Day 4 in Nice: Finally Branching Out

There's really not too much to say about Villefranche, except that it is a spectacularly beautiful little town, as can be seen below.


Situated on the side of the mountain, we strolled up and down its steps and terraces that make up the residential portion of the town centre, where we eventually ended up eating lunch. Lindsey tried the mussels, for which this particular part of France is famous, and I had a croque monsieur, which is basically a glorified grilled ham & cheese. But, please note, when I say glorified here I really mean it has God's glory shining down upon it, and exceeds anything you can ever imagine coming from a grilled ham & cheese sandwich. (addendum: the croque madame is the same, just with a fried egg on top. Ridiculous.)

In between, we simply wandered and looked in many of the boutique art galleries. These are everywhere in the little villages surrounding Nice, and maybe this is common throughout France; either way, it seems that the French are very supportive of their visual artists. At the bottom of the hill, which you get to by winding through cavernous footpaths that walk directly by people's front doors, we came to the bottom to see the nifty little chapel below. I thought the eyes watching you from the side of the building were brilliantly creepy.


Speaking of churches in Villefranche, I also happened to walk by the town cathedral, from which I heard a pipe organ. Growing up Catholic, I am always a sucker for some organ resonating through a high-ceilinged church. I thought there may be a service going on, so I was timid about entering, but Lindsey's brother-in-law Keith just popped right in, so I decided to follow him, only to discover that the organist was the only person in the church besides myself and Keith. I sat and listened to a song and went on my way, but it was a nice, tranquil moment.

That's about all I've got from Villefranche, which doesn't do justice how amazing it was, but I do what I can. So I'll leave you with another shot of the seaside streetscape and move on.


That afternoon, we went down to the Nice port and hopped on an hourlong boat ride that just goes around the general area of Nice, Villefranche, and the next town over, St. Jean Cap Ferrat.

Unfortunately, not many of the pictures turned out because the other patrons' heads were in the way of a lot of good shots, but please take my word that the coast is possibly even more beautiful from the sea. I've included the shot below in order to try and translate what the scale of the mountains rising from the sea looks like, so hopefully it works somehow.


Then, Tuesday night we actually went out to dinner! I had a duck breast, which was very tasty but unfortunately bland, and Lindsey had a swordfish dish that was phenomenal, and we all loosened up a little bit as we became more comfortable with the scene and the culture. After dinner, Lindsey's parents went back to the villa, while her sister, brother-in-law and the two of us unwound with many, many drinks. I went back to an old friend of mine who I came to know well hanging out with Greg in Brussels, the ol' Belgian beer. It was quite pleasant.