The first night on the boat was rough. The sea rocked us to sleep quite literally! The next day was our tour of Nice and Monaco. The ship had to change its port of call to Monaco because the storm seas were too rough to dock in the Nice port. We got ready for the day thinking...what's a little rain? We can handle it!
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| Enjoying the port of Monaco, and also still dry! |
Our tour bus took us to Nice first, and within the first 5 minutes of being outside we were soaked. The rain did not let up once, and the wind blew our umbrellas inside out. This made touring the city nearly impossible. Ben wanted to see the seashore of Nice first, where we were one of the only people on the beach. Next we went to lunch, where I got to channel some of my old French language skills. Ben was impressed. I can order food better in French than in Hungarian--go figure!
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| Ben on the beach in Nice. |
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| At the beach in Nice. |
We tried to walk around the city streets, but our shoes were filling with water so we decided to go to the Modern Museum (and it was free). Once there we dried off and relaxed a bit, but it was hard to fully enjoy the artwork when your shoes squish with each step.
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| A street in Nice. |
After the museum it was time to head back to the bus for our stop in Monaco. We were scheduled to have 3 hours of touring around the city. Since our ship was docked in Monaco, many people had already decided just to go back instead of touring the city.
However, Ben and I were thought, well we're already soaked and besides how often do you get to tour around Monaco? Oh how wrong we were!
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| Overlooking the city of Monaco and also soaked to the bone. |
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| The church Grace Kelly married the Prince of Monaco. |
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| Where the Royal family lives. |
We thought the weather might get better as the day went on, but we were wrong. It got even worse! The winds picked up even more and the rain became the size of quarters. We saw many beautiful sites--at least we think they were beautiful. It was hard to tell what everything really looked like with the storm clouds and dense rain. After about an hour and half of touring Monaco we gave up. We were soaked, cold, and miserable. Horary, I thought, the first stop on our cruise was a total bust! Plus, it was one of the few places I hadn't been before (that we were scheduled to go to on our cruise).
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| Our ship docked at the Monaco port. |
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Ben in Monaco.
This was not the James Bond moment he had imagined for himself. |
Once we made it back to our hotel room we had to get ready for "formal" night on the cruise. Don't you just love getting dressed up after a day of being in a tsunami? Unfortunately, for Ben the jacket he had been wearing all day was also his "blazer" for the night. I put blazer in quotes because it's not a blazer at all, but just a corduroy jacket that kinda looks nice--but is definitely not formal wear. In Ben's defense it's the nicest thing he could have brought. You see, back in August when packing for Hungary we didn't pack any "fancy" clothes because we were told it is a casual dress code for school. We never imagined we would need formal wear!
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| Ben in his "blazer." |
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| Me in my "formal" wear. |
When we arrived at dinner that night, I really didn't think they would let us in. The hostess looked Ben up and down and said, "This is formal night you know." Ben, as cool as ever just stared back and said, "Yeah, I know," and then pointed to the collar of his "blazer" and smiled. She realized Ben wasn't going to be refused and we were seated at a corner table out of site from the main tables. There we enjoyed a dinner with a family from Scotland, who were celebrating their father's 95th birthday. They were dressed in kilts! Ben's jacket was soaked by the way, so as soon as we sat down he said, "Sorry, for my lack of informality. My nice dinner jacket got soaked today and do mind if I take it off?" They of course didn't mind. I must say the nicest people we met on the cruise were those from the British Isles. They are so much more understanding and they are good listeners. Not nearly as abrasive and loud as Americans. Ben says that's because they are taught manners and American's aren't.
After dinner we decided to go swimming! Go figure, I thought we had been swimming all day! The indoor pool on the ship was empty---everyone else was still enjoying "formal night." As the ship made its way back to the rocky seas the pool became a wave pool. We were sloshed about back and forth, it was like a ride at an amusement park. After our swimming adventure we went back to our room and finally dried off. Come back tomorrow for Part 3---Do the Hairgrove's get rained out again or do they find some sunshine after all?
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