Hotel Le Petit Castel 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.

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 ...

... if we want to via a plug in the side of Scooby. We've only hooked up to mains twice and found that we can charge all our gadgets from the leisure battery without running out of power. Laptop, Camera, phone, iPod, eBook and GPs. The fridge goes 3 ways off Mains when plugged in, off battery when the car is running and off gas when stationary. Mad Mary We have a GPS with EU maps installed. She was christened Mad Mary by the previous owner due to her sometimes ...

... curly so it really isn't surprising that accidents are a regular occurrence.

Monaco is the world's second smallest country (after Vatican City) less than 2 square km, but what it lacks in size it makes up for in decadence! Streets are manicured, lavish hotels and casinos line the waterfront, and the harbour is chock a block with gigantic, plush boats.

Once we arrived we visited the Palais du Prince (or ...

... 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 ...

... It was lots of fun at the water park and it was a great way to cool off. We have had beautiful weather here and have throughly enjoyed the heat. At Marineland though it was unbearably hot so we decided to come home for a nap and go back when it was cooler and see the night shows. The killer whale and dolphin shows were great with the lights and fireworks that accompanied them.

Biot is famous for their glass ...

... Now the most interesting figure to hear- from the junction of the Autostrade (AutoBahn) west of Genoa Italy to Monaco, there were 98, yes 98 tunnels on the main roads and others until we arrived in Monaco!! There is constant contruction here also ...

... taking so long, found the gang, headed back and met up with the hostile girls and layed out. Jill, Al and I were sunned out, and headed back after awhile, stopped for some pizza and gelato (trouble starts here with that) checked our emails, (still cant use the phone because they all speak French or you get charged 10 bucks a pop) then headed home for showers, and the other gals came home and got ready and we met the hostile ...

... We went around a couple of times trying to find the motorway to Genova (which they spell Genes). Monaco is only about 3 kilometers square and has a population of around 30,000 and its residents don't pay any income tax. After this hot day with a few decent walks we were all pretty tired by 7pm, but we feel we are a bit behind in our distance traveled, so we decided to push on past Genova on the motorway and bed down ...