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Location:Nice France
Monday, August 4, 2014
Nice day
We had a lovely day today. After breakfast we spent the morning and part of the afternoon at the beach. The beaches in the South of France are made up of big smooth rocks. You should wear water shoes to get to the water. The private beach for our hotel has lounge chairs, towels and umbrellas and they have this mat that covers the rocks so it is easier to walk on-the beaches are not Hawaiian beaches but the water is an amazing Azure blue. I even went swimming! Afterwards we walked to the old town of Nice and enjoyed a salad for lunch and shopped for all kinds of things- yes that is right.....more French pastries. Good thing I have worked out everyday on this trip. Hope I did not do too much damage to the waist line! We did buy croissants and fruit for our breakfast tomorrow. We need to leave at 9 for our flight to Helsinki. It will be the final leg of our journey. We have an overnight there before we head back to Chicago. Overall this has been an amazing vacation. Everybody had such a good time. I hope you have enjoyed the blog. It was difficult and sometimes frustrating to write since I had to type on my phone and have trouble seeing so excuse any poor grammar as I did not proofread. I discovered that I can post pictures one at a time as separate blog entries ( very annoying ) so I will try and put some pictures from today up. I will write next from Helsinki. Nance
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Sunday, August 3, 2014
Monaco/Nice
We had a great last day on the cruise ship. Saturday morning we arrived in Monaco and the Dobs decided to cancel our prearranged tour and tackle Monaco on our own. The principality of Monaco is built on a hill right on the Mediterranean. It is filled with lush landscape , beautiful homes, expensive cars and according to Alex- gorgeous young women wrapped around the arms of wealthy older men who are twice their age. We walked from the cruise ship to the Jacque Cousteau Oceanarium and the toured the royal palace of the family of Prince Albert and Princess Grace. We had a nice visit and then went back to the cruise ship for a wonderful
Lunch and pool time. We decided to go out with friends we met on the cruise. Rick and Karen Israel and there 23 year old son Evan. The Israel's met as college students at U of I and have family in BG and Northbrook. They now live in San Francisco. We went to Cafe de Paris for dinner which is right next door to the Famous James Bond casino Afterwards we went to the casino. Lost money and left. Syd came home with us. There were no cabs so we walked back to the cruise ship. It took 30 minutes. Syd was in heals so she took them off to walk. The sidewalks were so clean her feet were not even dirty ! We got home at 1 am. Alex Carlie and Evan spent the night Rocking MonAco and did not come home until 5
Am. Alex thought be had the best night ever ! However they had to be up by 630 as our ride was picking us up at 730 to take us the 30 min to nice We had a food and history walking tour of Nice. The kids were exhausted for the tour but overall it was very good, We learned all about olive oils and different tastes from the region. We also visited the Jewish cemetery. They had two markers one was dedicated to all the human fat collected from the Jews that the Nazis used to make soap and the other contained the ashes of the Jews burned in concentration camps. It was very moving. We also saw the area where many Jews were hidden during the war.
Of course we bought pastries crepes bread and cheese and visited the famous market. Where they sell everything from flowers to cheese. We arrived at 3 back at our hotel for a nap. We all loved the cruise so much. It is sad to leave it but we had a nice day. Tomorrow we shall explore the beaches.
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Lunch and pool time. We decided to go out with friends we met on the cruise. Rick and Karen Israel and there 23 year old son Evan. The Israel's met as college students at U of I and have family in BG and Northbrook. They now live in San Francisco. We went to Cafe de Paris for dinner which is right next door to the Famous James Bond casino Afterwards we went to the casino. Lost money and left. Syd came home with us. There were no cabs so we walked back to the cruise ship. It took 30 minutes. Syd was in heals so she took them off to walk. The sidewalks were so clean her feet were not even dirty ! We got home at 1 am. Alex Carlie and Evan spent the night Rocking MonAco and did not come home until 5
Am. Alex thought be had the best night ever ! However they had to be up by 630 as our ride was picking us up at 730 to take us the 30 min to nice We had a food and history walking tour of Nice. The kids were exhausted for the tour but overall it was very good, We learned all about olive oils and different tastes from the region. We also visited the Jewish cemetery. They had two markers one was dedicated to all the human fat collected from the Jews that the Nazis used to make soap and the other contained the ashes of the Jews burned in concentration camps. It was very moving. We also saw the area where many Jews were hidden during the war.
Of course we bought pastries crepes bread and cheese and visited the famous market. Where they sell everything from flowers to cheese. We arrived at 3 back at our hotel for a nap. We all loved the cruise so much. It is sad to leave it but we had a nice day. Tomorrow we shall explore the beaches.
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Friday, August 1, 2014
Boats...boats and more boats
Hi everyone
We were so looking forward to visiting the beautiful Cinque Terre or the five towns of Italy. Let me describe this shore excursion:
Friday we were tendered off of Portofino Italy. It has an amazing shoreline of colorful homes on hilltops by the sea. Scattering the shoreline were cute little cafés and shops. We did not spend time in Portofino. Instead we started what turned out to be the most ridiculous waste of a shore excursion and it lasted over 10 hours! First we took the very rocky tender boat to shore. We met our tour guide and then walked to another boat that took us to another gorgeous town of St margherita. From there we met our coach bus. We then took a one and a half hour scenic bus ride to the first if the five towns. We walked down steep stairs and cliffs through the crowded town. We walked to the sea front to pick up another very rocky boat to get to the next town. This was also hot and crowded. We had lunch in a cafe. Pizza and pasta. It was good but the town was basically a square lined with cafés and fast food stands. We were there for an hour and then yes we got on another rocky boat to go to the next town. By this time Sydnie was extremely sea sick. The barf bag was her friend. This final town. It starts with an m. I think it is Montmorroso. Something like that. Was the nicest of all. It had a beautiful beach nicer cafés and shops. We had a wine pesto and olive oil tasting. Wish we had lunch in this town. After the tasting we walked to a train station and waited on the hot and crowded platform for over a half hour. Took the train to another town where the bus was wAiting for us to take us the one hour drive back to St margerhita where we took a boat to Portofino in order to get the tender to the ship. We realized that we should have just taken the train to the nicest town and then spend a few hours there to really enjoy it and then go back. Normally people hike from one town to the next. We went all that way to have lunch when we could have had a more relaxing day and wonderful lunch right in Portofino. I know I should not complain. After all how often does one have lunch on the Italian Riveria? We still enjoyed the scenery and other parts of the trip. I just don't like when things are poorly planned. We arrived back on the ship after 7 and showered and got dressed for the white night dance party and Mediterranean buffet on deck. Everybody dresses in white. The music and food were good. We had a nice end to the long day. Of course it was not the end for the kids as they went to the casino and the hung out with their friend ti almost 3 in the morning. Everyone is sad for this cruise to be over as we are all having an amazing time. We will be spending our last day in Monte Carlo. We cancelled the 3 hour excursion which seemed like mostly a bus tour. We will go to the famous Jaque Cousteau Oceanarium and explore on our own. Fortunately we are docked on shore. Until the next blog. Arrivaderchi
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We were so looking forward to visiting the beautiful Cinque Terre or the five towns of Italy. Let me describe this shore excursion:
Friday we were tendered off of Portofino Italy. It has an amazing shoreline of colorful homes on hilltops by the sea. Scattering the shoreline were cute little cafés and shops. We did not spend time in Portofino. Instead we started what turned out to be the most ridiculous waste of a shore excursion and it lasted over 10 hours! First we took the very rocky tender boat to shore. We met our tour guide and then walked to another boat that took us to another gorgeous town of St margherita. From there we met our coach bus. We then took a one and a half hour scenic bus ride to the first if the five towns. We walked down steep stairs and cliffs through the crowded town. We walked to the sea front to pick up another very rocky boat to get to the next town. This was also hot and crowded. We had lunch in a cafe. Pizza and pasta. It was good but the town was basically a square lined with cafés and fast food stands. We were there for an hour and then yes we got on another rocky boat to go to the next town. By this time Sydnie was extremely sea sick. The barf bag was her friend. This final town. It starts with an m. I think it is Montmorroso. Something like that. Was the nicest of all. It had a beautiful beach nicer cafés and shops. We had a wine pesto and olive oil tasting. Wish we had lunch in this town. After the tasting we walked to a train station and waited on the hot and crowded platform for over a half hour. Took the train to another town where the bus was wAiting for us to take us the one hour drive back to St margerhita where we took a boat to Portofino in order to get the tender to the ship. We realized that we should have just taken the train to the nicest town and then spend a few hours there to really enjoy it and then go back. Normally people hike from one town to the next. We went all that way to have lunch when we could have had a more relaxing day and wonderful lunch right in Portofino. I know I should not complain. After all how often does one have lunch on the Italian Riveria? We still enjoyed the scenery and other parts of the trip. I just don't like when things are poorly planned. We arrived back on the ship after 7 and showered and got dressed for the white night dance party and Mediterranean buffet on deck. Everybody dresses in white. The music and food were good. We had a nice end to the long day. Of course it was not the end for the kids as they went to the casino and the hung out with their friend ti almost 3 in the morning. Everyone is sad for this cruise to be over as we are all having an amazing time. We will be spending our last day in Monte Carlo. We cancelled the 3 hour excursion which seemed like mostly a bus tour. We will go to the famous Jaque Cousteau Oceanarium and explore on our own. Fortunately we are docked on shore. Until the next blog. Arrivaderchi
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Location:Portofino Italy
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