La Reserve De Beaulieu & Spa

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 ...

... of the retired variety... nothing wrong with that, but even they are thin on the ground. Of course this has a lot to do with the time of year we are travelling and there is a festival van circuit the young antipodian crowd do each year, which is not really our thing. So it is our own fault for choosing this time and this route. The end result is that we tend to pounce upon anyone speaking English in the near vicinity. We haven't scared anyone off yet so we mustn't seem too desperate.

On this morning we left Switzerland and travelled south into Italy en-route to the French Riviera. The scenery was pretty spectacular, with snow-white capped, jagged mountains that seemed to swallow the highway. Surreal!

When we arrived at our hotel we had about 30 mins to get ready for our trip into Monaco! On our drive to Monaco we crossed the bridge that Grace Kelly was killed on in a car accident. The roads are ...

... the french 'boules', which is where lawn bowling originated from. One guy had a very interesting style of chucking his ball up into the air and it would magically land in the right spot and knock out the opponent's ball. We sampled some delicious macaroon dessert thingies, which the new Lindt chocolate store in Chaddy sells and they call them 'delice'. Well, whatever they were, they were awesome, the lady at the store cut up a whole lot and gave us mini taste tests, as there were many ...

... have a Ferrari we could use of course, but because we had just had that beer at the Café de Paris you understand, and headed across Monte Carlo. At just €1 per person per journey (or €3 for a tourist day ticket), the bus is a little bonus after the inflated prices elsewhere. With the steep climbs through the hilly principality as well, I ...

... that this tax haven is entirely funded by the profits of the massive Monaco casino where some of the world biggest rollers come to make and spend gazillions. It was a fun day out but we were happy to get back to a slightly more real world of Nice and hit the beach soon after we arrived to cool off in the beautiful blue sea. Its very clear why this part of the French Riviera is so popular, just wish they could spend more of their millions on a softer beach.

... we even got a bit of a tan. After a long, hard day of lazing around, we went to the hostel, got ready and went to Check point... again. We met lots of people from Canada there, and all over the world because there is an EF school here that teaches French to people.. in france! EF is the same company that I took my school trip to Italy with in grade 12.. so anyways!.. It was cool because on Friday, we had already met so many people from the night ...

... waitors. I've taken so many drunk photos. Anyway, after dinner we went to the Grand Casino in Monte Carlo. I quickly blew €30 on the poker machine. I was having too much fun pulling the leaver that i didn't realise that i'd spent my money. I think i have a gambling problem. After monaco, we went to a pub back in Nice to have a few drinks with the locals. There was a live french band but they were singing in English and they let ...