Hotel Chateau Eza Eze

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 ...

... 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...

... Moochelin star cooking It is my job to drive everywhere and keep Scoobs in good health, in return it is Kim's job to cook and clean... sounds like old school type casting but it works! The food has been great (and so has the driving) Kim has even joked about writing a Cookbook for campervaning. We have a 2 burner stove, griller and oven, as well as a small fridge/freezer and limited storage space, so our food is always super fresh. The day always starts with our ...

... 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 ...

... Prince' (The Little Prince), a gorgeous and very well-known kids book which is also an allegory, was based there. So the monastery/hostel has little pics from the book everywhere and is generally really cute. They were so nice, had a pick up bus service into town (as the hostel is located on a mountain about 15min walk into town). The hostel had an awesome communal kitchen, but also came with a chef that we did not expect, and every night they offered 5euro pizzas or a roast and veggie ...

... was a good kick back and a great visit. Today we drove from Vence to Eze via a lot of hill towns in Provence. It rained in the morning but that didn't stop us taking pictures and hanging out with locals when we could. It's funny that the out of the way hill towns are in many ways more quaint than the tourist towns but they are out of the way so not busy. One of the towns we went to today didn't even have a boulangerie open ...

... it was worth the 10E entry and we were only able to stay 1.15hours. The others never brought suits and the good clothes to get into the Casino. It was plush and everyone was dressed to the nine's. Even the toilet seat was one of those that turned around and cleaned itself after a person had used it. It was a great evening; Jackie won won and I lost:. After we rejoined the tour, we were driven home and went to bed about 1pm. Temperature was about 31 degrees.

... 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 ...

... villages that are right on the coast. You are supposed to hike from the first one to the last one, and it is supposed to be beautiful. it is a 12 Km hike, but I'm sure the views will be worth it. After I got everything sorted out, I had to meet my friend Amber and Jim at the Eze train stop to go check out the Eze Village everyone kept talking about. As I was about to leave for the train station, I found out that the train station is far away ...