10/20–Villefranche

Easy sailing to Villefranche, even though the captain – who is quite loquacious – says the ladies might not want to wear their high heels in case the seas get bad in the Bay of Leon – mind you – not that he thinks that is going to happen…but just in case!  Yeah, we’ve been there – but fortunately not this time, It’s an easy and smooth crossing over to France.
It’s a beautiful sail in – gorgeous day – finally!

We drop anchor right on time, grab our tender tickets and are onshore in a jiffy. Our plans are to head to Nice, where we’ve not been before.  Sadly, the trains aren’t cooperating  - what is typically an every 10 minute train interval happens to be every hour today.  Huh?  Some sort of stoppage, or track work – but we get to the train station at 10:15 and the next train to Nice isn’t until 11:49.  We can walk in less time. But – we don’t want to walk, nor do we want to take the bus. So – wait we must.
We walk around town for a bit, but, while gorgeous, there isn’t much to do besides go to a café or the beach – so we head back to the train station to stand….and wait.
We end up spending the time helping people with the un-user friendly ticket machine (just go to the ticket counter across the tracks – they speak English) and chatting with other cruise passengers – one couple who we followed through La Padrera on Sunday! Too funny!  From California – spent 2 days in Barcelona, now on this cruise then flying home when we return to BCN next week.  Small world!
The train finally arrives and we hop on – for our 7 minute ride. We really could have just walked. But, whatever, we have nothing planned, just an easy day wandering about. Off the train in Nice, we head toward the old town.  On the way, we get waylaid with all the different restaurants on the side streets. We’re hungry – its well past noon by this time – so we decide upon DaFlavio – a little cafe with a lovely looking interior and good menu.
Ed chooses Octopus – no surprise there – and I splurge (Carb-wise) on a Croque Monsieur – my favorite! We add a side of frites avec Feta (incredible – and incredibly bad for us) and we are so done!!!


So good – but oh so bad!!!  Stuffed to the gills, we try to walk off the badness, through the old town and onto the beach promenade. It’s a lovely day, cool with a breeze, so the walk does us good – and the scenery sure doesn’t hurt!

We stop to admire the statue in the main square for a bit, then head back up the main shopping street to the train station to be sure we can catch a train back to Villefranche (who knows when the next work stoppage will begin).

Back in Villefranche, we decide it is too early to go back to the ship. So, we snap some great village life photos….


then decide to take a rest – and some beverages in a seaside café. Expensive – yes – but lovely little stop. Even including the typical French waiter snobbiness when I ask about the wine choices.  I mean, come on, it’s Chablis or something Provence.  What happened to Sauvignon pray tell?  He just gives me the snotty shake of the head when I ask about Provence. So – hey – whatever!  We’re in France.  We just laugh about it for the rest of the afternoon!

Back on the ship, we do our norm. I nap, then the gym, then the lounge, dinner and show. Tonight the show is a riot.  3 Guitarist who can only be described as crazy. Very funny.  Won’t even repeat the Costa Concordia joke – cannot believe they did that – but it was priceless.

Tomorrow – Livorno and driving through hill towns!