3-30-2016: Day 3, Nice Day for Nice...

Nice, Monte Carlo, Grande Prix and the Royal Palace

Breakfast we decide to share and meet at 9AM. 9AM comes and no one is moving until Krim says,"what time is it?". "9:10AM" says I. I ring the Aho room and after a bit Tina mumbles some stuff and finally, "Huh, what time is it? And so we all show up 15 minutes later not looking our best but the folks are kind and we have the beautiful room overlooking the Sea all to ourselves. 

Coffee works it wonders and the food helps too and before long we are ready for the day. We have a three hour tour and we start with Nice - and it is nice (ha, ha, I had to say it!). 

We tour the old city and see some old Roman ruins and get some great views from the hill side. We also get a view of what is said to be the most expensive house in the world and a story to go with it involving the New York Nets basketball team Russian owner. $500,000,000 was the agreed upon price from the Russian to the local French banking family. So the Russian puts $14 million down to start the escrow. The French police get wind of the deal and start to check on this Russian and find there may be something with this guy and a young girl that could be maybe not so legal So, anyway, the Russian gets upset and backs out of the deal. So the French family's reaction is to keep the deposit. "Not so fast" says the Russian. And everyone brings in their lawyer and finally the French banker says, "I don't need your money, pay up and I will donate the $14 million to charity". The Russian keeps the lawyer working and, sure enough, the French win. And the money is still donated to charity and the Russian looks elsewhere for property.

We stop in the old part of Nice and walk the outdoor flea market that stretches a few blocks full of beautiful flowers and art and food and it is fun. But back in the car we go - we are headed to Monaco. We drive where the formula one cars will race in May and already they are putting up the stands. All the big name retail shops line the street and just down a bit is the the famous Monte Carlo casino. How cool is that?James Bond was right there. Parked in front is a Bentley, a Rolls, a Ferria, a Porche and up drives a Bentley and a driver guy hops out all decked out in hat and suit to open the door for a well heeled fur coated well cared for women to enter the Hotel Paris no doubt for a tea with some lady friends. Big ocean yachts sit in the harbor waiting for their owners. We walk around the corner to see the church where Princes Grace was married and on to see the palace just in time to see the changing of the guard. We later see from afar the road where Grace died in an auto accident. 

Fun stuff all but it is time to stop at a market for wine and back to our hotel to prepare for another Michelin star restaurant. Again we indulge and run up a bill that not only makes the heart jump it causes small beads of sweat to break out on the forehead and the hand to shake so it is hard to sign the receipt and put the damaged and worn out credit card back in the wallet.Thank goodness it was a Wonderful experience and we swear it is hot dogs for awhile until we bring our average dinner price down to a reasonable level. But was it an unbelievable experience!

3-29-2016: Day 2, The French Riviera

Half way from Nice to Monaco is the little village of Eze and it is ancient and known for charm and shopping and tourist for a good reason. But we are sometimes smart and we planned this trip before the season begins and the sun starts to bake. So the village is fairly empty and so far, no rain. The car can only get to the bottom of the hill and they kick you out to walk - steep walk up the hill through tiny walkways past tiny shops and picture a minute twists and turns. Pant, pant, pant. 

So we register at the desk, which is just a tiny little room with a desk. After they confirm that we are the Brookers and the Ahos, our lady asks us if we would like a drink of champagne to take the edge off of traveling. GREAT!! She takes us out to a drop dead gorgeous balcony overlooking the French Riviera. Out comes a young man about as soon as we arrive with four glasses of pink bubbles with blueberries decoratively floating in each glass.




Our hotel, Chateau Eza is at the top and lucky for us but not so for the bell hop cause he has our bags! This village is old - like 12th century old. Walking to the hotel we pass through a gate meant to protect the village and it worked for awhile. That is until 1543 with Suliman the great from Turkey jointed up with others and breached the defense and took over the town. The hotel folks are great and send us outside for a welcome drink on the terrace over looking the Mediterranean Sea - the beautiful turquoise blue waters for which the area is known. This is a village of Cobblestone walkways, rock walls, hand painted shop signs and it is delightful. 

We have reservations for dinner just down the walk at La Chevre d'or - a Michelin star restaurant. Oh, it is nice! And it is very discreet as we soon discover the menu for the guys have prices while the ladies have only food items. That explains why Jim and Clyde are croaking when we see an appetizer of Asparagus for one is over $70! 



We all just get an entree. Fish for "the girls" and beef for Jim and I went for the pigeon - it is France, right? The bird meal comes with an explanation because it is important to know that the cook does not just wrack off the head of the pigeon or shoot it up with a shotgun. No, no, no Monsieur. Such acts of brutality allow the blood to leave the body and with it so much flavor. No, it is important to strangle the bird and in so doing keep the blood and flavor in the bird. Frankly, I would have it no other way and was so happy to find the food is prepared properly. OMG! I ate the whole damn thing and proud I did. But the French do it right - at least here they do. We start to understand the reason for the prices. When you book a table you get the table - for the night! There is no turning the table to make a profit, they please the few lucky enough to get a table. 





So we start at 7:30 for drinks and show up at the table when we want and we leave the restaurant around 10. And the entree is not all we get. The staff brings several courses and each is a beauty to look at and the French wine is mighty fine. What a time and meal we have. But the flight was long and hard and the lag is hitting us and we start falling asleep on our feet.  

So bed it is and we sleep.

3-28-2016: Day 1, Travel ..It's Always An Adventure.

Let's do this!

It turns out you cannot just fly to Nice. Nope. You have to fly a little, fly a lot and then fly a little again. Jim and Tina start a day early and fly from San Luis to San Francisco cause the next flight starts early - really early. Like before they turn on the oxygen in the world early. Like 5AM early. But this is a vacation so they show up and off to Chicago they go and then they sit and they sit and wait and wait and wait cause the plane no wanna go in the weather. Now the next connection is in trouble but that only means they can meet up with Clyde and Krim in London and fly into Nice together. Remember what they say in Iceland; "Things will work out".

Clyde and Krim start with a nice flight from Sacramento to L.A.and after a bus ride we enter the new International terminal and it is kind of weird - almost empty and not a flight and gate sign to be found. I guess the architect did not want to spoil the looks with a big easy to find and read sign to help folks. No, the sign is on a post facing away from traffic. Brilliant. 

As Clyde and Krim enter the British Air huge plane we find it is built like a double decker bus! Really! They have an upper floor and a lower floor and both are full of folks. 500 or more folks. But not all folks are treated the same - surprise! Folks with way too much money or those with way to many points from flying all the time (read the latter as Aho) have seats and beds and we find out later - pajamas. Clyde and Krim find their seats are a little different. Our seats are packed in like sardines. Like small sardines. Lord help you if you drop anything cause there is not enough room to bend over to pick it up. There should be a law, I am here to tell you - chickens live better! Good thing the flight is ONLY 10 hours! No sleeping happening tonight. Anyway, we all make it to Nice and so does our baggage (how do they do that will all the connections?). Our driver awaits and off we go for a ride overlooking the French Riviera. Oh-La-La!