Richelieu 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 ...

It is Sunday and very wet and miserable here in Antibes. Quite a change from the glorious day we had yesterday. Ideal for computer work in fact... (Except that then things didn't pan out as planned and it is now Monday)

It wasn't my intention to have an entry before my departure but the response to my initial circular has been so overwhelming that I feel it merited an ...

... not limited by bus and train timetables. The other upside is that we are quite comfortably staying within our 50 Euro a day budget (25 Euro each) - yep that's fuel, food, the occasional wine or 3 out at a bar, entrance fees, the lot!! Downside of campervaning... it is a lot harder socialising and meeting other people. In a hostel this is easy especially if you are in an 8 bed dorm with a bunch of strangers. In a van you don't have this opportunity and most other vanners ...

... to Nice to our hotel.

The next day we had a full free day of wandering and sight-seeing. We walked along the Promenade des Anglais and climbed to the top of a cliffside to take in the breathtaking views of the promenade, the azure blue ocean and its beachfront and the old town from Parc du Chateau. We took heaps of photos then spent most of the afternoon chillaxing. In the evening we had a really nice dinner ...

... night, we were both incredibly relaxed and a little revitalized for Barcelona, which looks to be a lot of running around again.

We finished off our relaxing spa day with a walk to the pebbley beach, finished off with an interesting dinner at the hotel restaurant to celebrate 7 weeks of travel!!! The restaurant is on the top level of the hotel and has panoramic views of Nice, it was very pretty, lots of tiny glowing lights. We splashed out on an a la carte for Lewey (entree, main and ...

We have been using Menton as a base to explore the Cote D'Azur (French Riviera), from here we are a bus ride to Monaco and Monte-Carlo, 35 minutes to Nice and we can walk to Italy when we want, and with a back door to our campsite headed onto the mountains. This is the playground of the rich and famous where multi-million dollar yachts line the harbour, and the beaches are ...

... smoke. I guess they believe i am one of the stagieres who asks at the end of 7 hours if i can go or who slacks off, uninterested. It seems that going into this, i am more committed to good food than their chef de partie. I am eager to start cooking again, and hope that i can learn many things here and pick some brains for connections for jobs in the future. Menton is a great place, but a little more english wouldnt kill anyone would it?

... walkway out to the street. We headed back out to Menton, a towm that has been booked solid for months and with no booking for us anywhere. We thought we would see if we could get something but expected to drive further on into Italy to get a room for the night. We decided to just ask at some places and eventually got an amazing room with sea views. The room was beign held for someone ...

... down the platform. Nothing extraordinary, just grey and blue rolling stock looking a bit aged beside the sleek T.G.V. parked beside it. The T.G.V. would have whisked us to Monte Carlo in six hours. Le Train Bleu will take twelve hours. The guard checks out tickets with passports, and ushers us through to the platform. On locating our carriage we board the train and enter our compartment. We find that each small compartment contains six narrow bunks, three on each ...