Eze-le-Village

April 15th—Today we took a bus ride to the small Village of Eze. The bus route was on the Middle Corniche (Moyenne Corniche) which runs right through the village and provides breathtaking views of the Mediterranean. We had taken a bus ride on the Low Corniche and now know why the Middle one is recommended. It is more impressive mainly because the views are incredible higher up. Eze-le-Village is located high above the sea with magnificent views and many stony paths. By the time we arrived, it was about 1:30 so we had to find lunch. The first restaurant we saw was Le Pinnochio. We chose to eat here because of it’s name and the fact that it had a Jiminy Cricket menu for the kids. It was great food with a great atmosphere! After lunch we wandered uphill to the town. On our way up, we passed an exclusive hotel with many fancy cars parked outside it. We continued wandering uphill through the narrow lanes to see the Eze Church. At this point, we aren’t going to miss seeing a church. We are really enjoying all the many churches we’ve seen throughout. From the church, we continued up the hill even more to the very top where Jardins d’Eze is located. Jardins d’Eze is located 1300 feet above the sea and is home to 400 different plants, primarily varieties of cactus. Once up top, we got a wonderful 360 degree view of the area. We could see almost the entire coastline of the French Riveria, from St. Tropez to Monaco. After enjoying the wonderful views, we made the walk back down the hill to the Middle Corniche where we visited the Gallimard Shop. This is a local perfume shop where we were treated to all the wonderful scents. The kids even enjoyed themselves sampling all the different perfumes. The perfumes were all made in the nearby town of Grasse, the capital of perfume. It was then time to catch our bus back into the Nice bus station. All went well on this ride, can’t say the same for our connection bus to our apartment. I have to say this is without a doubt our first “bad” bus experience. We got on the bus and were all sitting at the very back of the bus. We probably waited about 10 minutes while the bus was filling up. Right before the bus left, a man got on that was clearly not right. His eyes were barely open and all bloodshot and he was sniffing. He reeked of alcohol so it was obvious he was drunk, but all of a sudden I had a stinging feeling in my nose and my mouth (as the bus was leaving the station). I looked at Mike and he confirmed that he was experiencing the same thing. We both looked around and people were sneezing, rubbing their noses, etc. It was the weirdest thing. The guy started messing with his phone and playing some music loud. After passing about 2 stops, we realized that this guy was “messed up” and we needed to get off the bus. He might have just been drunk or high, but it was not worth taking a risk that he would do something stupid. And still, we have no idea what was causing the burning sensation in our noises. So, we exited way before our stop and walked to another stop to get on a totally different bus. Crisis adverted!