Finally in Nice, France - Day 1 & 2

We started off on our adventure at midnight Saturday, March 9 and arrived in Nice finally at 6:45pm on Monday, March 10 - two planes later. (From DC 4 hr time difference to Lisbon but 5hr time difference to Nice). Getting out of Washington DC was great.  The draining part was not being able to sleep on the plane and then having a 3 hr layover in Lisbon, Portugal.  The good part was all the wheelchairs which were waiting for us.  It made going through TSA at IAD, passport control in Lisbon, and getting our bags in Nice so much easier.  It was also great that after we got our bags, the AMA cruise line rep and our private driver were right there to welcome us.   One comment about the Portugal terminal -  yes, there is just one terminal.  However, since they don’t have enough gates to accommodate all the planes that are landing there, they park all the overflow of planes on the tarmac away from the actual terminal.  You depart your plane and get on a bus.  This bus takes you to the terminal.  

Our hotel, Anantara Plaza Nice, is a 5 star property and they don’t miss a trick.  Over the top service. They upgraded our room since we were celebrating our Diamond Anniversary and had a surprise waiting for us in the

 

After the AMA welcome reception, we found our room, did a quick refresh, and went to a restaurant just a 5 minute walk away.  The restaurant, Felix, was perfect for what we wanted to eat.  A Caesar Salad with chicken and an appetizer of Focaccia bread with bacon, pan fried mushrooms and truffle cream. We split both dishes because we were both so tired.

We came back to the hotel.  Howard passed out while Lynda did some wash.  Reminds us of Howard’s parents letters home from Europe to us many years ago just after we got married.  His mom did nightly wash while his dad wrote the letters.  Lynda does both.

Today, our first full day in Nice, Cloudy, but the rain God cooperated.  Our tour bus driver was amazing as he zipped around the crazy, narrow streets of Nice.  We are glad he was driving.  Stopped at an old church with cemetery and gardens overlooking the city.  The brain is mush tonight, will try and get the name tomorrow.  The best thing was the Insect/ Bug hotel.  A place for them to live so they can pollinate the gardens.   

Now we understand why there are French balconies on the AMA ships.  It is how all the hotel and apartment buildings have these narrow balconies all over the city.  After the bus tour we did a walking tour of the old town.   It is very late tonight as it has been a struggle with the formatting of this blog.  So….you will get the rest of today in the next blog post.