Unsurprisingly, Ruth made a friend at the Tampa airport. Her new friend tried to stay with Ruth in the Frankfurt airport, much to the consternation of her parents.
First destination: Nice, France. We arrived late afternoon, severely jet-lagged. Dinner with our group and this image were about all I could manage.
First night menu. The Floating Egg was amazing.
View from our hotel room balcony
Yes, the water was almost that blue. I shoot through a polarizer but did not push contrast or saturation.
Up the street past our hotel
A busy day at the beach. No sand, small smooth rocks instead.
Waiting for the minibuses
On the road through Nice
Path to the vines. The vineyard was at the top of a very narrow, winding road.
Kelly and the winemaker, Gio, explaining the vines on the hill behind them. Wilson, for once, paying attention.
Looking out over vines. Brangelina's winery is out there someplace.
The wines
The Wines, the Winemaker, and our Leader.
Remnants
Tools of the trade.
Waiting for wine
Wine Baskets
Hot sunny morning. The sun zeroed in on my Lensball and started lighting a barrel on fire. Moved everything before the winery burned down.
A very orange building.
Pastries and...
... Pizza.
I liked this image but couldn't decide how to finish it. So, two visions.
Umbrella overhead shade.
Wilson, of course, required police protection.
Very small shrine. There is a little statue of the Virgin Mary in the alcove.
Door humor.
Probably the most photographed spot in Nice
Morning run.
NO noisy games.
2nd floor apartment. I like the blues and the three segments of the image
A rocky street corner
The Nice War Memorial is built into the rock face.
There are small memorials dedicated to each of the military types.
View from the park. I fiddled a bit with HDR and like the way the colors pop.
This is what was originally where the park is. Very little remains.
The waterfall was amazing.
I didn't notice the bird at the top of the falls watching me.
It looks like a cave entrance but is actually narrow steps up to the next level.
Can't leave highest place in Nice without some scenics.
Lensball scenic
A marker for early tourists and visitors?
Hooked on Lensball lens. I like the colors, even if it is upside down.
Rock snakes
Some of the walkways had interesting detail work.
Earlier pictures were from the bottom of the waterfall. This is from the top. The birds perched on the very edge. The rushing water did not bother them.
Three images of comparative boat sizes, starting with VERY big. This was, according to several people, Prince Albert's yacht. His castle is in the background.
Big in back, smaller heading out and small coming in. Of course, the size of some of the yachts made everything look smaller by comparison.
BIG and TINY. The little sailboats are all tied together nose to stern and pulled by the lead boat. Some of the sailboats are crewed by very young kids.
Evening arriving in Monaco.
All the Monaco pictures were taken from the veranda of our room onboard ship.
Morning fog blowing out
Moon over Antibes
Color editing
White house
Ruth showing Wilson what France looks like (note Honig pin on Wilson's hat... his support of the cruise sponsor)
Antibes and a small boat
Early morning arrival
Repurposed naval ships. Retired and blocking off a section of the harbor.
Wilson pretending he owns a winery.
Winemaker and Kelly
"This strange little thing is a what?"
Barrels F17 and F16 behind our guides.
Barrel #19
BIG wine containers
View from lunch
More narrow strreets
1744
23 x 2
Do not go this way
Do not go THIS way or you will fall off a cliff.
Gallery
The nicest police station entrance ever.
View next to the police station.
Last view of Toulon
End of Day
One of the early island inhabitants makes a subtle appearance.
Do not climb!
Mandatory Door Image
Taking a break. The area was beautiful but it was VERY hot.
House on a hill with its own dock.
Supervised swimmg
Place to get away from it all?
Strange little underground structure just on the water's edge at the bottom of a step hill.
Land's End
End of day
Napoleon, in a toga, keeping a close eye on the Market
Sliced sausage and dried meat samples: salami, prosciutto and several I have no idea what the names were. All were good!
Several of the outside walls had detailed murals
Complicated wine machinery. A bottler?
Wilson being passed among sommeliers and chef to be strangled for inappropriate comments about a superb meal.
Steps... sooooo many steps.
Approach...
Assault
Wilson decided to change his name to Brown and is seen overlooking his kingdom. Notice his long-suffering servant is beginning to lose patience with his antics.
Denizens of Portofino. A hanging rhino?
Pink... Lemurs?
See the gentleman in the yellow vest? Just after I shot this image he walked over, told me not to take any more pictures of the yacht and to move along.
Two images of our ship, Sirena (it's the one on the left :) )
Look at the small boat to the left of Sirena moving away from the ship. It is one of the ship's tenders used to ferry passengers to the dock and back.
This is how you drive a tender. Using the windshield is not cool.
Shipboard Menu
View from the Dining Room
Honig Wines
Appetizer
Salad
Soup
Pasta
Dessert (nope, no pictures of the entrees; the Osso Bucco appeared and I lost focus)
The Chef & Kelly (ignore the bottom of the image)
View after Dinner through the window
Retiring to the lounge after dinner (Wilson doing what he does best... four fisting). No flash & low lighting; the graininess gives "authenticity"
Flip flops were for sale every where we went!
World War II memorial
Two sidewalk images. The center of this one was metal that must have originally said something, now eroded through time and the elements.
A Menu and three signs.
Two signs a little behind the times
As with Nice, no sand on the beach.
Bucket List Goal: Ruth wanted to put her feet in the Mediterranean.
