It's A WONDERful 2015 - Feb Cruise, May WDW grand tour, and France/DLP! NEW 10/25 Nice & End!

[Imagineer5]

We loved walking the town, and really enjoyed walking in every nook and cranny whether there was a shop or not. It was just stunning.

While shopping, we found a really beautiful Christmas ornament which was a handpainted ball with a window through it into a scene of the Mediterranean sea beyond. Just perfect! I also found this gorgeous French designer of fine china, and while I didn't want to spend a lot, I did buy an Eze scene on a small plate. It's displayed in our dining room and I love it!

Mid-morning Aria started complaining of a tummy ache and saying she wasn't feeling great, so anywhere we could sit and rest we did. Today we had the ONE lunch reservation that had a credit card guarantee (and there was a 100 euro no-show fee!!!!!!!!!!) so we couldn't just leave (although I'm sure we could have explained it or something).

Anyway while shopping we also found a Carousel music box for her room, to commemorate all the carousels she went on.

We took turns carrying her lol

We saw these funny tourists with a ton of Chihuahuas (they had about 6 total).

And then around 11:45 we headed to Chateau de la Chevre d'Or where we were planning on having lunch.

We waited for a few minutes since the restaurant didn't open until noon. Our view and waiting room (also known as the bar)

And soon we were seated to a beautiful table along the railing overlooking the Mediterranean Sea

This was a meal I forewarned Andrew of the prices. Basically we were paying for the view. I ordered a caprese salad knowing Aria would enjoy that for her meal, and a local white fish (there was no chicken on the menu so I went out on a limb trying something new). Andrew ordered local oysters and then a pasta dish with clams. While waiting they brought out some bread, then some nuts, then a bread with anchovy sauce which I tried to be adventurous, but I don't like anchovies, blech.

Aria had some bread and then my mozz salad came, and it was amazing. Such fresh mozzarella and just amazing quality ingredients. Need to find photos of the meal because once again I didn't upload them to Facebook. And then my fish dish came and I also ate that whole plate, it wasn't fishy at all!

Unfortunately, while Andrew LOVES all things seafood, his oysters "tasted like low tide" and he couldn't stomach them. I was a little annoyed that he didn't say something / the waiter didn't ask when 1 of 6 oysters was gone when Andrew said he was done with them (considering that appetizer was like 30 euros) but whatever. Andrew didn't know if that was the norm here.

He did enjoy his pasta dish though so that's good. Aria was getting worse and worse and just wanted to curl up. On our way back down we decided to skip the Fragonard fragrance tour, but we did see a shop, so I hopped in there while Andrew took Aria straight to the car. I ended up buying Aria a little set of travel sized perfumes and gave it to her for Christmas. I got to the car maybe 10 minutes later and Aria was already asleep.

We drove through Monaco, then Villefranche sur mer and then the very expensive St Jean Cap Ferrat

We decided to just drive around until Aria woke up, and also decided to skip our afternoon activity which was the Jardin de Ephrussi (so we will just have to go back!). There were SO many people out and about though, and we saw people literally walking miles to get to the beaches it was just crazy.

Saw this cute beach taxi

We got back to the house around 4, which woke up Aria, but we had exhausted our want for driving around. She was in a better mood, but I checked her temperature and it was 101.5. After relaxing for a bit, she was asking to go in the pool and we figured she would be okay with that so we spent a little time in there. While we showered, Andrew decided to go grab some food - our first thought was pizza, but apparently Sunday night, everything local was closed. He then tried the grocery store, and again closed! He came back empty handed and we ended up eating ravioli left overs!

We vegged the rest of the night, and it was nice to enjoy the villa and the view.

Since we piled into the queen bed that was closer to the door, we all slept a bit better this night thankfully!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

The Carrieres de Lumieres looks amazing!! It's like a super upscale/more cultural Celebrate the Magic. That looks like something I would love

Your place in Nice looks very nice, but the view looks amazing - your first nigh there just lounging and watching the sunset and the night come up just looks so great

That's great!

Sorry you had that bad meal/pizza - you'd think being close to Italy they could get pizza right.

Glad you enjoyed your other lunch even with being a bit adventurous - well, other that Andrew's oysters, that's a bummer

Sorry Aria wasn't feeling well - seems like you had a pretty nice drive around though while she slept.

Glad you all slept a bit better that night

 

[Dugette]

I wanted to visit this quaint town since Samantha Brown did a travel special years ago, so I was very excited to tick something off of my bucket list!

Love Samantha Brown!

But first, we woke up to this amazing view.

Gorgeous!

I want to be on that cruise ship I see back there!

Overkill of photos, but not apologizing

No need to apologize. Love all the photos!

Saw this statue and had to get this photo!!

How perfect!

Anyway while shopping we also found a Carousel music box for her room, to commemorate all the carousels she went on.

Also quite perfect!

He came back empty handed and we ended up eating ravioli left overs!

Wow, glad you had some ravioli leftover!

Looks like Eze (and surrounding areas) were quite beautiful and glad you got to enjoy them. Hope Aria felt better in the morning.

 

[khertz]

Getting all caught up!

That truffle class sounds like it was really interesting! Definitely something different to do on vacation.

She said "once upon a time there was a princess..." lol as if that is what it was telling her.

Smart girl!

It's going to be an It's a Small World theme

LOVE THIS!! What a cute idea!! I can't wait to see pictures from the party. Can't believe your sweet girl is almost a year old already! It seems like we were both just planning our maternity leave trips...

The rain let up some as we neared, and we could smell chocolate in the air as we exited the highway.

That's always a good sign!!

Aria told us as we arrived "guess what? my leg hurts! But chocolate will make it all better" lol.

Again, she's so incredibly smart! Chocolate fixes anything!!

Aria is a bit creeped out by her Pinocchio puppet though, after it was hanging in her room for about a week she suggested we hang it in Maya's room hahahaha.

lol I remember being creeped out by a Bugs Bunny stuffed animal my grandpa had given me as a little girl. I had one of those nets that you hang in the corner of the room full of stuffed animals and Bugs was in the very back with just his ears poking up. It scared me for some reason!!

Soon we were inside in the middle of their current project which was the art masters set to music. It was stunning.

This is really incredible looking!! I would love something like this.

Patio overlooks Nice

WOW! Stunning view!!!

After waiting a couple minutes, I spied a handicap / pregnant person check out line. Yes, seriously! There was a sign designating people in wheelchairs or pregnant women!

That's awesome!! I think they should have these everywhere!

We were so awed by the view we just relaxed and watched the night unfold

Gorgeous. Just gorgeous!

Anyway while shopping we also found a Carousel music box for her room, to commemorate all the carousels she went on.

What a great souvenir! She did seem to find a lot of carousels, so that sounds perfect!

We got back to the house around 4, which woke up Aria, but we had exhausted our want for driving around. She was in a better mood, but I checked her temperature and it was 101.5

Aw, poor girl! What a bummer to get sick on vacation. Hopefully it didn't mess with the tail end of your trip.

 

[chookie94]

Our first full day in the French Riviera, we had plans to visit Eze. I wanted to visit this quaint town since Samantha Brown did a travel special years ago, so I was very excited to tick something off of my bucket list! But first, we woke up to this amazing view.

What an amazing view to wake up to!! Sounds like a wonderful little town to visit bit it is such a pity Aria wasn't feeling well.

We decided to just drive around until Aria woke up, and also decided to skip our afternoon activity which was the Jardin de Ephrussi (so we will just have to go back!). There were SO many people out and about though, and we saw people literally walking miles to get to the beaches it was just crazy.

That is an insane amount of people squeezed onto such a small amount of beach.

 

[Imagineer5]

Did I forget to update that we found out the baby's gender?

It's a GIRL! LOL Baby girl #3. At least we have all the necessary princess attire, although I had been looking at some cute boy's clothes and even imagined the cute Prince outfits we might be able to do. But alas, we have another princess on the way! We are still excited of course. Aria asked me just this morning how I found out about it, and why it wasn't a boy, so I guess it hasn't quite sunk in but she isn't upset or anything.

My first purchase so far was a lot of cloth diapers on ebay, since we'll need a few more as Maya won't be out of them for a number of months after the baby comes. We've also come up with a game plan for the new nursery - we were having a tough time figuring out what to do about sleeping arrangements - we don't want to put the newborn with anyone as that won't be fair, but also feel like Maya is too young to move into Aria's room due to naps and all that. There is another bedroom on our sleeping level, but it's small and we turned it into a library when we bought the house (and it's a walk through to the finished attic), but I think we are going to take out the American Girl stuff that has taken over that room and turn it into a temporary nursery. The walls are painted brown (eck) but we'll just leave them as is and I found a cute bedding set with animals that will make the brown look fine.

Anyway just wanted to update you all if you didn't see my announcement on facebook! Oh this is the photo we took for the announcement

And...Maya has been walking for a few weeks now! She is so much fun and Aria is having a ball getting her to run after her.

 

[khertz]

I still love that announcement pic. So cute!! I can't believe how big Maya is already! How far apart will her and the new one be?

 

[cindianne320]

Congrats on Baby Girl #3! Your girls are so adorable!

Eze looks like a beautiful city! Sorry that Aria wasn't feeling well. Glad you got better sleep!

 

[Dugette]

Still love that announcement photo!

Glad you were able to figure out something that will work for sleeping arrangements with everyone.

Congrats to Maya on walking!!

 

[purplelover88]

I absolutely love the announcement picture! Perfect, another little princess to share the clothing joy with.

 

[Imagineer5]

The Carrieres de Lumieres looks amazing!! It's like a super upscale/more cultural Celebrate the Magic. That looks like something I would love

Your place in Nice looks very nice, but the view looks amazing - your first nigh there just lounging and watching the sunset and the night come up just looks so great

That's great!

Sorry you had that bad meal/pizza - you'd think being close to Italy they could get pizza right.

Glad you enjoyed your other lunch even with being a bit adventurous - well, other that Andrew's oysters, that's a bummer

Sorry Aria wasn't feeling well - seems like you had a pretty nice drive around though while she slept.

Glad you all slept a bit better that night

Yes, I would definitely revisit the Carrieres de Lumieres if we're in that area again, so neat and different.

I think it was more of a tourist trap, not sure, but that lunch was TERRIBLE. I still cringe thinking about it. (Maybe that is what got aria sick, hmm...)

I was a little disappointed at skipping the other gardens (our afternoon plans) but it was good to relax too, and she did get better for the next day. Not sure what ailed her but luckily she got over it quickly.

Love Samantha Brown!


Gorgeous!


I want to be on that cruise ship I see back there!


No need to apologize. Love all the photos!


How perfect!


Also quite perfect!


Wow, glad you had some ravioli leftover!

Looks like Eze (and surrounding areas) were quite beautiful and glad you got to enjoy them. Hope Aria felt better in the morning.

Now that I have visited a number of Mediterranean ports, I feel like I could do a Med cruise without feeling like I'm skipping over places (I feel like European cruises barely skim the surface of seeing the locations). So yes, a cruise stopping in Nice would be so cool!

Yeah we didn't expect so much to be closed on Sunday. A number of restaurants that had really good reviews were also closed on Sunday, so that is why we ended up "winging" it and thankfully did have left overs. Eze and the whole area was stunning!

Getting all caught up!

That truffle class sounds like it was really interesting! Definitely something different to do on vacation.



Smart girl!



LOVE THIS!! What a cute idea!! I can't wait to see pictures from the party. Can't believe your sweet girl is almost a year old already! It seems like we were both just planning our maternity leave trips...



That's always a good sign!!



Again, she's so incredibly smart! Chocolate fixes anything!!



lol I remember being creeped out by a Bugs Bunny stuffed animal my grandpa had given me as a little girl. I had one of those nets that you hang in the corner of the room full of stuffed animals and Bugs was in the very back with just his ears poking up. It scared me for some reason!!



This is really incredible looking!! I would love something like this.



WOW! Stunning view!!!



That's awesome!! I think they should have these everywhere!



Gorgeous. Just gorgeous!



What a great souvenir! She did seem to find a lot of carousels, so that sounds perfect!



Aw, poor girl! What a bummer to get sick on vacation. Hopefully it didn't mess with the tail end of your trip.

LOL on Bugs Bunny!! I can see being scared of the puppet, but I did find it funny she wanted to give it to her sister instead. Yeah her getting sick on that day was no fun but at least we got to see Eze and drive around and see some beautiful sights while she got a really good nap in!

Can't believe Paxton is 6!! And Delilah 1! Maya's party is in 1.5 weeks, can't believe it! (although I still have 3 weeks until she turns 1!)

What an amazing view to wake up to!! Sounds like a wonderful little town to visit bit it is such a pity Aria wasn't feeling well.



That is an insane amount of people squeezed onto such a small amount of beach.

Hahahah yes! I know, the beaches there were simply PACKED! Granted this was Sunday so I bet Monday would have been much better crowd wise.

I still love that announcement pic. So cute!! I can't believe how big Maya is already! How far apart will her and the new one be?

Thank you!! I know! They will only be 17 months apart. I am trying not to think about that, eek! I did not anticipate two in diapers, two cribs, etc!

Congrats on Baby Girl #3! Your girls are so adorable!

Eze looks like a beautiful city! Sorry that Aria wasn't feeling well. Glad you got better sleep!

Thank you so much!

Still love that announcement photo!

Glad you were able to figure out something that will work for sleeping arrangements with everyone.

Congrats to Maya on walking!!

Yes, I'm anxious to get the room ready - over the weekend I moved most of the American Girl stuff into Aria's room (not sure where all her Christmas AG stuff is going to go, ugh!). Our next house is going to need 5 bedrooms plus an in law just for all the house guests we seem to have - over the Maya birthday party weekend, we're going to have Andrew's parents, his sister Melissa, her DH and twin babies, his sister Kerry and her DH, AND my parents, all staying at our house.

I absolutely love the announcement picture! Perfect, another little princess to share the clothing joy with.

Hahah yes, I haven't sold that much of Maya's clothes so that is good, I'll just start sorting out the new baby's stuff. Less hand me down's for SIL and Lynda, though.

 

[Imagineer5]

First, a heads up that @Dugette has taken the reigns on starting the June 2014 (!! Yes you read that right lol) TR and should be posting soon. We'll be doing that in tandem together, I look forward to reliving my little 2 year old Aria's pics! So sweet!

On to our final full day in France - we spent the day in Nice!

Since we only gave ourselves 1 day for the rather large city, I wanted to start it out with a bike tour (cyclopolitan? it's a bike with a little bench seat behind). Perfect size for 2 adults and 1 kid - so I pre-booked that for 1 hour at 9am.

It was a short drive into the city itself, and I took a few photos of the architecture as we passed

Of course, we arrived early, but it was a beautiful day so we walked along the promenade trying to find the meeting spot

Of course, right before 9, I decide that my preggo belly is making me HAVE to use the bathroom ASAP, so I ran across a street to look for one, and during that time the bike lady arrived. So when I came, she was coming across with Andrew and Aria to come pick me up lol! I got in and we were off!

She talked about the history of the city and pointed out a ton of sights. I don't remember much, unfortunately. but I'll try to impart somethings as they come up in the photos - this one is a picture of how they paint on fake windows to achieve a nice architectural look

We passed an antique street market and made a note to return

This shop looked like fun but I never found it again once we were on foot

We left the old Nice area and drove along the promenade, stopping to take some photos

Found the marina, which excited Andrew to see all the big boats

A really big central plaza where I believe their government has moved to (this is a new area)

Then the hour was up, and she asked where we'd like to be let off - there was a park nearby so we decided to start there and walk back through old Nice vs going all the way back to the beginning. This worked out perfectly, as of course, there was a carousel!

I just love how well maintained their carousels are!

We did a little shopping and a lot of walking. I still had a tiny bit of free data I had pre-paid for so I hopped on Trip Advisor and looked for a couple options for lunch as we were getting hungry. I was feeling not so great, and we ended up at a Thai restaurant which got really great reviews.

It seemed a little wrong to have our final France meal be Thai food, but OH MY GOODNESS was it good!! I try to review places especially when Trip Advisor helped me find them, so this was my review after we got home, titled, How I wish we lived in Nice - to eat here!!

Our last meal of our 19 days in France was at Le Banthai. I guess we were finally tired of the amazing French food and wanted something different. What a FANTASTIC choice! We stumbled across it around Noon and grabbed a table inside. The service was really wonderful and they did have an English menu. The tom kha chicken coconut soup was the best I've ever had - and the additional spice they can bring to the table to spice things up really worked! We also had their pad thai and a pork dish I believe (that was my husband's choice). Everything was amazing and I was wishing we could go back for more. This place fills up and all tables were reserved or filled by 12:30 so come early or make a reservation - we were so glad we did!!

I dreamt of this soup for quite some time after the trip and was inspired to find a really good, authentic Thai recipe for it, which involved ordering some ingredients such as galangal root. Many recipes for the soup leave this out because it's not readily available, but it really makes the dish authentic. Anyway, my version at home was great, but something about just placing an order and having an amazing soup in front of you is just even better lol.

Even better - Aria was asleep during the whole lunch! So we got a nice quiet meal and they were very accommodating with giving us a table with a spot to park the stroller. It was a good thing we were hungry early, as we noticed 90% of the tables had a reserved sign on them and maybe 15 minutes after being seated the place was packed. Most of the people were business-people on lunch from work. But thankfully that didn't cause the staff to be rude after we asked whether an English menu was available (I was not about to try and order Thai food in French lol), in fact they were SO friendly and our server was really awesome.

Shortly after lunch, Aria awoke hungry, so we ended up finding a McDonalds type of place which was perfect for her to find a kid's meal of chicken nuggets hahaa and even better, another park was right there to play and eat.

Then we headed back to the car, stopping to check out the beach on the way. There are sections that are free with no amenities, and then sections that you pay an entrance fee but there's a little restaurant, chairs, etc.

I had to go check out the water, and it was way too cold for me!

The rocks were also off-putting although obviously people were still having fun at the beach.

However, we had a beautiful pool to relax at, so we headed back to the house to do just that!

Aria was dragging me around the pool (at it was so warm out the chilly pool water wasn't that bad!)

And that was our evening!! For dinner, Andrew went to the pizza place that had been closed the night before, and we shared a pizza ( we were leaving the next day so didn't want too many left overs!) we relaxed at the house and also took on the arduous task of making our suitcases all fall under 50 lbs. Which left quite a heavy carryon with some 5lb bins of candy in them...hahaha...then we all slept well.

Thankfully our flight wasn't that early so we were able to enjoy the morning a bit before having to leave!

 

[Imagineer5]

Our final morning we needed to "finish the fridge" so to speak, and enjoyed cheeses, pastries and juice outside on the patio.

I also wanted to get some nice family photos by setting up the camera with a timer, so I had left out a nice dress for Aria to wear (with plans to change her into more comfy clothes for the long flight home!)

Aria wanted me to take a photo of her twirling

A dress is definitely judged by its twirl factor!

Then I had to get a photo of my matching bag to her dress...

Then it was time to pack the car and head to the airport. The rental car return, security, etc was all very easy and it was nice to be rid of our bags! Our flight was Nice-NYC then a short flight to Boston. The Nice airport was really nicely appointed with food options and better yet, kids play areas (shouldn't be surprised, all of France was amazing for kids!)

At the airport, we picked up food for our flight for later, including some pastries. (Look at these sandwiches, yum!)



Then headed to the play area until it was time to board.



Apparently I took no more photos, but the flight was uneventful thankfully. Two days prior when Aria had her fever, I was very worried because on our last Europe trip, she got super sick the last 3 days (throwing up, fever, etc) and it resulted in a really terrible flight home and 2 weeks of being sick at home too (and she accidentally got the rest of daycare sick too, oops). None of that happened this time, so that day was just a fluke and she was back to her normal easy self! Watched the ipad and slept during the flight.

Once in Boston, our pet sitter picked us up from the airport (she was borrowing our car the trip, but this worked out well since she was able to pick us up and save us $250 in parking fees!) and we made it home, having to go to work the very next day, phew!

Thank you SO much for reading along on this not-so-Disney trip! I'll be back soon with a June '14 TR and I'd also like to start on my 2016 adventures with Maya in tow, starting with our 12-night visit in Jan/Feb! Depending on how busy work gets, I'll probably start on that really soon in a new TR, so I would be honored if you followed me over there when the time comes!

 

[Imagineer5]

As promised, the long awaited day has come that Dugette and I finally started a TR for the June 2014 trip!

http://www.disboards.com/threads/dis-meet-junior-%E2%80%93-june-2014-girls-trip-updated-10-25-intros-and-travel.3556857/

Please follow along if you're so inclined to take a walk down memory lane!

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

I loved reading every part of this trip report. Thank you so much for sharing with us.

Your pregnancy announcement is adorable. Congratulations on princess #3.

 

[heaven2dc]

What a lovely ending to your trip! The carousels are so quaint and beautiful as are the cities you ventured to. I dream of going to France one day and thank you for sharing your trip!

Congratulations on baby #3!

 

[Dugette]

Our next house is going to need 5 bedrooms plus an in law just for all the house guests we seem to have - over the Maya birthday party weekend, we're going to have Andrew's parents, his sister Melissa, her DH and twin babies, his sister Kerry and her DH, AND my parents, all staying at our house.

Wow, that's a lot of houseguests!

this one is a picture of how they paint on fake windows to achieve a nice architectural look

Huh, interesting!

This worked out perfectly, as of course, there was a carousel!

Of course! Love all these carousels!

That is super cute! I like the planes vs. animals thing.

Anyway, my version at home was great, but something about just placing an order and having an amazing soup in front of you is just even better lol.

So true, having all the work done for you just makes everything better. Sounds like a great meal!

Even better - Aria was asleep during the whole lunch!

Always a special treat to have an "adults only" meal.

Cool playground!

Can't get enough of that view!

None of that happened this time, so that day was just a fluke and she was back to her normal easy self! Watched the ipad and slept during the flight.

So glad she felt better and travel went smoothly.

Thanks for writing about this trip - loved it and I'll be looking back to it as a reference once we have solid plans for France, I'm sure.

I'd also like to start on my 2016 adventures with Maya in tow, starting with our 12-night visit in Jan/Feb! Depending on how busy work gets, I'll probably start on that really soon in a new TR, so I would be honored if you followed me over there when the time comes!

I'll be there and can't wait to see Maya at WDW for the first time!

 

[Imagineer5]

I loved reading every part of this trip report. Thank you so much for sharing with us.

Your pregnancy announcement is adorable. Congratulations on princess #3.

Thank you so much for reading and commenting!! And thanks, we are so excited!

What a lovely ending to your trip! The carousels are so quaint and beautiful as are the cities you ventured to. I dream of going to France one day and thank you for sharing your trip!

Congratulations on baby #3!

Thank you so much!! It was so great, and really fun with a 3 year old too surprisingly! haha thank you for reading!

Wow, that's a lot of houseguests!


Huh, interesting!


Of course! Love all these carousels!


That is super cute! I like the planes vs. animals thing.


So true, having all the work done for you just makes everything better. Sounds like a great meal!


Always a special treat to have an "adults only" meal.


Cool playground!


Can't get enough of that view!


So glad she felt better and travel went smoothly.

Thanks for writing about this trip - loved it and I'll be looking back to it as a reference once we have solid plans for France, I'm sure.


I'll be there and can't wait to see Maya at WDW for the first time!

Yeah - Melissa is coming into town because Saturday is Kerry's baby shower (she's not just coming for Maya's party lol) we made the party that weekend since it worked the best with everyone there. But yeah, I was surprised when Kerry & CHris stated they were staying at our house (not asked). So they get the inflatable mattress, everyone else gets a bed, but Aria gets kicked from her Queen into either Maya's room (ideally) or our bed if she is being a butt. We'll see.

The carousels are all so beautiful and I loved how they were all different too, Aria was able to choose to ride something different every time. Lots of double deckers too!

I'm glad you enjoyed it, I certainly loved looking back on it! Now to find time to make the photo album on Shutterfly that I've been putting off forever lol

 

[Imagineer5]

I started a new TR for 2016 - please follow me over there if you would like to! <3

http://www.disboards.com/threads/th...-family-with-a-new-baby-jan-dec-2016.3557284/

 

[AinsleyLM]

Loved your reports! So jealous of the France trip! I went to England a few years ago, and that gave me the bug to travel to Europe! France is on my bucket list!