HOTEL KYRIAD ANTIBES JUAN LES PINS

After brekkie it was onto Menton which is a lovely little town just before the Italian border. Menton is a much more down to earth place than its neighbours and more our scene. We found a park right on the beach and went for a wander and took in sum much needed sun. Next stop Italia!!<br>

Up early as it was a spectacular sunrise - full of pinks and organges. We wanted to hit McWifi before we entered Italy but we did not find one until later in the day in Menton. Before that we drove the coast road through Nice and Monte Carlo, both concrete ...

... seen and spoken to, to date. <br> Set off mid morning to drive through Gorges du Verdon, again another stunning drive. This time though the weather was kind to us and we were able to get out for a hike after lunch. It seemed like a popular drive as we encountered several other tourists, one couple were eating lunch at the same spot we were. They packed up their picnic, took a swig out of ...

Cannes is not as glamrous as we thought it would be, it still has all the fancy smancy stores along the beach, but there were definitely no red carpets rolled out when we were there. We did a day trip to St-Tropez, its was the end of a hge sailing competitiona and tons of ...

... so we entered and relinquished our 10 Euro entry fee to enter the infamous Monte-Carlo casino only to relinquish several more euros once inside. Before leaving, we took a few minutes to appreciate the artwork and interior of the casino. For us, it felt like we were in a scene of Casino Royale with James Bond! I kept looking for Daniel Craig. <br><br>Our dinner reservations at Sabatini's was 8:30pm. The ...

... sharp, hard plastic!<br><br>The day is dull, lots of cars on the road and it is very twisty and turnie, up hill and down. At times I think it is far worse that the Pacific Coast highway #1 by San Fran and the Red Woods.<br><br>We find a pull off on our side and stop for lunch right at 12, might have been just before. I think we both needed a break from the drive and traffic.<br><br>The road takes us from Italy into France back into Italy and then ...

... also floats covered in oranges and lemons. At the end of the parade, we found the children in one of the town squares with a bunch of confetti everywhere. We played with the confetti amongst ourselves for awhile and then started getting the kids. The next day we went on an Italian Riviera bus tour with our study abroad group. We went to a small town on the ocean called San Remo, did some sight seeing ...

... the casino would pay for them. Now Monaco residents don't pay any taxes but some say they pretty much pay for them upfront when they pay for their million euro flats. We visited the casino and I even got a chip! I didn't play it though because the roulette table was a 25 euro minimum. Monaco is also famous for the Formula One Grand Prix, a huge car race in May that books the harbor and hotels up to 2 years in advance. I had a lot of fun this weekend and can't wait to see what I do next!

... French border.  Then it was 10pm when we arrived, and there were NO TRAINS to Nice until the middle of the night, if not morning.  So finally, nice German guy...gets a taxi and tells us to hop in, for free.  We took a 90&euro; taxi to Nice, on a scenic route hugging the cliffs over the French Riviera (and saw Monte Carlo at night!), and we paid nothing.  Haha.   Anyway, Nice is pretty nice, and I really love the ...

... Steves labeled economical, we decided that we have had enough of restaurant eating for a while. Strolling through the old town after dinner, we found a phone and took advantage of the opportunity to call home. We then clamboured over the ramparts and settled in to watch the fireworks in Nice before heading back to the B&amp;B for a good night's sleep. In the morning, we gathered our beach stuff together and our ...