July 19: This morning we went to the grocery store and stocked our refrig with some snacks and breakfast foods. Then we went to the beach (Nices beach is all rocky). It wasn’t what I had in mind for Nice and the French Riviera. Although Nice is a huge travel destination, I would recommend some of the smaller towns just outside of the big city area. There were two sand volleyball courts available that were fenced off (which you had to pay to play). So E and I paid 4 Euro to play a game. We waited for a while, but ended up playing a good team/game with two other guys. We lost by a few points but were happy considering E had been sick and wasn’t at a 100% and we hadn’t played in over 4 months! So we went swimming in the very blue water to cool off.
Since E wasn’t 100% we heated up our leftovers for dinner in our room and had a nice little meal. We walked along the beach on the walkway called the Promenade. There were many people out, and we saw many casinos along our way.
July 20: Today we woke up early to climb to the top of Castle Hill. First we started with a walking tour of Old Town Nice. Our walk took us through the open air market on Cours Saleya. We made it up to Castle Hill where there is no Castle! There once was a castle that stood here, but Louis XIV destroyed it in 1706. We had the best views of Nice from the top of this hill! After lunch we rented bikes (E’s breaks didn’t work and my chain fell off once) and road along the beach towards the airport. These bikes sucked! E almost ran into a few people because they were not paying attention and he had no breaks. Oh well, it was nice to be riding bikes along the water again…. Just not quite like the South Bay!
Later this evening we went out to dinner. E was feeling better and was ready for some good seafood. Eric and I split pasta and a mixed grilled seafood plate! The fish, mussels, calamari, and shrimp were great! We had a nice dinner and went to this place called Fenocchio’s for gelato! We had gelato last night here too! They had over 90 flavors… I got Mango one night and Baileys the next. Eric got Baileys the first night and Cinnamon the 2nd night! Good stuff!
July 21: Time to move up on our trip and catch the train for Monaco! It only took us 20 minutes by train to get to Monaco. This place is amazing! I think it might be the cleanest and safest place I have ever seen. We exit the train station (which is underground so that it isn’t seen) and walk a few minutes to get to Hotel De France. We are here early so we left for some site seeing in Monaco Ville. Monaco Ville is on one side of the harbor and Monte Carlo is on the other side. Monaco Ville is up on top of a cliff that overlooks the sea! This is where The Palace (still a working palace today) is located with guards on patrol. The two princesses live in Monaco Ville as well just outside the palace. We walked through the old town and went to the royal cathedral where Princess Grace is buried. Then we walked down the other side of the hill through the gardens and past the aquarium. This place is just beautiful!
After walking through Monaco Ville we headed for Monte Carlo (where the casino is located). We walked down by the harbor where are the ships were docked… these boats (ships) were the biggest and most expensive (I’m sure) private water crafts I have ever seen anywhere! A lady walked out of her ship into her Rolls Royce (with driver) as we were passing and staring☺ Anyway we walked along the Formula One Race Track through the tunnel. I can’t tell you how many Ferrari’s drove by as we were walking. This place is so small only about 30,000 people live here (only 10,000 of them are full time residence)….the other 20,000 use it as a playground for their expensive toys.
Later in the evening we ate dinner along the harbor with a great view of all the ships. As we started to walk back to the hotel Eric noticed two Ferrari’s parked on the sidewalk with a sign reading, “Drive a Ferrari”! Well that was all it took (and about 90 Euro) and Eric was off in a red 360 Spider Ferrari! He drove the formula 1 racetrack in this nice car! When they drove by the crowds at the casino, tourists were taking his picture!!!! His adrenaline was pumping all evening from that one ride. Once you get a taste of the good life there is no going back (isn’t that what they say?).
July 22: Today we were headed to Milan for an evening on our way to Gstaad…. That is until we found out that the Italian Trains were on strike! So we met this other couple that were suppose to get on the same train and decided we would try to rent a car and drive. We walked to Hertz only to find out that it would cost 700 euros alone just to drop off the car in another country. So we went to Avis to check on there fees… Avis was a bit cheaper but still not worth the 300 euros! So we went back to our hotel and booked another night and hoped that we would have better luck tomorrow. Now that we had an unexpected extra day in Monaco we went to the swimming pool down by the harbor. There was a process to this place! Eric and I had to enter separately (you hd to go through the women’s and men’s dressing rooms). You had to change in the dressing room and put your clothes in a tote (that had a number). Then you checked your tote with the people behind the counter, and shower before you went into the pool area. When Eric and I met up we found a small spot by the lifeguards chair trying to steal some of the shade from his umbrella. Since it was so windy, they made everyone take down their umbrellas…this was bad for Eric. So we stayed about as long as we could without E getting too burnt!
July 23: Our train was not canceled today! That means we have to get from Monaco to Gstaad in one day! This is a really long distance, but we were up for the challenge. When we got into Milan (over an hour late!) we had to get a reservation for our train to Spiez (we had 40 minutes). Well, three lines and 45 minutes later we missed our train. So we got on the next one that left about 15 minutes later (not too bad). Our train was nice, and the scenery was magnificent! Northern Italy and Switzerland are so beautiful (beyond description). We got off in Spiez and boarded our third train of the day! In Zweisimmen (small town) we switched onto a bus in the pouring rain that took us two towns over then back onto a train for one stop to get to Gstaad! WOW (4 trains and 1 bus) we got in at 10:30 PM and found our way to our hotel in the rain. The kitchens were closed but we had salad and beer for dinner!!! Not to bad… Our room was great…. We had a balcony with a view of the Swiss Alps. Hopefully tomorrow with be sunny!????
July 24: Today we woke and it was still raining! So we had a huge breakfast at our hotel. They had cheese, meat, fruit salad, yogurt, Croissants, 5 different types of bread, energy bars, 3 different types of cereal, coffee, orange juice, and hot chocolate! This place was only a 2 stare, so you can imagine that Gstaad it a pretty nice little resort town (like Vail?) E and I walked to the village where the main volleyball court was set up just as Misty May Treanor, and Kerri Walsh were playing their first match. Since it was raining there were plenty of wet seats available. Needless to say they won their games and the whole tournament (later that week). After a few more games E and I decided to go back to the hotel to dry out, warm up and eat lunch. After lunch we went to Court 2 for the USA men’s teams (there were about 3-4 consecutive USA men’s matches in a row). Just as the first game starts Eric starts congratulating someone, so I look up and there is Kerri Walsh walking up the bleachers and sits down right behind us. So I get my picture taken with her (I was very nervous asking, but what the hay!). As the game progressed most of the USA women’s players were sitting all around us including Misty May, Wacholder (sp?), and Youngs! E and I were the only non AVP groupies of the crew (we were the only fans (non players) in the stands ☺.
July 25: We had to wake up really early today to catch our train(s). So we had an early breakfast and walked to the train station (only about 5 minutes away). Today was another long travel day… we were traveling all the way back to the house in Wutha Farnroda. We arrived in Wutha around 5-6 pm and decided to walk back to the house. As we were walking, a car stops by the side of the road… it was Sven (our pilot)! So he gave us a ride to the house (it would have been about a 25 minute walk). We were saved by Sven! Eric’s dad was leaving in the morning so we spent the rest of the night at the house with him.
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