Europe Day 11 of 59, Èze

Day eleven began like all the rest. Me on my laptop updating this blog while Barbie sleeps, my having gone to sleep 4 to 6 hours earlier than she as that's when she's working. We both need to straighten our schedules when we get on the yacht cruise in two days. I mean, they're going to hit us with set meal times. Yikes.

Here is the front door of our little Medieval villa. Just like home.

Do these walkway pictures get old? I didn't think so.

We lunched at Chateau de la Chèvre d'Or, the hotel just down the hill from us.

Needless to say, we were impressed with the hotel.

The plates themselves feature the Chèvre d'Or. How cute is that?

This kitty visited us during lunch. He said, "Why haven't you taken any pics of your food? The presentation is brilliant." He was right. I kept forgetting.

But with the cat's help I remember to take this pic of dessert.

The same plate minutes later.

After lunch we were taken on a tour of the hotel, one of the bonuses to travelling with Barbie.

This pool is just for show. They float candles on it at night for atmosphere.

This view is awful familiar, but always worth a look.

There is their golden goat statue. I love a unique theme like this one. Apparently it goes back many, many years when a man saw a golden goat that told him to build a hotel. Or something like that.

One of their rooms. Looks comfortable, no?

This is the pool for guests. If the other pictures didn't make you want to be a millionaire, I assume this one will.

The bedroom of a suite, in a very different style than the earlier contemporary one. Every room is unique and named after an artist. I should lie and say this is the Picasso suite. But it isn't. And lying is wrong.

The living room of the same suite. Oh my.

The plaque at the hotel's entrance. Honestly, it is one of the finest hotels I have ever seen. And I have seen far too many. It is up there with Villa d'Este in Lake Como. Which is saying a lot.

Back in our room, I felt like it was finally time to show you our downstairs area. After changing for the heat, we headed up to the very top of the hill. There one finds an "exotic garden" and the remains of the oldest fortifications on the hill, built in the 1100's.

A pregnant statue. Lovely, yes? For all the pregnant ladies back home.

Walls from the 1100's. The pic doesn't capture how high up we are.

Barbie and ruins. Don't worry. Pics with perspective are coming soon.

Our roof is there, on the left, closer to the camera. It's the tile one. Red tile. See it?

That wall on the left is the one that was behind Barbie earlier. Told ya there'd be some perspective coming.

In case you didn't understand, allow me to help. "I was just standing right there." Oh, almost forgot. Hilarious hilltop moment. We learned today that many tour buses stop in during the day, which, yes, means overweight Americans. While taking pictures, I heard a terribly loud fart. I turned in the direction of the fart and saw a woman sidestep two steps away from her husband. Then they both laughed a little. Had I gotten it on video I suspect it would have broken a million hits on youtube.

Enough time on top of the hill, time to walk down to the bottom. This entire Medieval village is two hotels with a few restaurants, shops and art galleries.

How eerily real does this mannequin look? Barbie's camera has a pic of me reaching for her bottom.

At the main road, Barbie decides to get to Monaco somehow. The French put the accent on the a, as in, "mone-AH-co." I correct every one of them every time.

You wanted perspective? How about this one? Can you imagine being a guy with a sword and shield thinking, "The king wants us to storm that? It's on top of the dang hill, man!"

I neglected to say that yesterday our check-in did not go as we expected. I'll not go on about each of the problems, suffice to say that Barbie sent an email to the VP of sales for the hotel.

This is what happened in reaction to said email. Not bad, eh?

We got dinner at the bottom of the hill, at a restaurant called, "Pinocchio's." Their menu (no pic) featured Disney's character on the front. The odds that they pay royalties? Though that does allow me to mention that apparently a young and recently successful Walk Disney came to Èze when it was still, well, rather Medieval and was instrumental in encouraging the residents into making it into what it is. In fact, with his input it became a favorite destination for golden age Hollywood.

Time to head back to our villa.

And here we are. Our steps at night. Symmetry.