Hotel Jean Freville Beaulieu

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 I´d 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 ...

... peculator brewing, and more often than not scrambled eggs. Lunch is usually a baguette stuffed with loads of fresh salad, stinky cheese (the smellier the better!!) and Parma ham. Our dinner staples are Spaghetti Bolognaise, Pork Fajitas, Hamburgers with the LOT, Cous Cous ala Gill with chicken and of course no meal starts without the obligatory Ham cheese and olive tapas and a bottle of wine. The other stuff We need to make up our bed every evening as it is made out of ...

... 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 ...

... weather back home in Melbourne and looked forward to a top of 18 one of the days whilst staying at the hotel and crossed fingers to hopefully get enough sun to enjoy the pool at our shmance hotel. We were very excited for an ensuite AND a double bed AND one doona AND maybe a bath.... Such luxury!!!


On the friday before our hotel stay, which we had decided would be chill time primarily, we decided to try and get some official sight-seeing time in and ventured out on day trip to ...

... les Pins is a great little beach town and has a surprisingly active late night scene with clubs opening at midnight and a bevy of open air bars lining the two small main streets that lead to a casino. Unfortunately, I was fighting off a travel cold, so we really didn’t take full advantage outside of strolling the drag, eating dinner and having a drink or two at the bars between window browsing. (We did visit the local Tiki bar, Pam Pam, that ...

... the boardwalk and had pizza under a canopied café. Yesterday Kyle and I were sitting on the 7th floor listening in on a presentation on future cruises when he called to ask about my luggage. Then the guy told him he'd call back. About 20 minutes later, they did! And they found my luggage-finally after a week! IT was waiting for me in Barcelona airport.

... California, Idaho and Washington: the most Americans we have seen this trip. Upon arriving I was shocked by the sight. WE were walking the shoreline and upon turning a corner we came to the cove we were looking for. With Cliffs on the east and west sides and a rolling hill to the south there was only room for a very small secluded beach and an even smaller number of people. We were some of the few there and Wow were we lucky. Ive never seen clearer and more blue water in my life ...

... back over another col - and again it grew quite cloudy. We could see the Mediterranean from the top of the pass, and below us was the town of Menton.   We drove to the seaside in Menton and found a place to park downtown. We began to walk along the sea wall, but, with the wind, it was too cold. We did wander a bit but soon got in our car and continued on.   Our first view of Monaco: I was totally struck by the number of high-rise buildings: Hong ...