Monday, May 8

Our friends Eric and Susan drove us to J.F.K. airport. This was the first time that we ever flew business class and it was incredible - it's a completely different and wonderful world. From now on we will try to only fly business class!

Tuesday, May 9

We arrived at Nice airport and took a taxi to Villefranche-sur-Mer. It was sunny, the trip was brief and the views spectacular. We checked into our hotel (the Provençal) and as soon as we got to our room, we both took a 2½ hour nap. When we woke up, we called our son David to tell him that we had arrived safe and sound.

With a map of the town in hand, we explored the stepped streets of the medieval town center. We had dinner at ‘La Grignotière' in the old town. We both had couscous. While we were having our coffees, it started pouring rain, so we just relaxed at the table until the rain stopped.

We went back to our room and fell asleep immediately.

Wednesday, May 10

We slept until 8:00 AM, which for us is very late. We rushed through breakfast in the hotel dining room because we wanted to take the walking tour of the Citadelle (fort) and the old town, which was supposed to leave from the Tourist office at 10:00.

We made it to the Tourist office (one block from the hotel) in time for the tour. We were the only non-French people in the group and the young woman guide told us that she would repeat everything in English for us. Therefore, I got to hear everything twice. She showed us areas of the fort that are normally closed to the public. This is because there is still more restoration work to be done and we had to be careful walking around up on the roof. Al was mostly interested in the military aspects of the fort, while I enjoyed the views and the art museums which the fort now houses. The guide spent time with us in one of them, the sculpture museum of an artist (with a long Italian name) who is know simply as Volti.

After the fort, we continued the tour in the medieval town center, which is built into the hillside. Almost all the streets are pedestrian only, except for the occasional motor scooter. The vertical streets that run up and down the hill are mostly wide steps, whith occasional ramps. Almost all the shops and restaurants are on the horizontal streets that traverse the hill. The two most interesting of these are the rue Obscure (dark street) and the rue du Poilu. The guide explained that the rue Obscure was once the street between the last row of houses and the outside wall of the town. After a new wall was built closer to the water in the 16th century, and the people living in these houses needed more room, they simply built out over the street to the old town wall. That's why this street is almost completely covered and dark.

The rue du Poilu has most of the shops and restaurants in the old town. It is the longest street and is the most direct route to the railroad station. During World War I, the soldiers used this street to reach the station and go to the front. Poilu means ‘hairy' and it was so named not because the soldiers had facial hair, but because they were old enough to grow beards.

After the tour ended, we had lunch at Loco-Loco, a very simple outdoor snack bar. I had a salad and Al had an omelet. We had a conversation with an older (older than us) American couple who now live in Arizona. They had come ashore from a cruise ship (Villefranche has a very deep harbor and many cruise ships stop there) out of Florida, which would end up in Barcelona. From there, they were going to rent a car and drive to Germany and visit friends. Many years ago they had lived and worked in Germany and Belgium and they spoke German, French, Flemish and of course English.

It rained in the afternoon and we rested in our hotel room as we were still jet lagged.

We had dinner in a small pizzeria/restaurant near the hotel called the Roxy. I had extra large scampi in garlic sauce and Al had ravioli Bolognaise.

Thursday, May 11

We slept late again and after breakfast we stopped by the Tourist office to inquire about buying bus tickets. We wanted to buy the 10 ride tickets (which work just like metrocards) and were told that they didn't have them, but we could buy them in the produce store across the street. We bought two bus tickets (10 rides, 10 euros each) in the produce store and went to the bus stop to catch the bus for Nice.

The ride to the bus terminal in Nice takes less 15 minutes and the views on the way are beautiful. We walked in the direction of the seaside promenades - they are continuous and one is called Le Promenade des Etats Unis (United States) and the other is called Le Promenade des Anglais (English). Along the way, we noticed that there were barricades in the streets and cops all over the place. We had intended to take the hop-on hop-off tourist bus, which normally goes all around the city and we stopped at the Nice Tourist office to find out where we could catch the bus. We were directed to the spot where the bus was supposed to leave from, but when we got there, a friendly policeman told us that because of the high level political meeting (President Chirac et al) going on in Nice, the tourist bus route was being detoured to a much more limited route for the next few days.

We decided to skip the bus tour and just walk along the promenade toward the Museum of Fine Art. It was a relatively hot and sunny day and we were getting thirsty, but weren't really hungry yet for lunch. We searched for a place to get drinks and stopped at the Gelateria Pinocchio for very refreshing ice cream parfaits and glasses of water.

The Museum of Fine Arts was hard to find (as usual the signs pointing to the museum were for cars and not for pedestrians), but eventually we found the right stairway up the hill to the museum. It's set in a very pretty park and we rested on a bench there before going in. The building is beautiful, as well as most of the art inside it. It ranges from the 16th to the 20th century. There were works by Brueghel, Boudin, Rodin, Sisley, Dufy and many others. We particularly liked a painting by Jules Bastien Le Page of his grandfather.

We walked back to the bus terminal along a pedestrian mall street called rue de France. By then we were pretty hungry and we had really good grilled paninis at a table in front of an Italian snack stand.

There were a lot of people in the bus terminal because all the busses were late due to the political conference. Everyone was complaining and when our bus finally arrived, everyone rushed at once to try and get seats. The French don't queue (line up) very well, the way the British do, but being a New Yorker who rides the subways, I was able to find a seat for myself. Seated next to me was an older woman and we had a very pleasant conversation in French about Nice and about New York. She was very warm and friendly to me.

We were awakened early by the song of the birds who encircled the hotel. They had the shape of swallows, but seemed to be bigger than swallows. We had a nice relaxing breakfast and then we walked to the train station along the rue du Poilu. (Just as the soldiers had done)

On arriving in Menton we headed straight for the tourist office. The friendly man in the tourist office gave us directions to the flea/antiques market. We walked along the waterfront and eventually found the market. We browsed all the tables and I bought 2 paperback books - one American and one British, both translated into French. They were a real bargain - only 1½ euros each.

We did some window shopping in the old town, returned to the train station along a pedestrian shopping street, rue de Bréa and then caught the train back to Villefranche.

I sent some emails from an internet café called Chez Net, which is a very noisy Australian bar. When we returned to the hotel I discovered that there was a computer in the hotel for the free use of the guests, which I used from then on, despite the French keyboard. It was hard for me at first, but I learned how to use it quite quickly. One of the emails that I sent was a copy of the Times article to the waiter from the restaurant in Menton, but it was returned as undeliverable. I guess he really didn't know his email address!

After resting in our room, we had dinner again at the Roxy. I had a really delicious eggplant (aubergine) parmesan and Al had ravioli Bolognaise again.

Saturday, May 13

After another relaxing breakfast, we took the bus to the Villa Euphrussi de Rothschild on Cap Ferrat. It's a magnificent chateau built by the baroness Rothschild and there are beautiful gardens on the grounds, each one with a different theme. We looked at all the rooms inside the building and then had coffee and pastries on the patio overlooking the garden and bay. Then we walked through all the different gardens, which descend the hillside - French, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, Cacti and Rose.

According to the schedule, there wouldn't be another bus leaving for 1 ½ hrs, so we walked through the streets of Cap Ferrat for a half hour, to the port of Saint-Jean Cap Ferrat. We found Villa Marie-Antoinette, the house that our friend Muriel had rented every year for many years. We had sandwiches and drinks at an outdoor snack bar called ‘Seaside Snack Bar et Terrasse' and then caught the next bus back to Villefranche.

After resting in our room, we had dinner at the restaurant in the hotel. Al had entrecôte forrestiére (steak) and a dessert called a ‘tropézien' (as in St-Tropez) (a spongy white cake with ‘créme anglais' between the layers) and I had veal stew and chocolate mousse.

Sunday, May 14

After another relaxing breakfast, we walked to the nearby flea/antiques market in town. First we went to the part in François Binon park, a block from the hotel and then later to the other part in Place Amélie Polonais down by the water. We browsed both areas. The part in the park seemed to have more upscale items, but both parts were interesting.

We had pizzas and beers at the Calypso restaurant on the water and then we took another walk around the fort and its museums and garden.

After another rest in our room, we had a third dinner in the Roxy. I had cannellonis and Al had lasagne. There was an elderly British couple sitting at the table next to us. They didn't utter one single word in French to the waitress or anyone else. As we were all having our coffees, we had a long conversation with them about their lives, England, France and the U.S. He had landed with the Canadians on the second day of the Normandy invasions. They had both been widowed and had married each other 11 years ago. He lived most of his life in London and she had lived in Hong Kong with her first husband for 30 years. They now lived in a seaside town on the English Channel. They had an apartment in Villefranche because her son lived and worked there and they spent several months a year there. Al and I thought that they were xenophobic snobs. He said that he hated London because more than half the inhabitants were foreigners and she seemed shocked when I asked her if she had learned to speak any Chinese while she was in Hong Kong. They both lamented the loss of the British empire and agreed with each other that the French were lazy.

Monday, May 14

The night before, an American tour group (Rick Steves Tours) of about 25 people had checked into the hotel. They were very loud and pushy and really seemed like ‘ugly Americans'. I found out that they were staying for 3 nights. That morning, for the first time, there wasn't enough hot water for us to take showers and breakfast was much less relaxing.

We went to the post office and mailed the review from New York Times (which Al had brought with us to Villefranche) to the waiter (owner) of the restaurant in Menton. I hope that he received it!

We took the bus to Nice and stopped for a short visit at the Lascaris Palace in the old town. It's an elegant chateau hidden away on an ordinary narrow street. There wasn't that much to see inside, but we had a long conversation with a young guard there. He seemed very lonely and in need of someone to talk to. He was an aspiring musician and played one of his compositions for us on his ipod type device.

Then we walked through the old town to the flea/antiques market in the Salaya Courtyard. We had never seen such a gigantic outdoor market before. After going up and down half the rows of tables (looking at everything), we took a break for lunch at a restaurant called ‘Côte Sud' (South Coast). I had a salad niçoise, mussels and fruit salad. Al had a salad niçoise, salmon and a tarte tatin (apple tart). Al insisted that we complete our tour of all the tables, despite the heat and my fatigue.

We took the bus back to Villefranche and stopped by a magazine/book store, where we picked up a few Simpsons comic books in French. We returned to the hotel and took a nap.

We had dinner at the Palmiers (Palm Trees) restaurant on Place Amélie Polonais near the water. The waiter resembled Jean-Paul Belmondo. Al had pasta Bolognaise and I had pasta with pesto sauce.

Tuesday, May 15

Today was the day to go to Eze Village. We took the bus to the bus terminal in Nice and got a free transfer to the bus going up the ‘Moyenne Corniche' (middle road) to Eze Village, a perched medieval town. Once inside the stone gates of the walled city, the only views to be had, were from one of the very expensive restaurants or hotels. The streets were narrow, cobbled and steep, some with steps, all heading ever upward toward the cactus garden at the summit.

Muriel had recommended that we have drinks on the terrace of the restaurant in the very exclusive hotel, Chateau Chèvre d'Or (Golden Goat) in order to be able to see the view without having to pay the exorbitant price of a meal there. Well, we wound up having to pay an exorbitant price for our drinks - 32 euros for two glasses of wine and some nibbles!

We decided to not to have lunch inside the gates of the old town and to look for a more reasonable restaurant outside the gates. On the way, we did a little exploring on the ‘Chemin de Nietzche', a primitive footpath that winds its way down the mountain to the seaside town of Eze-sur-mer. We found a small plateau a little way down the path and were able to take some photos of the view for free. Most of the tourists probably don't even notice it.

We had lunch at the Beleze (beautiful Eze) restaurant near the bus stop. We both had salad niçoise and we caught the bus back to Nice and then another one to Villefranche.

After we got back to hotel, we took a long nap and then bought fruit, nuts and bottled water from the fruit and vegetable store nearby for a very light dinner in the room.

Wednesday, May 16

It was our last full day on the Riviera and we agreed that we wanted to spend the day in Villefranche and not do much of anything. We took a long leisurely walk along the port to the sand beach area near the train station. There were many people sunbathing and swimming. We walked back and had lunch at the Palmiers. We both had salad niçoise and beer. I had ice cream and Al had a noisette (small espresso with milk).

We spent the afternoon packing and resting in the room, looking out at the view.

We had dinner in the old town at the Caravelle restaurant. For our last dinner, I had a salad with goat cheese, a chicken fricassé with mushrooms in a cream sauce and ice cream. Al had tomato with mozzarella, salmon filet and fromage blanc (similar to yogurt) with fruit and a coffee. After dinner we sat for a while on a bench with a view of port.

Thursday, May 17

Despite the fact that I set the alarm clock for 5 AM, I woke up at 4. While Al slept, I watched the sunrise. We had breakfast, said goodbye to the hotel staff, took a taxi to the airport and arrived in New York refreshed and happy!