Our last trip to Venice before we move

This weekend, we had thought about going to Florence, but decided we had too much to do this weekend before we left for our cruise, so we took a day trip to Venice instead.  It was great weather, we got really lucky because it has been raining pretty much everyday (standard European fall/winter weather).  Since we've been there so often, we didn't have anything that we had to see, so we had a nice time just wandering around.  We ended up meandering our way to Saint Mark's Square and the Arsenal.  As we started our trip back, we stopped in a glass shop and bought some fancy water and wine glasses to go with our china.  Our table will fit eight people, but we decided to buy 12 of each since it will probably be fairly hard to replace them as a couple break here and there.  It was a little strange walking in the city that we have spent so much time in but will probably not go back to for many years.

 

To her reward...

This was a bad weekend for the Nickel family.  Katie Friedman gave birth to Quinn, the Friedman's second boy, on Friday night.  Shortly afterward, Katie began to have complications from the birth.  She was taken into the OR, but the complications were too severe and she passed away.  Obviously her passing stunned everyone, including the doctors, as you do not anticipate things like this happening in the 21st century.  Her legacy will live on in her husband; Jon, and her two sons; Clark, and Quinn, as well as virtually everyone who had the good fortune to know her.  She was the life of almost every Nickel party and will be sorely missed.  Please keep the Friedman's in your prayers.

Oktoberfest

Last weekend, we spent a quick weekend in Munich, at the traditional Oktoberfest!  We had a great time hanging out with old friends and quickly making some new ones.  We got up early on Saturday morning for a chance to rush the doors at 9am.

Unfortunately, we weren't there quite early enough and didn't get our own table, but friends took care of us.  We waited around and visited for three hours, until a parade came by and the keg was tapped at noon!  "O'zapft is!" ("It's tapped!" in the Bavarian language).

 The hard-working waiters and waitresses spent the next couple of hours carrying up to ten liter steins of beer to thirsty revelers.

The guys at our table drank their fair share!

We ate roasted chicken, delicious sauerkraut and huge riesnbrezn (big pretzel).

 

 

Afterwards, we strolled the fairgrounds and snacked on a weiner and corn on the cob, a Nutella crepe and ice cream.

We met lots of neat people and were very sad to leave our last Oktoberfest, at least for the foreseeable future.  Prost!

 

 

Eze & Monaco pictures

The Chateau de la Chevre d'Or in Eze

 Tyler's yummy café au lait

 

 Cars in the hotel's parking lot--two Rolls', something black and a Ferrari

 

 Monaco's marina

 

Monte Carlo Casino

 

 Maserati parked outside the casino

 

 The view from the Grand Corniche (high road along the sea) as we left

 

Côte d'Azur

The Côte d'Azur, often known in English as the French Riviera, is the Mediterranean coastline of the south eastern corner of France, extending from Menton near the Italian border in the east to either Hyères or Cassis in the west. (wikipedia)

We visited the French Riviera on September 4-7, American Labor Day weekend.  We arrived in Nice on Saturday morning and spent the day wandering the downtown, following Rick Steves' walking tour and checking out the cool rocky beaches. 

 

  

 

We arrived to a recommended restaurant around 7:15pm and were told we'd have to wait until 7:30pm to order--the staff was still eating their dinner!  The food was completely worth the wait, Tyler had veal escalope and Laura ate a salad with chèvre toasts and proscuitto.  YUM!  On the way out, the waiter insisted that we keep the pen.  We figured it had the name of the restaurant on it and we'd keep it as a souvenir.  Upon closer inspection, nope, just a regular BIC! 

Sunday, we explored the town of Villefranche-sur-Mer (where we stayed).  Along the bay, we saw hundreds of tiny jellyfish!  We overheard someone saying that the day before, the beach had been closed because there were so many jellyfish.  Fortunately, we just got a good view and walked on. 

That afternoon, we hiked Cap Ferrat and gawked at the crazy huge yachts bobbing along in the bay.  Many people just dropped anchor (and the women, their tops!) and floated for the day.  One family even took their dog into the water with them! 

After a sweaty hike, we swam at the Plage de Passable. 

 

  

 

Then, we spent the evening enjoying the view and eating at a delicious restaurant.  Tyler had chicken-duck-chicken-duck-chicken slices and I had three different kinds of fish.  SO fresh!

Monday, we got up early, or so we vacationers thought, and got in the car.  We drove to Eze-le-village, a hilltop town that Tyler's parent actually visited when they spent a few weeks in France in 1978.  It was really cool to see the uber-expensive hotel where they stayed (courtesy of Nana & Granddad), the cars in the parking lot there and have a café where they might have sat.  Then, onto Monaco and the yachts of the country with the highest per capita income in the world.  Wow!  The casino looked more like a combination between a really ritzy country club and a palace.  There was a 10€ cover charge, to keep the riff-raff out, but we played the (no-cover charge) slots and won 1.80€ on a 5€ bet!  That's over a 30% gain!  We know when to hold them and when to fold them, so we took our money and ran.  We saw cars there that I've only read about and the swarms of other tourists made it feel somewhat like a circus.