Hotel Metropole Monte Carlo Monte-Carlo

... the local bar and settled in for a few drinks and complimentary tapas.<br><br>Wed 11 Nov<br>Riva Ligura even better in the sunlight had a pretty little piazza and church which had a beautiful painted interior - much unexpected by us. The novalty factor was it had automatic sliding doors!

After brekkie it was onto Menton which is a lovely little town just before the Italian border. Menton is a much more down to earth place than its neighbours and more our scene. We found a park right on the beach and went for a wander and took in sum much needed sun. Next stop Italia!!<br>

... and not campervan parking friendly. We found a picture perfect stop just after Monte Carlo at the top of a hill overlooking the Med. We had the place to ourselves so we russelled up some brekkie in the sun which was lovely, so much so we were in t-shirts!!!

... seen and spoken to, to date. <br> Set off mid morning to drive through Gorges du Verdon, again another stunning drive. This time though the weather was kind to us and we were able to get out for a hike after lunch. It seemed like a popular drive as we encountered several other tourists, one couple were eating lunch at the same spot we were. They packed up their picnic, took a swig out of ...

... ago to escape governmental control. We spent that night in Vauvert with Sylvain's family and woke up to a large American style breakfast, the first big breakfast since I've been here. We went down into town around noon and participated in a mini running of the bulls. After we killed some bulls we headed over to the local race track where Sly's stepfather was participating in a prototype race (similar to forumla 1). We got to watch behind the scenes with the ...

... Sailboats were docked at the marina (knez, it made me think of you). Diane ordered mussles and Jon and I had our first mussels ever. They were delicious. Thank you Diane for helping me discover my love for sea food. St-Tropez was further than we thought, but thank god we ...

... experience at Sababini's was very personable! The eight course meal was superb! We both chose the steak and lobster, otherwise referred to as surf and turf! The service was fantastic! Sabatini's provided a more intimate and personable experience! We were glad we arrived with an apetite. Otherwise, the eight courses would've been too much. The champagne carried us through dinner until the cappuccino's. <br ...

... back the money we each had lost on my roll. By the third shooter, we hit our win goal of exceeding 25% of our initial amount and went into our win goal mode. At that time, I was at 1,555 euros, Stee was at 1,415 euros. Over the next few shooters, Stee played out his win-goal strategy and ended his game with 1,124 euros and I quit at the same time and was at 1,901 euros. I almost doubled my original amount.<br><br>It was a fun game and as we were winning ...

... to not pay 4 Euro to keep our backpacks in a locker at the Nice train station. Instead, I felt like I had the equivalent of a Great Dane strapped on my back while undertaking a Lord of the Rings-type journey. Still, once we reached the top, the climb was totally worth it &#8211; the building turned out to be the Palace of Monaco, and it offered gorgeous vistas of the Mediterranean and surrounding area. There was also ...

... sights in front of me: a delicately contrived garden leading the way up from the Casino, complete with fountains spewing a cool fine mist from their fulcrums, the Monte Carlo Casino yards away, Hotel de Paris across the road, and cars. A plethora of the finest and most expensive cars I will ever see lay in front of me. I observed as a man pulled up to ...