25 Days on the Disney Magic to Europe About This Page:

[DrDolphin]

Great updates Bruce!!! Thanks for updating your report!

[Disneybine]

It's always a pleasure to read your updates, Bruce! Thanks for letting us take part in your cruise

[EeyoreNeedsLoveToo]

Thanks for letting us "catch up" !

[Grammy Grumpy]

All caught up Bruce! Sounds great!!

[WDWfan]

Bruce - for getting caught up! Your Rome excursion sounds wonderful! Glad you enjoyed it so much.

[lauriep]

Loved the updates, Bruce! You're certainly covering a lot of ground. It's amazing how much of Italy you're able to cover from port to port.

You've also made me really want to see "Twice Charmed". Why, oh why do they have the sound levels up so high?

[MickeyWatch]

Thanks for the updates. Good to hear that Gallura was very scenic and had munchies and wine. We're doing that same excursion in July (unless I change my mind again).
Also appreciate the review on "The Art of the Story." We will skip that show.
Patti

[Vickie_Kaylor]

I'm sorry you didn't enjoy "The Art of the Story". One of my very favorite shows at WDW was the "Hunchback of Notre Dame" at MGM. I was so disappointed when they closed it! When we first learned of Disney's plan to cruise the Med, I actually wrote to DCL suggesting that, as it is set in Paris, it would be a great show to expand and include on these cruises. They replied, thanking me for my suggestion and saying that they would consider it. Deb Wills mentioned that "The Art of the Story" has one scene from that show -- so I'm taking full credit for that!

Anyway, I'm loving your trip reports, Bruce, and counting the days to 8/18/07 when we "Bring the Magic Back Home"!!

Thank you!

[Chrissi]

Finally got all caught up today! Great TR! Thanks so much for taking the time to share your adventures with us. I'm particularly envious of your stop in Herculaneum.

[Zazu]

Ah, la belle France! Nation of wine, of romance, of tradition. Where does our ship dock? Marseilles -- the third busiest shipping port in Europe.

Still, they put on a good show for us. They had local folk dancers, a band, and a gauntlet of old ladies who insisted that everyone who got off the ship took a sachet of herbs de provance. (Can you say, "Allergy inducing curse?" I thought so.)

Our tour today takes us wine tasting at Chateau Neuf du Pape and a city tour of Avignon. Perhaps you know Chateau Neuf du Pape (sometimes spelled Chateauneuf) only as a type of wine. It is, and it's also the winery that produces it, and the region thereabouts, and an interesting bit of history.

While it's common today to think that the Pope resides in Rome, it hasn't always been true. There was a period when the center of the Church was in France. The reasons are complex, and include a French pope, political unrest in Rome, and perhaps other reasonable justifications. Whatever, they set up shop in the local bishop's palace and proceeded to upgrade it to papal standards. Fortunately for us vinophiles, that included planting grapes.

The tour was brief, consisting of the viewing of casks of wine and listening to a live translation of the comments of one of the workers at the winery (job function unspecified). Alas, our tour guide was unable to translate from English to French, so it wasn't possible to get any questions answered.

We did learn that the Chateauneuf du Pape we can get in the US isn't the same wine they sell in Europe, in South America, and in other places. For each market, the wine is aged differently. While each version starts with the same blend (mostly gamay), US wine is aged in American Oak rather than French, which gives it a markedly different taste profile. It was a bit frustrating to me to be tasting wines I'll never be able to get at home.


Lunch in Avignon was in a restaurant so casual it appeared to be (and likely was) someone's backyard. Shade trees and a canvas awning provided relief from the mild sun, and the wine (*not* Chateauneuf du Pape!) was competent and flowed freely. They also served us a rum punch which appeared to have it's recipe backwards -- it was nearly all rum! Few of us could get through a glass, even when it was free.

The food was excellent. First course was a four-layer terrine (think crustless quiche) on a bed of bibb lettuce, second course was baked chicken with curried veggies, and dessert was an apple torte with some of the flakiest crust I've ever enjoyed. A very nice respite, despite lasting nearly two hours.


The rest of the day was free time in Avignon, beginning with a view of the former papal palace and cathedral, plus the formal gardens with an excellent view of the surrounding countryside. It being Sunday, there wasn't much else to see (except $4 cokes), and not very much time for it.


Tonight we watched "When Mickey Dreams" again, and again we sat with out Disney and theater friends. The show is growing on me, and I didn't think it bad the first time, just strange. Our pal's review was less enthusiastic than it had been for "Twice Charmed", but he was moved to hear the "Tapestry" music again and fascinated by the arrangement of "Chim Chim Chiree" used.

Like Cirque, you'll likely either love it or hate it -- go see for yourselves.

[Zazu]

You've likely never heard of Villefranche, but you probably know it's neighbors. It's bordered to the west by the city of Nice and to the east by Monaco. Cannes is the next bay west of Nice, and Italy is only a few miles beyond Monaco.

I had only two requests of SWMBO when she was booking shore excursions -- I wanted to visit the Pantheon in Rome, and to take the "Nice and Eze plus cheese and wine" tour from Villefranche. Naturally, I got neither.

Instead we were booked into "Monaco, Monte Carlo, and Eze". Just to review, Monaco is a country (a principality with a working prince) that's about a square mile in area. Monte Carlo is a section of Monaco that contains the famed Casino and various other posh attractions. Eze (pronounced "ease") is a tiny hilltop town that overlooks both Monaco and Villefranche. Okay, ready now?

Our tour took us first to Monaco where we toured the royal palace. Tiny though it is, the country is recognized by the rest of the world, and the descendants of the founders are still running the place. Until recently famed for American actor Grace Kelly, who became princess, her son is now Prince. He's apparently well loved, as his portrait adorns every shop and restaurant in the country we saw.

The palace is tiny compared to the grand palaces of larger countries, but it lacks nothing in splendor, in oversized artwork, and in dramatic architecture. Some British friends with us found it unremarkable after having toured Buckingham, but only in size, not in quality. They even have a changing of the guard ceremony each noon, but with only six guards posted, it's over a lot sooner.

This is also home to the Royal Oceanographic Museum and Aquarium, long headed by the late Jacque Cousteau. The two previous princes were serious marine biologists in their own right, and have seen to it that the programs here are without peer. At 12.50 Euros admission, it's described as a full day's tour all by itself. I regretted we hadn't figured out a way to have done that instead.


Lunch followed at the Cafe de Paris in Monte Carlo. It's located across the square from the Hotel Paris and next to the Grand Casino. As various angles and views presented themselves, I found myself having flashbacks to old James Bond films. Lunch was excellent, but the ladies found greater amusement in the self-cleaning toilets which required repeat visits and several photographs!

Because you cannot carry anything into the Casino except money, and some in our touring group didn't care to check their cameras and backpacks, we toured the Monte Carlo area for the 45 minutes alotted. I coined a new law: "When even the shops that sell ladies handbags have bouncers, you're in the wrong neighborhood!" The complete and utter lack of prices on the baubles on display was another warning sign to this son of a schoolteacher. In fact, the only prices we saw were printed on newspapers or posted in realtor windows, the latter starting at upwards of $1.4 million for a 500 square foot apartment without an ocean view. Ouch!

Monte Carlo is also the site of the Grand Pre race. It had taken place the previous weekend, and in many places the grandstands and steel barrier walls were still in place. This restricted traffic and when the bus traffic generated by three cruise ships hit, things got ugly fast. Short answer, we spent over an hour waiting for our bus, with a choice of waiting in a tunnel full of bus fumes or a sun drenched sidewalk with a nice view of a construction site.

I will therefore offer some advice:
1. Don't go to Monte Carlo within a month of the race, as traffic will be even crazier than normal.
2. If you do take this tour, bring a bottle of water with you to lunch. Despite the "Coals to Newcastle" feeling, you'll appreciate it later.


Eze is a medieval hilltop town of the sort normally reserved for cartoons and bad fiction. It's nevertheless real, so long as you don't notice that all the buildings are either souvenier shops or restaurants. No map was offered, and the convoluted streets forced us to abandon our efforts to reach the top in our short hour here. Best we could manage was to pay a restaurant 5 Euros for a view from their terrace, or to hike to the top of the cemetery for a nice view of Monaco, Villefranche, and the Disney Magic at anchor there. Bring good climbing shoes!


A late return due to the bus fowlup meant we missed "Disney Dreams", but having seen it only 11 days before, we didn't cry. The music at the "Party Paradiso" tonight was even worse techno than usual, but the city put on a nice fireworks show for us. Sadly, it was almost directly astern of the ship, so was barely visible.


As beautiful as this area is, we decided it wasn't for us. The extensive construction in Monaco means the country has more elevators than crosswalks, and is nearly as vertical as Manhattan. In one area, the roadways climbing the cliff from one level to the next reminded me so much of Disneyland's old Tomorrowland with the Autopia, PeopleMover, and Monorail all twisting and knotted together that I found myself looking down from the bus window to see if I could spot a submarine!

Overall, we decided that while the French Riviera may be the place for the Beautiful People of the world, it seems more like the home of the Beautiful Wallet.

[Colexis Mom]

More great updates Bruce Sorry you were left with a not so good impression of the area

[chezp]

Bruce, finally as I use up the last of our paid for Internet access on board the Magic I've got time to catch up on your report and post - it's been lovely reading about what you guys have been doing and reading some of the bits we've done together from your perspective. It's been great getting to know you over the last 11 nights and I hope you guys have enjoyed this cruise as much as we have.

[ariel14]

Great updates!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ukmickeyc]

Hi- interesting reports, can't wait until our Med Cruise on 7/28. However, you seem to have missed out the day at La Spezia- were you napping again??