Thursday, 7 July 2011 - Monte Carlo and Nice
The last day of a cruise is always a pain. There's that packing thing, the exchange of emails with the other guests, a feeling of feigned comradeship (or is it a feigned feeling of comradeship rather), and the very difficult saying of good-byes to the wonderful staff, really! We went one last time to the Observation Lounge to, uh, observe the sailing in and docking right across from the famed casino at Monte Carlo. The ship was flying the Monaco flag (good) and, oddly enough, the EU flag (bad in this case since Monaco isn't in the EU although it is in the "euro-zone" and member of Swangen Treaty--look these up if you must). Of course, the ever present Waldo Flag was on top of the mast.
We were whisked to nearby Nice and the top rated but remarkably dowdy looking Airport Novatel Hotel where we waited for 45 minutes to be whisked again around the corner to the actual top rated Novatel Suites Hotel where we had booked one night. We checked our bags as the room wasn't ready yet, ("Non, non, non, monsieur"), and headed across the street via 5 or 6 pedestrian crossings to the very close as the pigeon flies railway station for the one stop ride to downtown Nice, the capital of the Cote d'Azur. Nice is, uh, well you get it. The walk to the old town, picture of which is included above from the top of the free but oddly smelling ascenseur, was pretty nifty--especially with the wide expanse of riviera typically all rock but nice beach going back all the way to the aeroport. We had a nice lunch of something sans fromage ou beurre and took a bunch of pictures that were identical to those in this month's Lufthansa magazine. Go figure, could have saved all those bytes. We went back to the Nice-Ville train station via very modern tram but had to endure the very ennui prone and all smoking young ladies at the station during the wait for the "retard" train, the most popular type en France. I did see the nicest looking railroad conductor I've encountered in all my travels. We rested up at the hotel, now having made at least an additional dozen death defying crossings of that one little intersection to get to and from the hotel from the very nearby railway station (they are all named "gare", making it very difficult to get around by train which they don't call "chemin de fer" anymore as I was taught in high school) to check in and rest up a while before heading out again. This time to the fabled and very lovely town of Villefranche which is about half way back to Monaco. This town, now unfortunately the darling of the large cruise ships who use it as one of their only tendering ports, could be a movie set for the Cote d'Azur. Well, it was a matter of fact the setting of "An Affair to Remember", the Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr film of 1957. Even the train station at Villefranche looks romantic.
We lingered in Villefranche sur Mer (named for the fact that it is on the sea, apparently, as those wacky French don't miss a trick) long enough for most of the 10,000 cruise ship passengers to take their orange roofed tenders back to the Mouse (Disney Magic had somehow reappeared after we thought we had successfully Donald'ed it in Civitavecchia), the Royal Caribbean something "of the Seas" (Chicken, I think), and another big cruise ship with an unreadable name. We were quite successful in this ploy as the town quieted down enough for a long (and costly) glass of wine. We took the quick but still very crowded train back to the airport and crossed the now 8 death defying pedestrian crossings to our adjacent to the train station hotel. We had dinner at the only restaurant nearby, adjacent to the hotel's pool where one of the guests was enjoying the hotel's amenities, all too much I believe.
Friday, 8 July 2011 - almost 6000 miles of Lufthansa.
The flights were all right, we made the 45 minute connection in Frankfort as did our luggage, and encountered the usual and recurrent, "Non, non, non, monsieur" enough time to choke a chemin de fer. Speaking of choking, we breathed enough second hand cigarette smoke on our 24 hours en France to choke and did or at least coughed a lot. Then the friendly Lufthansa clerks at the NCE airport charged me 60 euro for checking a 2nd bag (that necessitated waiting in three more queues) that the friendly Lufthansa clerk in the USA said was included for us as United Premier status Mileage Plus members, and then the friendly Airport Club clerk denied us entry (all together now, "non, non, non, monsieur") that the Lufthansa website was available to Red Carpet Club members. Voltaire said, "I love mankind. It's people I can't stand.". I think I love France, it's French people who.... At any rate, well 550 mph ground speed, we endured the remarkably good service in Economy (maybe because of the free German beer and French wine, or was it the other way around) and arrived in Denver after deviating to well west of Laramie, Wyoming (to avoid thunderstorms and possibly to endure yet another 10 minute announcement in German) just 10 hours after taking off at FRA and 13 hours after the half hour delayed takeoff (with a scheduled 1 hour 10 minute layover at Frankfort). I was not relaxed on the trip home.
We arrived home by 5:30 pm. Might have been earlier if US Customs hadn't decided to subject Barbara's luggage and passport to extra vigilance--as usual.
THIS IS NOT THE LAST ENTRY.
Stay tuned. I will be putting up a bunch of pictures, including the habits of very rich few on the ship who embarrassed the rest of us, a number of candid shots of Peterson's at play and play, and some new real insights about high level cruising. I might even have something new to say about the Australian Group!
Give me a few days to get my head clear...
Again, thanks for your nice comments.
Mike
Boulder, CO, USA
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