Ou est Eze?

Cory and I are gearing up for a European adventure next week, of which I will write all about. In preparation, I'll be doing a few posts about our European trek from this time last year. These adventures were not previously written about, as at that point I was still wrapping up my posts about the List of 52. I'm making up for the oversight now!
In 2007, I watched an episode of "Passport to Europe" on the Travel Channel. For those who haven't seen it, it's hosted by a lady called Samantha Brown, a lady I am often very jealous of. She was in Nice for that episode, but half the program was dedicated to a little village just outside Nice, somewhere called Eze.

The place looked magnificent. It was a tiny medieval village on top of a mountain, a place that had remained unchanged for approximately 800 years. I was in love with it. I didn't know how or when, but I promised myself I would one day find myself in that charming little haven.

It was serendipity that finally brought me there four years later. Cory and I were on a Mediterranean cruise that would be making a one day stop at a port called Ville Franche sur Mer. Whatever that meant. I did a bit of research pre-cruise to see if there was anything interesting nearby that we could visit, and was delighted to discover there was. Eze!

For anyone who's seen "An Affair to Remember," you'll recall Eze as the beautiful spot where Debra Kerr goes with Cary Grant to visit his grandma.



Getting up to that mountain wasn't the easiest of tasks. We took an incredibly perilous cab ride around the mountain. Once up there, though, I forgot all about our cab driver nearly careening off a cliff. It was blissful. Check out the photos below, in which I do my best Debra Kerr impression. Cory looks pretty un-Cary Grant in the last photo, however. I snapped his picture once we reached the bottom of the mountain, and I think he was done with my photo-taking by that point.






Here's a video we took of a pretty little spot. It looks like we're in someone's private back yard, but we're not. This is what the whole village looks like. Also, strain your ears to hear Cory warn me about not falling off the mountain. We have a lot of conversations like that.

Bahama Mama

If you can't guess from the title, the above photo, or my last post (read here), I was on a cruise in the Bahamas this past weekend. I really like cruising, maybe it's the 70 year old in me. Or perhaps just the Floridian. Either way, I had a ton-o-fun. Cory and I were joining four Florida friends for the weekend and good times were had by all.

We boarded on Friday and Cory and I checked out our room (after downing a frozen rum drink first, of course). It was a cozy fit, but clean and comfortable. Cory's only experience cruising has been on Celebrity and they're known for larger cabins, so he was a bit surprised by the smaller cabins of Royal Caribbean. Still, everything fit and we had all the space we really needed.

On Saturday we hung around the pool for a while before disembarking for Nassau. With no real plans, we ended up pulled by throngs of people and music to Senor Frogs. Things got silly there.




Cory and our friend Dan decided it would be a good idea to jump over the bar's railing and into the water below. I think it was the buckets of beer.


The rest of us left the bar and walked to the Hilton next door, where we found the boys swimming to shore on the hotel's beach. It was a nice spot, so we all stayed and swam for a while.



Back on the boat, there was plenty of eating and drinking, followed by more eating and drinking. I didn't get any photos, but we did return to the cabin that evening to find this flying ninja monkey hanging from the ceiling:

The next day was private island day, and we boarded a very slow moving ferry to get to Coco Cay. We spent a few hours on the beach, me reading in a chair, Wittney and Dan playing in a volleyball tournament, and Cory almost drowning trying to swim out to a barge in the middle of the ocean. Usual beach stuff. We still have no idea how Cory scraped his head during his swim.



When we got back on the boat we went up to the boat's 360 degree bar, called the Viking Lounge, to watch the sunset. It was a bit cloudy so it wasn't the most magnificent view, but we did have some fun drinks. Though, I must say my dirty martini was a lot more masculine than Cory's mudslide or Phil's strawberry daiquiri.



We got our last photo during dinner. After that, there was a lot more toasting of drinks and a lot less taking of photos. We did spend some hours in the casino, even though I kept insisting Cory stop playing. He ended up doing pretty well at roulette, but we won't tell him I said that.

All in all, it was a fun cruise, though I'm not sure Royal Caribbean is my favorite cruiseline. But for a quick Memorial Day trip, the spring break-like vibe was just what we were looking for. How about you all, what sort of cruise style do you prefer?

Bon Voyage

I'm really excited about my weekend travel plans. Tomorrow Cory and I embark on a Bahamian cruise, and I've been looking forward to it for a while. As some of you may know, the past few months have been consumed with back and forth travel between DC and NY (which I'll be blogging about soon). We literally haven't taken a moment to breathe since March. It's been like working a seven-day-a-week job, and we're both really excited for the break. Plus, it's the first time in a while that we're not traveling for a wedding or similar event (which we're obviously happy to do, it's just nice to switch it up).

We're going with four others, so we'll be a nice-sized group of six. We'll be flying to Orlando then sailing on Royal Caribbean's Monarch of the Seas, for a three-night cruise stopping in Nassau and Coco Cay. Coco Cay is the cruiseline's private island and Nassau is the capital city of the Bahamas. Growing up in South Florida, I'm no stranger to cruises, and so I've been to Nassau a number of times. As such, I'm looking forward to just lying on the beach, not feeling the need to explore the island further. For anyone who's never been though, I'd recommend the Balcony House, dating back to the 1700s, and Government House, the government building where visitors can watch a British changing of the guard. It's like London lite.

We have an outside cabin, which is a big departure for me. I like to travel as much as possible, and this means monitoring your spending on each trip to make sure there's finances left for the next. In this case, the outside cabin actually ended up cheaper than an inside. We booked through Travelocity, but had to do so over the phone because of some tech glitch. When Cory told the woman on the phone our billing address, she told us DC residents get a break on the price. The total cost ended up being $100 less per person, and that's for an upgraded room. So anyone in the DC, Maryland or Virginia areas should look into that.

Now, I just have to finish our packing. There are a few cruise essentials I've learned over the years to always pack: Dramamine, mini shampoos and a small wristlet. Obviously, there are other important items (sunscreen comes to mind) but these are my tried and true tricks specific to cruising that seem to make life easier. Dramamine for those first nights when it seems the ocean is never going to go to sleep. Mini shampoos, even though I always forgo them and use hotel-supplied shampoo to save suitcase room. But most cruiselines offer very low quality toiletries (from a pump in the wall), and cruising is one of the few times I check a bag and pay the fee so that I can take on all the liquid I like. And a wristlet because as soon as I board, I heave off my oversized purse...for the duration of my trip, all I need is my cabin key hung conveniently from my arm.

I'll be sure to post back as soon as I return, and I'll try to take some pretty pictures of the blue Bahamas water. Until then, I hope everyone has a happy and safe Memorial Day. What are your weekend plans?