Day 4

Nice, France - another amazing day. I'm pretty sure that we would all move here given the opportunity. The morning started off early again, so we were dragging a bit. We were fortunate today in that there was sun. Our view as we stepped out of the hotel were the snow capped maritime Alps, breathtaking. We boarded the bus and headed for Eze, a city instrumental in the perfume industry of France. We took a guided tour of Fragonard, a perfume company that has been in existance for over a century. We touted the factory where they make many of their soaps, creams and other beauty products. Our guide explained the job of Le Nez, the nose, and his/her ability to distinguish over 2000 different scents. One must go to school and training for 10 years before earning the title of Nez! We were given the chance to do our own smelling of scents, rose, lily of the valley, coffee, chocolate, orange and lemon. It was an interesting experience. From Eze we headed along the coast to Monaco. That is when a good majority of us decided that it would be a fabulous place to live, provided money was not an issue. It is amazingly green and the Mediterranean is such a rich blue. The breeze was blowing in off of the water and the sun was shining brighter than it has during our entire trip, it could not have been more perfect! Once in Monaco, we left the bus and took the elevator up to the city where we saw the cathedral where Grace Kelly is buried and the castle. It is such a quaint town. We had some free time to wander and explore. Many of us took advantage of the many little restaurants and had some lunch. Some of the more adventurous went in search of escargots! (Despite some woman telling them that there is no escargots in Monaco!) The park that overlooks the sea is amazing as well. So many blooming flowers, the colors a beautiful contrast to the lush green grass. We met up at the Yellow Submarine in front of their aquarium and walked back to the bus. A short ride later we went to the world famous Monte Carlo casino. It was fun being on the steps of such an iconic building. Out front we were treated to a virtual car show of lamborginis and ferraris...the tippy top of money cars. Only once did the Casino security have to tell tourists to stop leaning on the cars. We took a nice bus ride back to Nice where we did a bit of shopping before dinner. Many of us walked to the beach where we were able to truly experience the Mediterranean!! Some of us had wet feet for the rest of the night. :) Dinner was meatloaf in mushroom gravy with frites (fries). A very typical pairing in Ftance. Many meat dishes are served with fries at lunch and dinner. Chocolate mousse was served for dessert. This was the earliest night back to our hotel rooms, 9pm. We repacked our bags for our trip to Italy tomorrow. Hard to believe that our voyage is half over!! It will be nice to have some bus time to catch up on some much needed sleep.