La Villa Juan-les-Pins

ok, it was more "collecting a new country" than being really interested in Monaco. Strange, when you go there from Nice airport by bus it costs you 18 € one way, when you go from Nice bus terminal it costs 1 € one way. Monaco is a very clean city. I have never seen so many big and expensive cars. I saw the casino and the castle. Nice, but not spectacular.

I know I always write the same...great weather, such a nice city, good food....but I have to say that Nice was a (very) big surprise for me, I can say that it is my favourite city in Europe (ok, number 2 after Lisbon). You have the mountains, the Cote dŽAzur (when you see the water you know why the name is Cote dŽAzur), the market with fresh vegetables, fruits, honey, oil, soap, you have great restaurants ...

It is Sunday and very wet and miserable here in Antibes. Quite a change from the glorious day we had yesterday. Ideal for computer work in fact... (Except that then things didn't pan out as planned and it is now Monday)

It wasn't my intention to have an entry before my departure but the response to my initial circular has been so overwhelming that I feel it merited an ...

... for 2 showers each and dish washing water. In France filling up the water tank was pretty easy and cheap (2-3 Euro) via staying in an Aire d'service. In Italy, it was not immediately obvious where we could fill up the water - a lot less signs than in France... but we have found fill up points on the highways and managed a lot more free/wild camping in Italy then we did in France... in fact we have not stayed in a designated campsite at all in Italy. Need to talk to a ...

... at the Monte Carlo Casino. Mark was super keen on feeling like James Bond. He so wishes he was James Bond. It is kind of odd because once you are in the casino it is really quiet and not busy at all. Mark won about 300 euro so we were happy.

We checked out the start and finish line of the Monaco Formula 1 Grand Prix, along with the famous hairpin turn. Even the locals fang it around that corner.

We headed ...

... night, we were both incredibly relaxed and a little revitalized for Barcelona, which looks to be a lot of running around again.

We finished off our relaxing spa day with a walk to the pebbley beach, finished off with an interesting dinner at the hotel restaurant to celebrate 7 weeks of travel!!! The restaurant is on the top level of the hotel and has panoramic views of Nice, it was very pretty, lots of tiny glowing lights. We splashed out on an a la carte for Lewey (entree, main and ...

... Grocery shopping has been interesting here. It seems that there are 2 grocery stores for the area. The bigger of the two was like nothing we have ever seen. They sell everything from household items, clothes and groceries to everything in between. There were 80 cashiers and they have a travel and insurance center, banking, photo shop, flower shop, and of course a bakery. One of the many parking lots had 1500 parking spots ...

... to see the presentation done in a different location. after, we went to the Casino and watch people loose their pants on Blackjack and Roulette. I am amazed at the amount of Euros ...

... later, Jill, Al and I were chatting with our new French friends, and end walks Katie, Dirks and Abby. There was a big hoorah and we all danced and sang, not really but they said they were going to eat and meet up with us at THOR! (which was a lie actually because they went and bought some wine because they thought they needed to "catch up" with us, hmmmmm) The three of us stayed a bit longer with the new friends, had a ...

... 15 years ago). Tam, you would be in love if you saw her! Went walking with Warren (Aussie studying in Sweden), Janis (South African hoping to sail the world as a boat hand), and Marco. Had a nutella crepe. Heavenly, but pricey. Warren and Janis didnŽt have as much luck with theirs. They were pretty disappointed. Waitress had scariest eyebrows IŽve ever seen. Even worse than the unibrow baby from the Simpsons. But I ...