Jun
27
Our day at sea was nice inspite of the Mistral that blew through. It was quite rough but since we were only going 9.9kts it wasn’t bad. Deck 10 was closed most of the day due to the wind.
We had another brunch at Palo courtesy of Chuck Maida and All Seasons Travel. It was quite nice to go again and we emerged stuffed as usual. Stacey will be glad to know that we didn’t have Marco as our server. The rest of the day we relaxed and packed. Lauren and I played Jackpot bingo, but, alas, we didn’t win. I got down to 1 number and Lauren made it 2 numbers.
After we finished packing we went to dinner. It was quite tough saying goodbye to Sachin and Katerina. They have been, by far, the best server team that we have encountered on DCL – Frances says that Cesar on the 11 day cruise was as good. We also made great friends at the tables next to us. We really enjoyed our dining with this bunch and now count them as new friends. After dinner Frances and I went to Diversions for drinks with our friends and had a great time. Then it was off to the room to put the suitcases out – oops – I didn’t realize that they were supposed to be out by 10pm – luckily at 1030pm ours were still picked up. We went to bed knowing that our cruise was over.
Jun
26
We had another wonderful day in Villefranche. It is a beautiful port – the former home of the US 6th fleet in the 50’s and 60’s. Frances and I did the Ultimate Indulgence at the Vista Spa in the morning. It was in one of the Spa Villas on the ship – and it was wonderful. We then ate lunch and tendered in for our excursions. Frances and Lauren did the perfume making excursion and I went to Eze and Nice. Eze is an incredible little village that it situated on the top of the mountain – the call it an Eagle’s Nest. It was done for safety and defense. You can only walk up into the old village as there are no streets. Many nice shops lined the path. There are two hotels at the top and I bet that a stay there is wonderful. My excursion then took me to Nice. We went to a small wine and cheese shop for a wine and cheese tasting. The wine was ok and the cheese was very good. I never knew that Muenster made in France was so strong, definitely unlike what we have at home. We then walked around the city, bought some glacee and viewed some of the sights on the beach. Frances and Lauren went to the Fragonard perfume factory where they made their own perfume creation. They then went to the Eze and enjoyed their stay there too.
After a quick turn around Frances and I met for our evening tour, a visit to the Grand Casino of Monte Carlo. It was an enjoyable evening and I managed to win a little. The Grand Casino is beautiful from the outside, but a little less awe inspiring from the inside. They only had 1 craps table open and a bunch of people who didn’t know how to play were playing so I stuck with the slots. There was one gentleman playing 1000 euro hands of blackjack. Needless to say I only watched. They had many table of roulette, and one other game that I was unfamiliar with. It was a fun evening, but we missed dinner and ate room service on our return.
Tuesday is an at sea day and our journey is coming to an end.
Jun
25
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Jun
25
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Jun
25
We tendered in Villefranche. Frances and Lauren are making perfume while I do the wine and cheese tour. Sent via BlackBerry from Cingular Wireless
Jun
24
Today we took a bus tour of the city. It only lasted four hours, but that was plenty. We visited the old port and the Basilica Notre Dame de la Garde (Our Lady of the Guard). It sits on the highest hill in the city. Quite a beautiful view. We then stopped at the port again for some shopping at the stalls along the waterfront, but the stores themselves were closed as it was Sunday. We stopped briefly at the local fish market just to view the sights. We then headed back to the Magic to eat lunch and relax. We ate at Topsiders and went our separate ways. Lauren went to watch a movie, Frances to the pool, and I’m in the room blogging.
It’s hard to believe that our trip is almost over. We visit Villefrance tomorrow. In the morning Frances and I are doing a Spa Villa. In the afternoon Frances and Lauren go and make perfume while I visit Eze for wine and cheese.
Jun
24
It was a beautiful and sunny day for our visit to Santa Margherita and Portifino. This was one of the most beautiful places that we visited so far. The bus drive was about an hour and 15 minutes from the port city of La Spezia. The visit to the city included a walking tour and a visit to a beautiful church. We then had pizza at a local restaurant. After some time for shopping we headed up the coast to the port city of Portifino. We had to take a boat, which wasn’t too bad, but the return trip trip made Frances a little queasy. Portifino was incredible. It was so colorful and beautiful. It was the obvious inspiration for Portofino Bay at Universal Studios in Orlanda. They copied it fairly closely. We stopped at a few stores and managed to buy a few things, including a bottle of wine. The trip back to the ship passed quickly as we all managed to take a quick nap, luckily Frances’ queasiness had subsided as she was afraid of getting sick on the bus. The public toilets did in fact have toilet paper, but the men’s didn’t have a commode, only a hole in the floor. Quite an interesting experience.
Jun
24
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Jun
24
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Jun
23
Just finished lunch – heading to Portifino. Beautiful day – sunny cool but windy: Sent via BlackBerry from Cingular Wireless
