I didn’t really remember it being that way but maybe it’s the comparison to the kid-friendly restaurants we’re used to in the US now)? Many US restaurants serve portions that sometimes feed us for three meals! Jim, Dad and Nan made a quick visit to the Casino while Jamie and Ann got lost trying to find the Doll museum. By the time we found it, it was time to head back to meet with the rest of the family, so Jamie was very disappointed that all we saw was the lobby. By that time I was in bribing mode, so I had promised her that since we wouldn’t have time to go into the museum, I would buy her a doll in their gift shop. Well, think again… no such luck, not a doll in site (and barely a shop!). Anyway, the next bribe was ice cream (see earlier entries for details).

Since we’d hit the highlights of Monaco, we headed back west and made a nice visit to Eze. It’s a very picturesque hilltop village right by the coast. Now filled with art galleries, shops and restaurants. You have to park off the Moyenne Corniche then walk up a hillside road to the pedestrian only village area. Hats off to Dad and Nan who kept right up with the rest of us as we wandered our way up and around the village. They and Jamie did tire a bit so we had a coffee/beer break while Ann did a little power shopping.

Then back to Villefranche, where Dad and Nan took Jamie back to the ship so Jim and I could have dinner with Ann’s friend Kate. We met up with Kate in Nice after dropping off the rental car – she was nice enough to pick us up and chauffer for the evening back to a fabulous restaurant (Chateau de la Chevre d’or) in Eze. We watched the sunset and the lights twinkling on the hillsides while sipping nice French wine and eating fois gras! It was great to see Kate and catch up. She looks as great as ever and still has good travel stories… She dropped us back in Villefranche just in time for the last tender back to the ship. The Villefranche port area was very pretty in the evening, with the lights on the ships and reflecting off the water.

We missed the lobster dinner on the ship, and also the “cirque” type show that evening. There’s always next year!!!