13 June - French Riviera: Toulon and Aix-en-Provence

June 14, 2019

Today was pretty low-key. Today was our last tender day on the cruise, so we slept in a title and had a late breakfast again. Looking out the window, we could see that it was EXTREMELY windy. So, we tied Sherry Ann’s hair back and set off to the tender boarding area. It was a long line; We had to go up the stairs and back down the stairs! When we finally were able to get on the tender boat, it was nearly full, so we were sitting right behind the door, which they kept open for ease of loading and unloading passengers. It was all good, until about ⅓ of the way to the port. As we turned, the boat began hitting the waves at a different angle, and the wind blew the spray into the door...right in our faces and lap. At first it was a little fun and refreshing, but when we got soaked, the fun was over and we moved to a better seat. About that time!the crew decided it might be a good idea to actually close the door. Oh, well. It made a memory.

After we got to the port and made it to the streets, we wandered for a good hour or more through the streets, but when you find that a simple bathing suit for men costs 190€, and a pair of ladies pants was 320€, you know you’re not going to buy anything in this town. Anyway, we did pass by a chocolatier that we kept in mind for the way back to the ship.

We ended up just walking along the beach. Whereas the beach in Nice was rocks, this beach was sand. So we did go down to the shore. Unfortunately, we were ill-prepared for this activity, and didn’t bring our bathing suits. So, instead, we took off our shoes, walked down to the shore, and walked along the beach, looking for a spot to sit and enjoy the scenery and sounds. We sat there for a good two hours. The wind didn’t seem quite as strong here as it did everywhere else. Sometimes, we would walk ever to the surf and wade in to our knees, but most of the time, we sat/lay there enjoying the sun and the gentle sound of the waves...splashing (not crashing...they were very small waves) on the sand.

We began to feel the pangs of hunger since we hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast, so we slowly made our way back to the ship, weaving in and out fo narrow French streets and looking at the occasional shop. We did make it back to the chocolatier we found earlier and bought a few goodies to take back to the ship. We sat on the top of the tender on the way back across the bay. Again, it was very windy and the boat ride was wild. At one point my ship Sea Pass card blew out of my pocket and nearly went for an eternal read at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea. But another passenger grabbed it before it could take that final plunge and handed it back to me. Boy, that was close.

Once aboard the ship, we returned to our stateroom, showered, and got dressed in our nicer clothes, and went to get dinner. Tonight, we asked to be sat separately, so we were placed right next to the window at a table for two...almost. The next table was about two inches away. We had a nice meal nevertheless. We both had spinach and ricotta ravioletti for starter, then Sherry Ann had roasted pork, while I had chicken saltimbocca for our main courses. For dessert, Sherry Ann chose the creme brûlée, and I chose an apple tart with caramel sauce and a side of vanilla ice cream. Then we just wandered around for a bit, until it was time to go to the nightly show.

The show tonight was a comedian/ventriloquist. It was really funny; mostly jokes about old age since a vast majority of the ship’s passengers are older and retired. He had 3 different puppets that he used. We really had a good time and laughed a lot. Then we strolled around the ship and ended up at a lounge where a trivia game was under way. We caught the last 5 or so questions and all of the answers. Then we strolled some more, and at about 22:00, we found that we were hungry, so we found some bread, cheese, deli meats, and crackers, and had a little snack before retiring to our stateroom for the night.