Nice, Monaco and the French Riviera

Chuck recently attended a conference on Maritime Systems Technologies, held in Nice on the French Riviera, and Kathi joined him on the trip. We won't go into the conference details here, but only report that it was professionally valuable for him, assisting in his job of enhancing opportunities for international research in science and technology.

The conference organizers had planned tours for the "accompanying persons" on several of the days, but, unfortunately, there were too few who signed up and the tours were canceled.

On the Saturday and Sunday before the conference we were able to take a couple of tours along the Riviera and into Monaco. One of our first stops was the very nearly complete Medieval village of Eze, which occupies a hilltop overlooking the sea. Today the village consists almost wholly of shops and cafes and is almost uninhabited in the off-season. While few people now live there year round, the village's structure and geography remain intact and walking its streets feels very much like stepping back through the centuries. We couldn't help but be heavily impressed at how difficult daily life must have been for the residents. Until 1939 the village had no water supply and water was carried up by the residents from a fountain at the foot of the steep hill; even after a water pipe reached the village, all the residents had to go to a single pipe to get water for cooking. Bathing was probably not a very frequent activity in such circumstances.

From Eze we continued along the beautiful Riviera coast to Monaco, passing and visiting so many places that evoke impressions of beauty, sopistication and glamor -- Villefranche, St. Jean cap Ferrat, Antibe, Cannes, Monaco and Monte Carlo. The beautiful blue (sometimes emerald) Mediterannean peeked at us around every turn, making it obvious why the area is called the Cote D' Azur, or Azure Coast.

Arriving in Monaco, we visited the area around the Palace, the beautiful cathedral where Prince Ranier and Princess Grace were married (and are buried) , passed the home of Princess Stephanie (second of Grace's children) and the Oceanographic Institute housed here, which is one of the world's best and was the professional home of Jacques Costeau. Everywhere in Monaco, one is reminded that this is, per capita, one of the wealthiest countries in the world, and one of the safest and most heavily policed. But also one of the most pleasant and beautiful.

Monaco, of course, is also the site of the Casino at Monte Carlo. We visited the casino in the company of a very pleasant Australian couple who joined us in our tour van. We did each put 20 Euros at risk in the Casino -- and each left 20 Euros less wealthy. The usual experience in such places, isn't it?

One thing you can't help noticing as you travel in the area is the enormous number of absolutely stunning (and hugely expensive) yachts. We saw our share -- at least one of which was larger than the U.S. Navy destroyers Chuck served in. We did not seem to attract any offers to take a short sea voyage with any of the owners.

We happened to be in Nice for the town's traditional "Porte Feste", when about 30,000 locals descend on the old port area for entertainment, food booths, boat rides and parades. We enjoyed it immensely, getting the feeling of being in an old European city of 100 years ago. It was very traditional and great fun.

To see more of our Riviera interlude go to: http://chuck.smugmug.com/gallery/1887800/1