The Beauty of the French Riviera

April 8th--So apparently the wind yesterday didn't do any good for our head congestion. Mike and I were both "down for the count" today. I did make it across the street to the pharmacy during the afternoon and the pharmacist gave us some antihistamine/decongestant medicine. We started taking it and almost immediately started feeling better. He also mentioned that the pollen is real bad right now. I guess spring allergies hit everywhere. We also found out the apartments can become really small when you are inside all day long. We basically watched every movie, played every game and colored everything we had to keep the kids entertained. Oh well, at least the scenery from the apartment was still beautiful!

April 9th--We awoke feeling much better today and decided to head out to see some more of the area. We were in awe today at all the breathtaking views and the beautiful scenery in the French Riviera. We took a bus to Cap Ferrat via the Low Corniche. The Low Corniche is the lowest route from Nice and goes all the way to Monaco (corniche means 'road on a ledge'). We got off at Pont St. Jean and walked about 30 minutes along the west coastline of Cap Ferrat seeing Nice to our right. Our walk was on a narrow sidewalk on a tight, windy road, but we enjoyed the scenery none the less. We arrived at our destination which was Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild. This is the ultimate in Riviera extravagant. A 1905 pink mansion that rises above Cap Ferrat. This mansion is a much known for it's beautiful gardens, which is where we started. We walked through the 7 lush gardens that were recreated from locations all over the world. The 7 gardens were: Spanish, Florentine, Stone, Japanese, Exotic, Rose, and Provencal. Along the way we stopped for several breathtaking views of the sea. The best was saved for last though, the "Temple of Love" gazebo. From this gazebo, we looked toward the back of the house. Our view of the house was distracted by the lush green, flowers and a water show. It was truly beautiful! From here, we entered the tea room for lunch. We set outside on the patio to enjoy the weather and views. It was a wonderful French meal of quiche. Just my cup of tea! After lunch, we entered the mansion that was built and furnished by Beatrice, Baroness de Rothschild. The rooms were filled with royal furnishings and some personal possessions. Tons of French antiques...very neat stuff! We decided to continue on our day with a walk along the East coastline back towards the main road. It was here that we caught a 5 minute bus to Villefranche. The kids immediately spotted a park with a playground along the road so they got to play a little bit before we walked around. From the playground, we went to the Citadel, once a castle and is now a hotel, art museums and a great place to get some more breathtaking views. It was here that we were able to look back over the water and see the pink mansion on top of Cap Ferrat. We had to force ourselves to stop taking pictures. We then strolled along the Villefranche's waterfront trying to pick out certain celebrities homes on the other side of the water. This area has homes for Sean Connery, Mick Jagger and Paul Allen, to name a few. We finished up our time in Villefranche back at the playground for a little while. It was interesting to watch the kids and parent's interact. We were surrounded by all kinds of languages. I heard French (of course), Italian, and Spanish along with our English. It was fun trying to figure out what language everyone was speaking. We just don't experience that back at home.