Orly Menton

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 dŽAzur (when you see the water you know why the name is Cote dŽAzur), 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...

... for 2 showers each and dish washing water. In France filling up the water tank was pretty easy and cheap (2-3 Euro) via staying in an Aire d'service. In Italy, it was not immediately obvious where we could fill up the water - a lot less signs than in France... but we have found fill up points on the highways and managed a lot more free/wild camping in Italy then we did in France... in fact we have not stayed in a designated campsite at all in Italy. Need to talk to a ...

... 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 ...

... a bit of Surfers Paradise (but much much nicer) in the sense that its very much a beachy place, and there seem to be lots of older people here who tan themselves orange and seem to have lots of dosh?

As the weather was a bit average the next day, Dee decided to hit the affordable shopping strip and was pleasantly surprised as she finally had a good solid afternoon of shopping (oh yeah!!!) and Lewey has been promoted to a gold/baby-star-wearing-man for his patience and ability to hold ...

... We may walk back into town or sometimes we just cook dinner and sip at our wine. The life we had always thought we would have. We have made a great friend Andreas who is as mad as they come, but a great laugh and great fun to be with. He seems to be a permanent fixture in the camp site. He also seems to be the welcome party. As soon as you arrive you know Andreas. We just realised that we have been in Menton just ...

... them all by mistake last night, not too happy about that one. The people here are friendly enough, but only when i speak in French. I have not tried speaking english, as i know i must use french here, but from what i gather people here do not know much of it. I think i am getting better at spoken french, but people here speak so fast that i often feel i am just nodding and smiling in agreement with whatever the **** they just said ...

... to the station and she obliged as she rode off. I have just had the notch etched onto the side of the car and as we head to Italy next, I am sure that I can get a few more scooter riders before the trip is out, a few minor scratches should be Ok with Avis. We stayed in Menton the last time we made it to the Monaco GP and did the same this time. We got on the train and after a 6 ...

... to find an internet Cafe because we hadn't checked mail since Paris. The only one we could find I swear must have been made for midgets because the door handle to get in was only 30cm off the floor. The stairs to get upstairs were so small you had to crouch and turn sideways to get up and the roof was onyl about 1.5 metres high. Very strange but also full of people. It must be the only place around. It was actually even ...