Hotel Castel Mistral 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.

... 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 IŽd love to visit once a year minimum.....

... Not only have the donations received already far exceeded my expectations, but the kind words and general interest and support that I have received have been amazing. So thank you all. It is all very much appreciated and I can't believe that between us we really will change these little lives. It is my motto here in Antibes, but this is the ultimate "think globally; act locally ...

... hand lounge chairs. Thus we have to be pretty organised - everything has a home and has to go back there as soon as you've finished with it. This also means that every takes a long time... so our alarm goes off at 6,30am. This gives us 30 min to awake from our sleepy haze then coffee and breakfast 1/2 hr. Then make the bed into table and chairs. Change into running gear and run round the current place of abode. Shower and dress... even if we did everything with military ...

... of Prince Albert - no joke), then walked along the harbour. The harbour had a full fairground atmosphere with rides, games, food, lights etc. We had the most delicious kebab for dinner from a stall :-) So posh!

We then followed the curve of the harbour to gape at the boats moored there. The amount of money people obviously have is just obscene!

Next we thought maybe we would have a go at trying to win ...

... while she tries things on. Dani even splashed out on some gor-ge-ous black boots, on sale mais oui, they are so pretty, she wants to name them! As she decided to be smart and send them home rather than ruining them, she gave them a quick kiss goodbye and can't wait to return to her new European wardrobe. She's totally building a little winter collection for 2010 and beyond! Very excited to go somewhere, have someone compliment her and say 'oh thanks, but I got it in France!'.

Nice, Provence, France dan-and-dee

... house. That afternoon we saw through the patio doors that it was still alive and walking around the room. We couldn’t believe it and for a moment worried that we had bought rat food instead of poison. Soon after, the owners son-in-law and the neighbors arrived to save the day. They had to take apart the fireplace and after an hour struggle with the beast they were finally able to release it back to the woods. The drama was finally over ...

... Of course, Quatro Fromage Pizza is served- very tasty (so was the Rose wine)! Of course, there is always a ...

... to find a decent bathroom to use. She was unsuccessful and we all had to wait for one of our trusty road side rest stops for bathrooms and fantastic coffee. After a long further journey we arrived in the splendour of Nice. The hotel we had booked was not so splendid but we spent most of our evening strolling along the Promenade Anglais so who really cares. But....the bathroom in Leanne and Sarah's room smelled bad enough to deter bathing and brushing one's teeth.

... came right back out. Didn't even make it into the casino but I didn't feel I was appropriately dressed, plus I didn't care to gamble anyway. I just wanted to see it. I really wanted to see the Prince's car collection but couldn't find the location after walking around the whole palace. But I did stumble upon a secluded beach on the side of the palace in which random people were swimming in and jumping off HIGH rocks into the water. Monaco was very expensive...but I was ...