Suitehotel Nice Aeroport Arenas

After brekkie it was onto Menton which is a lovely little town just before the Italian border. Menton is a much more down to earth place than its neighbours and more our scene. We found a park right on the beach and went for a wander and took in sum much needed sun. Next stop Italia!!<br>

Up early as it was a spectacular sunrise - full of pinks and organges. We wanted to hit McWifi before we entered Italy but we did not find one until later in the day in Menton. Before that we drove the coast road through Nice and Monte Carlo, both concrete ...

... wine bottle and then we thought they were off on the trail, but no they got in the car and drove on! <br> At the end of the gorge we joined the road towards Cannes, which was route Napoleon, orginially created by him as a pass through the mountains...very windy. Our destination for the evening was Grasse where we found a good park overlooking the city lights and our first view of the Med.

Cannes is not as glamrous as we thought it would be, it still has all the fancy smancy stores along the beach, but there were definitely no red carpets rolled out when we were there. We did a day trip to St-Tropez, its was the end of a hge sailing competitiona and tons of ...

... of millionaires and billionaires. <br><br>The tour of the Royal Palace, where Prince Albert currently resides, offered an interesting and historical view of the life of the Grimaldi family. Later, we enjoyed some leisure time walking around the Palace Square, through the lanes and streets of Monaco-Ville. At 3pm sharp, we watched the Changing of the Guard in front of the Royal Palace. <br><br>Back at the ...

... great and it was more like a hotel room than a hostel but still cheap. We went to the hotel, got ready, and walked down the street to the Pedestrian Street where all of the shops and restaurants are. We ate and had some wine outside at a Mediterranean restaurant and I had escargot for an appetizer. Then, we went out after than to a place called Wayne's. It was in an area called Old Town. There was a band and they played mostly ...

... for a couple months in the off season. We asked a person at the hotle what we could do for dinner and she seemed to just realize then that it did "pose a problem" that there was nothing there to eat haha. But we enjoyed our "American" steak and french fry sandwhiches anyway. Plus it was a good way to save money that night. On Saturday we checked out of our hotel and took the bus and then the train to Nice to check into a ...

... racetrack winds right past the casino, so most people who go out to cruise the strip drove past where we were standing. I took lots of photos of the pretty cars. The other very impressive thing is the way that they look after their public gardens. the grass is so lush and green, the hedges are manicured to perfection, and the roads and paths are so clean. There is no rubbish anywhere. There are also strict rules in terms of what you can do in the parks, ie. no ...

... at the grocery store and took it easy. The next day we took the bus to Cannes. We LOVED Cannes. It was SO cool too because we were there when they were setting up for the film festival so there were white tents filling up the boardwalks, stages being built, and yachts being prepped and polished in the harbor for the big day. We got to take pictures on the red carpet too which was awesome, of course! Cannes had the only sand beaches in the south of France so ...

... and wandered around the narrow lanes for about an hour. It's a walled town, but not strong enough to keep out the Francs when they did come knocking. Then on a bus to Monaco. Ash left me to go walking with some others from the hostel, so I wandered down past the casino to the waterfront. Great view. Lousy beach. Along to the marina. Everybody is in the 'mine is bigger than yours' competition. Past the Christmas fair ...