If you’re thinking to yourself “Wow, there’s been a long pause in between these posts”, then I would congratulate you on your observation, obvious though it is.

Since returning from our cruise we’ve also been to Madrid (a sorry travel tale in itself) as well as moved house, not to mention dealing with some significant work stressors. This series definitely hasn’t gone as quickly as I’d hoped!

But, we’re back, and ready to write! I think …

Toulon was an uneventful day followed by an evening that would start a new enjoyable chapter of our trip.

We arrived in Toulon to grey skies and a breeze that didn’t shy away from itself. It was now Thursday and we were both feeling quite a lot better, so we were looking forward to getting off the boat again.

Toulon was the only place we hadn’t been able to book the excursion we wanted; kayaking around the bay was on offer online, but we’d been unable to book it. When we got on the boat, the option was curiously absent.
With none of the other options appealing to us, we decided to go it alone and explore the city ourselves. That had the added benefit of not having to be up at the crack of dawn.

It’s probably best that we couldn’t go kayaking; the weather was not what you’d usually expect from the south of France. It was just about warm enough to not have to wear a second layer – though plenty of people were – and the clouds hung overhead, lazily threatening showers.
We leisurely disembarked, only to hop straight back on another boat – a water taxi that would take us into the heart of Toulon. The port we had docked at was an industrial working dock, so making our own way on foot was a strict no-no.

As we headed away from the Constellation I realized why; there were several French Military vessels moored, along with another one clearly under construction. As we left, we saw crew on board our boat carrying out a safety drill – cool to see, and reassuring to know that they all regularly practice scenarios which could save our lives if the worst were to happen.

After 10-or-so minutes we moored in Toulon proper, and disembarked to find a long little road-train parked up right in front of us. Not really knowing anything about where we were or what we might like to do, we paid a small fee and hopped aboard for a tour of downtown Toulon.

I’ll be honest – the dull weather did take the shine off Toulon, which really is a pretty town. It still felt wonderful to stroll around the town amongst the old buildings – after spending so much time in America I’d really started to crave ‘history’ in the core of my being, after having lived amongst so much of it for most of my life.

We’d decided that one food we really had to have, being in France, was crepes. A lot of places were closing as it was lunchtime, so we took a stroll along the harbor and found a place that advertised its crepes specifically. Somewhat strangely, nobody there seemed to speak English. I say this not from a positive of ‘English entitlement’ but more surprise that a place so front-and-center in the tourist area wouldn’t have more English-speaking staff, but it is what it is. Using our waiter’s almost-non-existent English and my almost-non-existent French we decided on a crepe each and waited for their arrival.

To be honest, it was a bit of a disappointment. A couple of crepes with a huge mound of whipped cream and some chocolate sauce was the end result of our sign-language. It tasted just fine but wasn’t exactly the experience that I think we had both hoped for. After they insisted we pay immediately on delivery of the crepe, we decided that trying for something else off the menu would just be too confusing, so left to walk around Toulon some more.

It was, as mentioned, a very pretty town. Given the grey weather it wasn’t particularly busy, which allowed us to amble around without feeling rushed. AJ kept getting paranoid that we were going to stray too far from the boat (or was it me? Time has dulled the memory) so after about an hour of wandering we started heading back towards the docks. There was a hotel with artwork down the side that we liked, and a Ferris wheel that nobody seemed interested in. We sparked some trade by lining up for a ride (another couple joined us when they saw us buying tickets) and got to see a bit more of Toulon and its environs from up high.

In hindsight this probably was the ideal day – we were still getting over our dual sicknesses, so another quiet day was probably all we’d have had the energy for. I was getting a bit nervous about the weather – it had been pretty crap everywhere we’d been and I was concerned that an early-May cruise might be making us miss the good weather. Thankfully my concerns didn’t last much longer.

So overall, not a particularly exciting day, but it was still nice to be ‘out and about in France’.

We got back on the boat around 3pm and ended up going straight to sleep for a few hours – still catching up on our energy – and we’d need it!

As I mentioned in my previous post, the night before we’d managed to bag ourselves a spot at the Chef’s Table. We had no idea what that entailed other than being fed well, so we got as dressed up as we could and headed for the Tuscan Grille up on Deck 10.

When we arrived, the maitre’d was quite confused. As we’d only received the invite that day, we hadn’t received the official invitation which would have directed us to the Cellar Masters bar down on Deck 6. We were swiftly escorted down there, where we met our companions for the evening.

There were three couples already seated around the long high-top table, all dressed up smartly for the evening ahead. We were the youngest by a decade or so (not unusual on this cruise) except for a gregarious young man who had been brought on the cruise by his Mum as a congratulatory present for his graduation from college. There was one elderly and somewhat quiet couple from the southern states, and a chatty pair from Texas, who were originally from New York and Philadelphia.

Now that the final tardy guests (i.e. us) had arrived, the night could begin. We were introduced to our Head Chef and his team, who would be serving us that evening. They would be preparing a menu based on Daniel Boulud’s own work, along with an optional wine pairing, which obviously we all went for.

But first: champagne!

We enjoyed these delicious amuse bouches with our champagne and got to know each other a little, and break the ice a bit. Once we had let the bubbles settle, the chefs were ready to welcome us up to our table for the evening back on Deck 10.

In the center of the restaurant, they had arranged the tables into a large square to seat the eight of us. There were a few couples having their evening meal towards the front, but for the most part it felt like the whole place was empty except for us. I’ve spoken many times since our cruise about how the 50% capacity really did make us feel like celebrities at times, and this was one particular moment that stuck with me.

We were ushered to a row of seats facing the front of the restaurant whilst a photographer got himself in position; the ladies sat on the seats and we menfolk stood behind whilst we posed for unexpected pictures, then took our seats around the table. Let’s dive into the food.
(I edited the name cards where names were visible)

FIRST
Curried Cauliflower Soup with Saffron and Apples
Wine pairing: Chablis Premier Cru, Joseph Naively, Les Preuses

I am not really a cauliflower fan, but I do enjoy curried things and this was delightful. It was deliciously creamy, cut through with a zing from the apples.

SECOND
Mushroom Risotto Persillade with Aged Parmesan
Wine pairing: Gavi dei Gavi, La Scola, ‘Black Label’, Peidmont, Italy

I was nervous about this one. I do not like mushrooms, and I really do not like parmesan cheese. Somehow, it was delicious. Rather than tasting the individual mushroom and parmesan flavors, the whole meal together just tasted great. The sign of a good cook (to me) is being able to serve up something I typically dislike and make it taste good – this meal combined two things that I physically will shy away from when presented them, and elevated the whole thing to something special. I was very impressed.

THIRD
Seabass with Za’atar, with Fennel, Sweet Pepper & Lemon Tomato Vinaigrette
Wine pairing: Pouilly Fume, Michel Redde et Fils, ‘La Moynerie’ Loire, France

I freakin’ love seabass, so was very excited for this dish. Actually out of all of them, this was probably my least favorite – but it was still excellent. Sadly the lady of the southern couple was really not feeling fish and didn’t touch it. Given that I’d wolfed down the risotto of my two most hated ingredients I felt that this was a bit of a cop out, but there we are.

FOURTH
Duo of Beef Filet and Short Rib, with Root Vegetable Boulangére, Mushroom-Red Wine Sauce.
Wine Pairing: Cabernet Sauvignon, Opulence by Celebrity Cruises & Grgich Hills

If you know me, you know I love beef. And my goodness, what beef this was. The Short Rib wasn’t just melt-in-the-mouth, it was practically melting on the plate. The filet was done to perfection, and the root vegetables in the middle were a lovely counterpoint to the meat – though they had clearly been cooked in some decadent butter as well.

FIFTH
Java Grand Cru Cacao, Sumatra Coffee Crémeux; Chocolate Borneo Spice Ice Cream
Wine pairing: Champagne, Veuve Clicquot, ‘Demi-Sec’, Champagne, France

To all of our shame, none of us could finish this course. It was stunning just like the rest, but we’d already had four courses along with four healthy glasses of wine (five if you count the champers and amouse bouche at Cellar Masters’).

By the time we’d finished it was about 10pm – we’d been going for three hours, but the time had vanished in a haze of stunning food, delicious wine, and lots of conversation and laughter. AJ had made firm friends with the lady to her right, from the Texas-via-New York couple, which was to prove a delightful turn of events – as well as a fortunate one, but more of that later.

At the end of the meal we were all gifted a copy of the picture that had been taken earlier, a copy of the menu (which I’ve used for this post), and Daniel Boulud’s book “Daniel: My French Cuisine”, a beautiful hardback book that I immediately worried was going to put us over our weight limit on luggage!

As we started to ‘drink up and go home’ the southern couple made their exit first. Our college graduate really wanted to go over to the late-night Reflections Lounge but we were feeling pretty tired as this was our first full day since we’d been sick. We were also very full of food and I’d eaten a bunch of things I’m not supposed to with my IBS, so figured that heading back to our Stateroom would have made more sense.

We went back to the elevators with the New York couple, realizing that out of everybody at the table we’d gotten on best with them, and made some tentative plans to hang out again later on the cruise.

Another early morning beckoned, as we would be exploring more of France, as well as somewhere I’d always wanted to visit – Monaco.