The High Life

So far this week we have escaped the dreaded rain that was forecast for every day of our trip. Today we were not so lucky. We thought it would be a good day to sleep in . . . until Avery thought otherwise.

Mom and Avery went out to brave the rain in order to give Dad a little more time to catch up on sleep.

When the cleaning lady came and kicked Brad out, we met up and went for a drive along the coast again. We went through the east part of Cannes (which was really nice!), Antibes, Cagnes-sur-mer, Nice, Villefranche and then to St-Jean-Cap-Ferrat.

We stopped in Nice for lunch at one of the many restaurants lining the streets. It was AMAZING food. Avery was pretty excited and actually sat through the whole lunch with dessert and even let me eat my meal.
Melanie ordered a salade avec le fromage chevre chaud and Brad had a croque monseiur and they were both very good.

The next stop was to Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat to walk through the Villa Rothschild and the garden. While the Villa was pretty interesting, we found the garden to be most impressive.

She was an avid art collector and had statues all over her property. (She even went so far as to buy a church because she liked the frescos in it . . . then decorated her villa with them.)

Her 17 acres were filled with four different gardens (one for every season) and each had a special theme. One was an Asian garden, another was a stone garden, an exotic garden, and a provincial garden. They were all equally impressive and immaculate in preservation.

In the early evening we tried to find Saint Paul du Vence (without a map!) but stumbled across a picturesque medieval village on a mountain top in Cagnes. It was so peaceful and a nice retreat from the crazy tourist scene.