This was an early morning starting with an alarm. Suitcases outside the door by 7am. Ups, we were a little late but all other luggage was still there anyway. Lucky!
Breakfast and off we went ... our two groups in two groups as always.
Right away a strange building still in Arles. Had to take a photo.
When we are driving along I always like to look where we are. There would be so much more to see!
Suddenly I remember that we never took a photo with the other Mr. & Mrs. B... . Yes, this has never happened to us that we met another couple with the same last name and they are not related to us, at least not that we know about. When we received the list of travelers several weeks ago we saw Tammy and Todd listed from Maryland too. They were in the other group but we had meals on the ship together at the same table several times.
The buses stopped for a break at the same highway place though and we quickly took care of it.
Tammy told me that they sometimes come to Richmond to the museums or so. We hope we will meet them again.
The groups went to different vineyards for a tasting and lunch. We went to the Château de Saint-Martin.
We were told that it is still in the same family for 7 generations now but the owners were always ladies. Babies born were always girls.
Our lady guide liked to talk about that "girl power".
Interesting was the fact that they are using oak barrels for aging but also very large limestone vessels which are in the ground. She also talked about that those limestone vessels need to be cleaned twice a year, it is a very dangerous job because of the fumes and that is the job of the men.
The château where you could rent a room for the night.
And now we start the tasting. Our guide has a very "poetic" way of discribing the wines. Interesting are the tastes of the same badge but aged in the different oak or limestone vessels.
The apple tart dessert was very nice but it would have been much better if it had been taken out of the freezer a bit earlier.
Our next stop was the Rhône American Cemetery. The person in charge was an imployee by the USA government. He was very, very good explaining things to us. All was done with so much care and reverance.
He talked to us about 3 different persons interred here in detail with lot of compassion. It was moving and I have a new understanding about these places.
Around 4 pm we were in our hotel room. The Splendid Hotel & Spa is in a very good location in Nice.
The view from our (tiny) balcony. The large window has what we call Rolladen in Germany (outside shutters) but we can't open them. The balcony door has the same and the mechanic of it works and gives us enough light.
After sitting in the bus so long we decided that the suitcases can wait and went for a walk. The Meditaranean See was not far.
I was eager to go down to the beach but it was very stony. Nice doesn't really have sandy beaches. The reason why I wanted to go there was my Father's story. In WWII he was trained to be a reconnaissance pilot but was shot down and he had to crash-land the plane. I thought it was in Nice but (ha-ha) I just found his written memoirs on this computer and it was Marseille. (But more about that later)
Back to the hotel....
... and up to the roof top on the 8th floor. OMG, the view is incredible!
Nice ending of the day!!! Thank the Lord, especially that my father had survived that crash-landing!
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