Day
17 – June 15, 1981:
Today, we left Florence and headed for
Pisa, Italy, going along the seacoast (French Riviera), which was just
lovely. When we arrived in Pisa, we saw,
of course, the Leaning Tower of Pisa. However,
we did not climb up to the top; we went shopping for souvenirs instead. After about an hour, we got back on the bus
and headed towards Nice, France, stopping for lunch in a little seaside hotel
along the way. After going through
French customs at the border and getting some French francs, we soon got into
Nice and checked into our hotel (which was a little dive, as far as I was
concerned!).
After dinner with the Rowland women at
the Cafe de Paris, we returned to our hotel (the Rivoli) and got freshened up
and dressed to go out to Monte Carlo. We
intended to go gambling there at the casino later this evening for a short time. But, before that, we went to Monaco to see
the Royal Palace of Prince Rainier and Princess Grace of Monaco. (Monaco is a principality; not really part of
France).
The drive along the coast was just
beautiful in the orange/grey dusk and we could see the harbour and bay at Nice
and the harbour at Monaco very clearly and it was so lovely! After a brief look at the outside of the
Royal Palace, we went to the casino, which was really dazzling. I ended up winning about 200 French francs,
but lost about 25 francs, and after buying some drinks for Gloria and myself for
50 francs, I ended up with 75 francs - more than I had had! It was such fun gambling there! I did much better than the others on our tour
that, more or less, lost everything they’d brought with them that night and
ended up with nothing. Oh, well! We spent the rest of our time there talking
to John, our driver, and others and then got back on the bus and started back
to our hotel around 12:00 midnight.
Along the way, we sang songs and told jokes and got back to the hotel at
about 12:30 am.
Day
18 – June 16, 1981:
Today, we’re spending the full day in
Nice and we have the day to ourselves (for once, thank God!). This morning, Gloria, Voni, Irene, Bea and I
all took off to go shopping and to the bank.
Voni and I both decided that the clothes here were much too expensive
and decided not to buy any; Gloria, however, bought a 2-piece bathing suit,
which cost her about 200 French francs (about $40 CDN).
After we got back, Gloria, Voni and I
went to the beach and did some sunbathing and swimming there. It happened to be a topless beach! So, naturally, we took pictures. This is definitely something we don’t have
back home (unless you live in a nudist colony).
We, ourselves, were too shy to strip down so that everyone could see our
bodies, so we just lay down on our stomachs with our tops off. It was very nice beach in terms of the
weather, but the beach is not sandy, it’s rocky! You have to pay an entrance fee to the beach
(in order to use the change rooms and showers) and you must rent a mattress too,
just so you can lie on the rocky beach.
After staying there a few hours, drinking beer and taking pictures, we
finally left the beach and went back through a lovely park to our hotel and
also went to the bank again.
Back at our hotel, we drank some more
beer and coke and then made plans to go out to dinner with the Rowland women to
a brasserie close by and had some pizza.
After dinner, Gloria and I went back towards the beach and looked in at
the Hotel Meridian to see if their discotheque was open, but it wasn’t
yet. So, we ended up sitting around at
the waterfront for about 15 minutes until 2 strange fellows tried picking us
up, which we did not want, and we then left.
On the way back, we stopped off for a banana split and then returned
back to our hotel where we met up with John and Lillian (our driver and tour
guide), and Tom’s group (the Aussies).
We all sat around at the hotel and spent
the evening telling dirty jokes and laughing a lot together. Tom even suggested that we go out and see some
porno flicks at a theatre just around the corner, but they turned out to be too
expensive at 60 French francs. After the
evening was over, Gloria and I went upstairs to our room and found out that
someone had played a practical joke on us!
They had taped a blanket across the door with masking tape and leaned a
green shutter up against it. When we
tried the door knob, we discovered that it was totally covered in calamine
lotion! We never did find out who did
this to our door, but we think it was Voni (she’s the type who would do
it!). I asked Voni if she had done it,
but she vehemently denied it. Anyway,
Nice is real nice and I would definitely return here if I had the chance.
Day
19 – June 17, 1981:
Today, we got up early as usual, lined
up for the common showers that were on each floor, and had breakfast in our
rooms. We then got on the bus and left
for Lyons, France where we would spend the night. We stopped at a perfume factory on the way in
Grasse, France and I bought some lipstick and perfumed soap there.
Along the way, we stopped briefly in
Avignon, France, a charming little town on the Rhone River (where the Pope’s
Palace is), and picked up some postcards there.
Unfortunately, we could only spend about ¾ of an hour there.
Then, we finally arrived in Lyons, and
for once, we got a decent hotel room this time, but the food and service were
just barely adequate. (This is what you
get on a budget tour, don’t ever forget that!).
While walking in the area of the hotel after dinner, we quickly realized
that there was nothing going on; the town was dirty and deserted and the stores
closed at about 8:00 pm. So, we returned
to our hotel and drank beer in the hotel bar for the rest of the evening before
retiring to our room.
Day
20 – June 18, 1981:
Today, we had to get up early (6:00 –
6:30 am), got showered and dressed and had a quick breakfast. We are heading towards “Gay Paris” (Paris,
France)! For Gloria and I, this was
definitely the highlight of the bus tour.
I have been really, really looking forward to seeing the sights of
Paris!
On the way, we stopped at a wine factory
and tasted several wines there. We were
only going to be there a very short time.
Madge, a South African woman on our tour, got really smashed after
drinking about 10 small glasses of white Kriter wine in about ½ an hour and
ended up dancing down the aisles of the bus and laughing a lot. As a matter of fact, we were all pretty
giddy, since we all drank as much wine as we could in the time that we had, so
we had a good time there – very memorable!
Then, we had lunch in Auxerre, France, a
little tiny town in which John (our driver) found it extremely difficult to
manoeuvre the bus around the street corners (they were so narrow). After an adequate, not-so-great lunch, we
then left Auxerre for Paris!
When we finally reached Paris, we were
so happy because after today, we would be pretty well free to do as we liked
since we hadn’t booked any excursions with Cosmos in Paris, since Gloria and I
were going to be spending about 7 days (in total, with the tour and afterward)
in Paris.
Our hotel with the tour, Berthier La
Tour, was very modern and the rooms were nice though somewhat small. Once we got settled into our rooms, we went
down to the snack bar to grab a bite.
That’s all we had time for because the Rowlands had had trouble getting
up to their room on the 9th floor due to the elevators breaking
down. They finally ended up taking a
freight elevator with the help of a fellow on staff at the hotel.
At 8:30 pm, we left for an “illumination
tour” (evening tour) of Paris to see the sights and the lights for the very
first time! It’s a very beautiful city
and I loved it on first sight! After the
tour, we dropped off those who had signed up for the cabaret (excursion) and
then the rest of us were taken back to the hotel. I got some of the tour people’s addresses
(John and “Billy, the Monk”) and then some of us went into the hotel bar for a
while before turning in for the night.
The tour with Cosmos will be finished on
June 20. The tour is supposed to be a
19-day tour ending in London, England, but we are not going back to London; we
wanted to stay in Paris for the rest of our vacation. We are mostly on our own here anyway. Other than London, Paris is the last city on
the tour.
Tonight, I met a very special guy, Sam,
in the hotel bar. He is a Frenchman who
asked me out for a date, first for Saturday night (and then later, changed it
to Friday night). Wow! What a sexy guy! He works in the hotel as a part-time
bartender and I agreed to go out with him – I am looking forward to this date,
let me tell you!
copyright 2014, Anne Shier. All rights reserved.
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