La Bastide Saint Antoine Grasse

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 ...

... gesture. We can't change the world but we can change the way these children start off in life and who knows where that will lead....

It is less than 4 weeks now until I leave. There is much to do. I am trying to prepare myself for "teaching" 20 - 25 children. A bit of a challenge that. Much as I have known that I have always wanted to do something like this, now that it ...

... 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 ...

... that we were still in french territory, we feasted on delish pastries galore. Dee sampled her first proper French choc eclair...OH MY GOD was her reaction! Lewey even had dessert envy, and we both laughed at the fact that our tea cost more than the dessert (so very cheap in France for the desserts, bad bad bad as we are rapidly tripling our size, wondering how we will fit on the plane home)!

Feeling a little too much like a backpacker, and needing a tidy up before donning a bathing ...

Leave from nice on the Chemins de fer de Province (diesel train) to Touet-sur-Var. And then the steam train to Entrevaux, city with amazing views. On the way back a quick stop in Puget-Théniers.

My camera battery died once we hit Entrevaux so no photos :(

... the car and sat back to enjoy the ride. About three hours later, we arrived in Grasse, the perfume capital of France, located in the province of Nice. Now, this is the kind of place you want to walk around. Here, life seems easy, slow, comfortable and beautiful. The hillsides are sprinkled with villas of all sizes and designs, and I can only imagine what stories each one holds from its history in this place. As Jean navigates the tight ...

... and cruise ships and sail boats, and at every stop it got more and more appealing. finally our stop-NICE. we left the train station and immediately found an ENGLISH BREAKFAST-eggs, bacon, toast, coffee! something we havent had in weeks! YUM, i already love this country! Viva la France! We headed strait in the direction of the water, found the beach and went for a dip. there were speedos, leathery skin, topless bathers, banana hammocks, and pigeons, and there was us! just so ...

Hello All We got into Nice last night and didnt see the city until today. Today we just walked along the beach and did some hiking to see views of the city. It kind of reminds us of California with all the palm trees! We are going to travel the coast tomorrow ...

SUNDAY, 11th June Breakfast was fun. We joined the oldies with our trays making sure not to sit at a reserved table. There were a couple of families and a young backpacker so 'twas not all the elderly. We reloaded our car from out of the back gate again and off we went to find the autostrade. [For those who care they are toll roads. When one enters a toll road one takes a ticket from a machine somewhat like that at the entry to a car park. Upon exiting a toll road ...