Holiday Inn Resort Nice-Port St. Laurent St-Laurent du Var

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 ...

... gesture. We can't change the world but we can change the way these children start off in life and who knows where that will lead....

It is less than 4 weeks now until I leave. There is much to do. I am trying to prepare myself for "teaching" 20 - 25 children. A bit of a challenge that. Much as I have known that I have always wanted to do something like this, now that it ...

... about a dog... Toilet time It is amazing how toilet dramas/stories are always a hot topic of conversation amongst travelers. I feel a little empty this time round as we have averted the problem as we have a Thetford cassette Porta Potti. Called "Theo"... We started out thinking would only use him in emergency situations but with the scarcity of public loos in France and more so in Italy means he is getting a lot more use than first planned. These loos are easy to empty and ...

... 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 ...

... decides that he will position himself 500 feet off the start of the course catching the optimal picture of Lance as he starts going. I decide to climb a elevated center garden area and take pictures of Lance and other riders as they await on top of the ramp for the start of the race.
I climb the garden area and am met with French locals that scold me for coming up on their platform. They have been waiting there since 8AM and although ...

... the uncomfortable situation on the train, the trip was beautiful, especially once we arrived to the French Riviera: I saw beautiful cliffs, and mountains, old Roman ruins and castles, lovely sand beaches and the lovely yet rough Mediterranean sea....It was a glorious display of nature; the views were undescribibly beautiful and delightful. Finally I arrived in Nice. The hard part was over, but now I had to find my hostel, which was more invovled than I expected.....

... got into the revolving door but the bellhop kept the door going so she didn't have a chance to get out --he forced her to stumble back out. It's kind of funny now -- but "oh the humiliation"!! One of the most impressive things in Monte Carlo are the amazing cars -lamborginis are everywhere, even the taxis are BMWs --yep it's true - not a joke. Anyway we had fun --even if we didn't get to see any celebrities. See ya

... to find my way to the bus station. On the way, I was appreciating the cristal clear waters of the Mediterranean sea and realized that (maybe) the bus to Monaco would go through the road I was thinking about in the train... Arriving at the bus station I realized the trip wouldn't be very comfortable: everyone who was on my train and wanted to go to Monaco were going to take the same bus. I don't remember exactly, but I think the buses left every 15min or so. Payed my ticket ...