Hotel Claridge S 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 d´Azur (when you see the water you know why the name is Cote d´Azur), 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...

Keeping Clean... the shower offensive Scooby is only the size of a delivery van... 4.8m Long and 2.3m Wide... fits snuggly into a shopping car park space. Height is not an issue as he is 2.6m tall so plenty of room for us shorties! The point is that space on the inside is at a premium, so the shower is "cosy"... but it does the job. Best of all we have a gas water boiler so the water is HOT HOT HOT!! We need to fill up our water tank every few days as there is only enough ...

... 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 ...

... 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 ...

... voyage. Vers 17 heures 5, un homme à l'exubérante moustache vient ouvrir la grille ; il s'appelle Henri, semble très sympathique, et me donne les clés de ma chambre subito presto, que je puisse y déposer mes trucs et repartir visiter pendant qu'il reste un brin de soleil. Je redescends dans les nombreuses marches de l'Escalier des Orangers quatre à quatre (c'est même forçant de les descendre, tellement la monté est à pic), et arrive presque à mon ...

... Oh and not to forgot the big blonde hair and the hot pink lipstick....mmmmm....classy. After appreciating the view a little longer (of the coast, not the bride), the weather was starting to look a little grey, so we decided to make the trip back home via the coast road through Monaco. After dodging all the traffic full of rich cars, we ended up driving through Monaco without really seeing a lot, but with the traffic we were happy to be on our way home.

... family palace and Casino de Monte Carlo. To the chagrin of many we did not gamble but I doubt they would have even let us in. Ferraris, Rolls and Bentleys everywhere. We got sick of all those rich *******s and went back to get some Crepes and walk the beach some more. We are heading into the final two weeks here so we will see you all soon. Au Revoir.

... hotel. Unfortunetly that wasn't exaclty the case and although we were sorta heading in the right direction we ended up walking 5 blocks too far before we realised and then had to turn around and go back. It was raining by this time so by the time we got back to the hotel were were soaking. But it was an awesome night.We ended up getting in around 3 or 4. COSTS: 47E- French perfume 10E- drinks at Irish Pub