Europe Day 13 of 59, Nice (All aboard!)

The first half of our day was spent in Nice, but really that was just waking up, eating breakfast and walking around while we waited for 2pm to arrive. And arrive it did.

We headed over to the port and there was our 105 meter yacht waiting for us.

The Sea Dream One. 105 meters. 55 cabins. 110 guests. 90 crew.

I had to take this pic. These suckers go back and forth to Corsica and Sardinia all day, like buses. Cars drive right onto them through those gates in the back. I couldn't get a picture of that, but believe me it is nifty.

This is your general "setting sail" picture. It is impossible to not be enthusiastic when you hit the open sea. If only Monty Python had performed a sea chantey similar to the Lumberjack song about being a sailor off to sea, I would have been singing it at the moment I took this picture. "I'm a sailor man and I'm okay..."

Proof that the boat she is moving.

I had to take this pic, as I could easily spot our previous destination. We had watched ships go by from our Medieval village on the cliff. Now the shoe she was on the foot of the other.

In no time we pulled into Monte Carlo. A wikipedia reading tells you this, "In the 1850s Monaco’s reigning family was almost bankrupt... At this time a number of small towns in Europe were growing in prosperity with gambling establishments... In 1856, Charles III of Monaco gave a concession to ... build a German-style casino in Monaco. However the initial casino was ... not a success and subsequently moved location several times in the years that followed to its present location in the area called “Les Spelugues” (The Caves) of Monte Carlo. The success of the casino grew slowly, largely due to the area's inaccessibility from much of Europe. The installation of the railway in 1868, however, brought with it an influx of people into Monte Carlo and saw it grow in wealth."

In other words, the family had no money so they turned to gambling, and they lucked into becoming Vegas with Class (long before Vegas).

Our dining partners for night one. I met them while Barbie unpacked.

Monte Carlo at night.

Our dining partner Ian (from the UK and a principal of our cruise line) informed us that Lady Moura is one of Paul Allen's yachts. Had I brought a Star Trek uniform replica shirt (Spock blue, of course) I'd have a chance of striking up a conversation with Paul Allen if we cross paths tomorrow.

For perspective. The dark blue yacht on the left is what you might call, "big." Well over 100 feet long. Paul Allen's Lady Moura is (according to the internets) 344.5 feet, longer than a football field. In fact it's the same exact size as our ship, which tells you that what 110 guests share over here is what Paul Allen owns for himself over there. I bet now you wished you'd co-founded Microsoft.

That is all. Time to sleep and then see how the other .001% live.