Nice. May 27

Arriving in Nice this morning

view over Nice

View of Monte Carlo, snapped from the Middle corniche

Near the village of Eze

Dimi, one of the dancers onboard, who helps run the Trivia contests. We cashed in our participation stamps today for some Azamara goodies

Nice
I can understand why this part of France is so popular with holiday makers and the jetset alike.  It is extraordinarily pretty: with fabulously blue water, green belts, multiple restaurants and bars filling the quaint streets of the old town.  The newer parts spread out as far as the eye can see.  The city has a population of around 350,000 even though it looks far larger.  The reason for this is that many of the houses are not occupied during the winter months.  In summer, the population swells to around half a million.
Many of those who have their second home here, are celebrities.  Some, like Elton John, Julian Lennon and Bono are attracted to the mild seaside climate and others, who can afford to buy a place in Monaco are attracted to its tax free status.  Apparently Monaco has the highest life expectancy AND the most expensive cost of living.  As a rule, the people who work in Monaco, cannot afford to work there. Not surprisingly the train service in and out of France and Italy is very efficient
We went out by bus early this morning and traveled along the coast road, past Villefranche and Beausoleil as far as the Italian border, just past Monaco.  In fact we were in three different countries within about 10 minutes, which was quite hard to process.  Although we were able to get some glorious shots of the coastline in France and Italy we weren't able to stop in Monaco, which was a little disappointing, even though we understood that space is at such a premium, there is actually nowhere for the buses TO stop.  Since we have another two days in the area, we might be able to go back there before we leave, perhaps by boat or train this time.  The cathedral, casino and the palace all appear to be worth a visit on foot.  Of course, the Monaco Grand Prix was only on last weekend, so there might be some remnants of that lying around too.
Our bus' main stop was at Eze, which is a tiny village perched on the cliffs overlooking the sea. Perfumes are made in the area and we bought some beautifully scented soaps to bring home.
On the way back to the port, the bus took us around the old town of Nice and along the Promenade des Anglais while our guide called out recommendations for meals, which may prove to be useful tomorrow after disembarkation.
One of the best things about cruising is the fact that you only have to unpack once.  The flipside of the same coin is that you have to do a really big pack right at the end - and it can lead to some nasty shocks.  'I'm sure we didn't buy THAT many t-shirts...'  And yet, there they are.

After spending much of the afternoon packing, we came to the realisation that even though we should squeak in with our international baggage allowance (30kg), but because we are using a different domestic carrier, we only have an allowance of 23 kg to use between Melbourne and Launceston. ( If we had stayed with the codeshare airline, we'd have been OK - Rookie error that. Won't do that again.)
Even so, we spent a lovely evening with friends onboard and have exchanged email addresses with them all.  Living in such close proximity to others has forged some terrific friendships- and I hope they will continue when we are all back in our own homes and back into our routines.
So, it's 11at night, the bags are packed and put outside our door, Vaughan is zzing peacefully.  I've got one more blog to write before we relocate to the Radisson Blue hotel on the Promenade des Anglais tomorrow morning, so I'm down in the Mosaic coffee lounge where the internet signal is good and strong.  I still have a few more internet minutes left on my onboard account tonight.  Maybe there will be enough to post this post from the Cote d'Azur.