Chateau La Begude Opio

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.

... have an amazing view from Colline du Chateau. On saturday (November 28) we had sunshine and 19 degrees (end of November) and I was even swimming in the sea (15 gegrees), on sunday, November 29 we had rain and thunderstorms so that caused a delay of the plane of three hours. Best breakfast in town you find in "Les pains a tables" close to the market. Nice is a city I´d love to visit once a year minimum.....

... upon me it feels very strange and somewhat daunting. But to my knowledge no one has ever died from teaching children so I am sure I will survive.... My Amazon book order should arrive soon to inspire me. I am really looking forward to discovering the 100 things you can do with a paper plate. Life is never going to be the same!!

More when I start travelling...

Keeping Clean... the shower offensive Scooby is only the size of a delivery van... 4.8m Long and 2.3m Wide... fits snuggly into a shopping car park space. Height is not an issue as he is 2.6m tall so plenty of room for us shorties! The point is that space on the inside is at a premium, so the shower is "cosy"... but it does the job. Best of all we have a gas water boiler so the water is HOT HOT HOT!! We need to fill up our water tank every few days as there is only enough ...

... to Nice to our hotel.

The next day we had a full free day of wandering and sight-seeing. We walked along the Promenade des Anglais and climbed to the top of a cliffside to take in the breathtaking views of the promenade, the azure blue ocean and its beachfront and the old town from Parc du Chateau. We took heaps of photos then spent most of the afternoon chillaxing. In the evening we had a really nice dinner ...

... the whole area was closed, with no eateries open. When we had exited the train station, we were supposed to go right and unfortunately we went left, and ended up doing a giant circle that lasted almost 2 hours, taking us past a football ground and also through the giant harbour. So when we arrived at the market/town area, and all was closed we now had a search on our hands to locate somewhere open to eat, since we were very hungry by now and the hulk was rearing in both of us!

Nice, Provence, France dan-and-dee

Leave from nice on the Chemins de fer de Province (diesel train) to Touet-sur-Var. And then the steam train to Entrevaux, city with amazing views. On the way back a quick stop in Puget-Théniers.

My camera battery died once we hit Entrevaux so no photos :(

... a place where "more is better"..more diamante, more jewels, larger sunnies, deeper tans, A place where tight speedo swimwear on leathery lotharios is 'de rigeur' and in Monaco, the elderly males are led around by nubile blondes not golden retrievers...Monaco is a great place to people hang out and people watch so save up the Euros... Welcome Guest Editor Stu.... Where to start , 7 hours drinking Rose wine on arrival , followed by lunch in the ...

... against the break wall at the mouth to the main harbour - the Rotterdam was quite dominating in the smallish space. The harbour was way smaller than Al had expected and quite deceiving because the boats look small until you stand beside them and realise they are the biggest private boats/yachts you've ever seen. Took lots of photos as the sun rose and illuminated the buildings. We were ...

... a couple times afterwards to announce that it would take at least one hour, then two. Fortunately, after the latter, worse news, the conductor came back on and corrected himself: we were going to be on our way in a few minutes. All in all we wound up about an hour and twenty minutes behind schedule. We managed to just make it under the wire for the bus cut-off so we could get to the hostel. And, nicely, from the bus terminus we got to be picked up by the hostel staff ...