Villefranche, France

The show last night was great. There was an acrobatic duet from Russia and Italy that performed various moves of strength and flexibility. Next was a woman from Russia that did a routine with multiple hoops. Maria and I are convinced that she was a one time a rhythmic gymnast. The last act was a juggler from Switzerland. He was phenomenal! He juggled hat, balls and boxes. It was choreographed to the music. We voted and he was the best (although I tied him with the hoop lady).

We are dropping anchor in Villefranche this morning. This is the view from our balcony!

Another oddity…as Steve was coming in from getting another cup of coffee this morning he was speaking in Romanian. I looked up expecting to see our waitress but it was our room stewardess. She is Romanian as well. She asked Steve if he grew up in Romania before moving to the US. She was stunned that he has been in Romania for only 8 months. His Romanian is very good!

We took a tender, smaller boat, to the port. The first stop was a soap factory, La Savonnerie de Villefranche, where the lady showed us how they make the soap. Between her small English and the French Steve remembers from high school we got along fine. We also bought quite a bit of soap! It smelled great and is very natural.

Then we went into The Chapelle St. Pierre. I love the architecture in the churches in Europe.


As we were making our way back to the ship we wandered on the streets. Everywhere you looked there was a picture to be made. Here is a sampling of them.

Once on board again we headed up to the rock wall so Maria and Steve could climb. Maria went way up in the air. She actually attracted quite a few on-lookers. She looked so petite way up on that wall. Strangers were making her picture!