Hotel Provencal Villefranche-sur-Mer

... 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>

Up early as it was a spectacular sunrise - full of pinks and organges. We wanted to hit McWifi before we entered Italy but we did not find one until later in the day in Menton. Before that we drove the coast road through Nice and Monte Carlo, both concrete ...

Gorgeous morning and a stunning place for breakfast awaited us just outside Scooby overlooking the lake. I went for a run but Kim was feeling a little under the weather so she stayed and made me breakfast - yay! We spotted two girls about our age and attempted to engage in some conversation but their English was limited and French is rubbish. Shame as its manily been the grey hair brigade we ...

... so we entered and relinquished our 10 Euro entry fee to enter the infamous Monte-Carlo casino only to relinquish several more euros once inside. Before leaving, we took a few minutes to appreciate the artwork and interior of the casino. For us, it felt like we were in a scene of Casino Royale with James Bond! I kept looking for Daniel Craig. <br><br>Our dinner reservations at Sabatini's was 8:30pm. The ...

... and not so touristy;<br><br>We hiked the strreets qnd my aging legs were giving up a bit. Mind you we have been dooing about 7 miles each day.<br><br>I could see the kids were equally entralled. Our tour guide , Alex, takes over qnd Parker and I dutifully follow his chants as we strool; He is also transportation expert in each city, whidh is great!<br><br>We find a restaurent nestled next to a ...

... Parfait! We packed our bags and called a taxi to drive us the 1.3 km back to our "cell". As the day developed, I noticed something wicked this way comes for me. Uh, oh. Aaron needs a spinal tap? I spent Monday light-headed with a very sore neck. Headaches. Fever. Chills. So I Skype'd my best-friend who is an ER doc and he said, "Uh, sounds like you have viral meningitis." What?!? That's bad, isn't it? He tells me the only way to be sure is to have a spinal tap ...

... And he complains the whole time, so I figure he's not paying himself. Heh, I just realized I'm doing a lot of complaining myself! They said the first few days will be really daunting and that we'll want to quit, but to hang in there, so that must be part of what I'm experiencing. I don't want to quit, but I just feel like that section of my brain has gone to muscle failure. I keep saying things in spanish instead of French, and when trying to say "yes" I cycle ...

... no rooflines in sight. You can look right at Cap Ferrat and all the rich villas and yachts in the harbor. Pretty! We took a practice walk to school, and it took about a half hour. Lots of hills and we both got sweaty, but that should be good for us. It was a pretty day today, but it's supposed to rain for most of next week, so I'm not super excited about that. I didn't bring my raincoat because I was trying to save space/weight. We're still trying to avoid renting a ...

I'm here in Villefranche-Sur-Mer... I think. Or is it Villefranche-Sante?... I dunno, why they named the towns the same all over France I dunno. It took me awhile but I found the internet place where I can spend a long time without spending a whole lot of money. This entry will be ...