La Surprise Bed & Breakfast 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 ...

... upon me it feels very strange and somewhat daunting. But to my knowledge no one has ever died from teaching children so I am sure I will survive.... My Amazon book order should arrive soon to inspire me. I am really looking forward to discovering the 100 things you can do with a paper plate. Life is never going to be the same!!

More when I start travelling...

... messy or smelly with is good since it's my job to clean Theo out. I have coined the phrase "Feeding Theo" as a euphemism for going to the loo which Kim thinks is gross!! But I'm sure she'll be using the term in no time ;-) Gas... not bad flatulence We filled up our two 4.5kg gas bottles before we left London. The rest of Europe do not use UK calor gas bottles so at some stage we will have to buy a EU standard gas bottle - the only standard bottle is Campingaz which is ...

... at the Monte Carlo Casino. Mark was super keen on feeling like James Bond. He so wishes he was James Bond. It is kind of odd because once you are in the casino it is really quiet and not busy at all. Mark won about 300 euro so we were happy.

We checked out the start and finish line of the Monaco Formula 1 Grand Prix, along with the famous hairpin turn. Even the locals fang it around that corner.

We headed ...

... chick who looked after Dee was delightful and even though she also did not speak much English, Dee tried as much french as she could and of course those amusing hand gestures are always helpful, and Dee thinks that through this combination they were mostly able to understand each other.

Unfortunately our sun-bathing and pool time that we had put aside for the weekend didn't quite work out as planned as it was overcast and rainy (bloody weather report on poddie is not to be trusted ...

Fui ŕ sub-prefeitura de Grasse fazer o registro do carro ("carte grisse"). Deu tempo de bater umas poucas fotos da cidade. Grasse é uma cidade e comuna francesa, situada nos Alpes Marítimos na Costa Azul. O seu nome de origem imprecisa parece derivar de Podium Grassum. A cidade libertou-se do poder feudal e obteve a sua ...

... later, Jill, Al and I were chatting with our new French friends, and end walks Katie, Dirks and Abby. There was a big hoorah and we all danced and sang, not really but they said they were going to eat and meet up with us at THOR! (which was a lie actually because they went and bought some wine because they thought they needed to "catch up" with us, hmmmmm) The three of us stayed a bit longer with the new friends, had a ...

... to return to. We hopped off the train at another stop and walked to the beach and out on a rocky pier. The cafes were just too pricey to enjoy. Back at Nice, we used the last of our buy one get one free coupons at McDonalds for 2 peach sundaes and chicken nuggets and ate on the wall overlooking the Mediterranean. Then we strolled the pedestrian street and enjoyed some overpriced shakes. We returned to the room around 10 pm, washed a few items and called it a day.

... the cook who was very pleased that we were pleased. We bought some fruit and set off for Nice. I really wanted to see Nice and Cannes again but this coastline was just one long urban freeway full of vehicles, traffic lights and roundabouts. It was tiring and served no purpose. Nice was as expected. A long, long promenade of hotels and apartments. A long straight beach of road fill! Sharp stones that would normally require hiking boots to tramp along. Nice of all ...