A Nice Place to Visit, N'est Pas?

Well, my husband and I are all checked into our hotel room in Nice. I finally did it: I flew on a plane that my husband--oh captain, my captain!--was piloting. I was very proud! I flew to Europe and I got my passport stamped for the first time. (The stamp included the words "Cote d'Azur," which made me realize that I misspelled that phrase in my post on Nov. 30--there's no "e" on the end.)

The flight last night was awesome! The only problem is that I think it spoiled me for life: I don't know if I'll ever be able to ride in coach again! The seats up in front were huge and cushy, and they reclined. I had a regular-sized pillow, not one of those tiny ones they give you in the back, and it was a great squishin' pillow to boot (which is important to me). The blanket was way cozier than those thin fleece ones they give you in coach, too. And I had so much space around me up where the beautiful people sit; I could have been 6'4", and I would have had leg room to spare

No sooner had I taken my seat and set up my little "nest," when a flight attendant came around with flutes of champagne. And then she came around again a little while later--the champagne was flowing like wine. I declined (I didn't want to start out my big European adventure with a headache), but I had a coffee in my hand, in a real porcelain mug, before take-off. Oh yes, and a bowl of warmed mixed nuts--you know, just a little something to hold me over until the meal service.

When we were at cruising altitude, the wine was flowing like wine (I declined again and stuck with my old pal, coffee, but flight attendants were walking around pouring refills of vino all over business class). Soon, it was dinner time. There were two hors d'oeuvres to choose from for the first course, and I went with crab salad and melon (delectable!). Then there was a green salad course. And finally, the main course. There were three choices for the entree: fish, pasta, or beef. I chose filet mignon with risotto and broccoli, and it was delicious. When the dessert cart came around, I didn't have much room left, and I probably should have let it pass me by. But I'd made the decision to enjoy all the freebies I could...and they had ice cream with chocolate sauce...and you know that no matter how full you are, you can always manage to fit ice cream. So I had a sundae, and I wasn't the least bit sorry I did.

After dinner, I watched two movies on my little personal T.V. screen: a Steve Carrell movie called (I think) Stupid, Crazy Love, and a Tom Hanks movie called Larry Crowne. Neither one was anything to write home about, but they helped to pass the time. I also watched an episode of a T.V. show called "Up All Night," which was funny. I couldn't sleep at all. Everyone around me, it seemed, had sleep masks on and were out cold under their blankets; but I was just too excited. Periodically, I would watch our trip's progress on my little screen. Here's what it looked like when we were out in the middle of the Atlantic:

Before we landed, I had a nice light breakfast of fruit, yogurt and granola (coffee, too, of course!). I would have had the cheese and mushroom omelette, but after my enormous dinner, I didn't think I could manage it! The adrenalin is still pumping, I guess, My husband just got in bed to get a little shut-eye, and here I am blogging. I just looked at the clock, and it's 10:45 a.m. in Nice--but to my body, it's 4:45 a.m., and I didn't sleep a wink all night. So I'm going to sign off now and force myself to nap. But before I do, I just wanted to show you a picture I took from the balcony of our hotel room right after we arrived:

Doesn't Nice look nice? And very European (how odd)! I can't wait to go out and do a little sightseeing later on! I'm sure I'll be posting more pictures tomorrow.