Hotel Aiglon Menton

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 ...

... of the retired variety... nothing wrong with that, but even they are thin on the ground. Of course this has a lot to do with the time of year we are travelling and there is a festival van circuit the young antipodian crowd do each year, which is not really our thing. So it is our own fault for choosing this time and this route. The end result is that we tend to pounce upon anyone speaking English in the near vicinity. We haven't scared anyone off yet so we mustn't seem too desperate.

... 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 ...

... we eventually found a cute place that by some miracle was open. Emboldened by some food, we found our way back to the station and decided to proceed on to the next stop, Cannes. It was a little disappointing, as it seems that it is quite a small town area and we can't quite work out why they would hold a huge film festival there, but anywho. Dee kept on the lookout for Brad Pitt or George C, but no luck unfortunately as the festival was much earlier in the year. We saw some locals ...

... the window, you better get up, I want a window set with my daughter. I literally thought she would explode because she was so red and so angry that she almost picked us up physically and through us out of our seats. She grabbed my ticket on my little tray and started waving it in my face. Mind you, this is all happening in Italian and very fast. They she wanted us to move our luggage off ...

... is designed to self clean........who would do such a thing I hear you asking...Shelley noooooo, Scot mmmmmmm, Dave perhaps.......no it was Lorraine HA! There was this lady you see who said just go in don't worry about the money. HUH, she didn't have to worry about the money but when the door closed behind her Lorraine in her wisdom thought something is not right here......she saw the squat toilet and thought no, I don't do those......then the sound started erupting......oh ...

... beds) had some breakfast and a quick cold shower and walked down the 300+ steep stairs to the bottom of the hill to call home. I swapped my runners for my new shoes in the phone booth and walked the 15 minutes or so to the beach. There's a lovely spot just by the beach with park benches so i got out my magazine and set up my pack like a pillow and had a long laze in the sun. At least i can go home with skin a little ...

... door of the place they are going to. Generally they can, but at certain times, such a Christmas, they can't. In Europe it's the other way around. You might be able to park right at the door of the place you are going to at least once in your lifetime. The rest of the time you park in hyper car parks on the outskirts of town (or here in Monaco, buried under the mountain) and either bus or walk into the centre. In this particular case there is a huge ...