3.14 Hotel Cannes

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 ...

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 ...

... a plane or bus. Dee had horror memories of training to Syd for summer camps, but this was totally different. Each seat reclined, had a tray table and even a powerpoint and coat hook - we couldn't get over how luxurious and comfortable it was and agreed that the Eurail pass was a good investment as we got to see more of France in the train journey than if we had flown.

The hostel we were staying in is quite famous, as it is located in a converted monastery, where the monk who wrote 'Le ...

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 ...

... chocolate at a café and then headed over to the Louvre, which is free for people under 26 after 6 PM on Fridays. I saw the Mona Lisa, Venus of Milo, and Madonna on the Rocks along with some other famous nonsense. I saw some Egyptian stuff and the old foundation to the palace that stood in the same spot that the Louvre is now. That night, Emily, Alli, Craig and I found a Middle Eastern Restaurant to eat at. I don't know if I have ever eaten "Middle Eastern" food before ...

... really into the glity and glamour **** so we took a train down to Antibese. My sis and i really wanted to snorkle but it took us so damn long to figure out how to travel. I mean i got to french 3 in high school and i couldnt understand a lick of their train system or what people were saying to me. There was cliffing jumping and a sweet beach in antibese though. I really enjoyed this place especially if you look past all that celebrity **** and actually see its beauty.

... which they call la barbe de papa noël or Santa's beard. There is also hot chocolate, hot cider, roasted chestnuts, and my new favorite way to drink wine: hot. Yes it sounds weird, but vin chaud is actually quite good...a little spicy but really warms you up. Santa's hut is right in the middle of a winter wonderland, made from more "snow" and trees. For the kids, the market has several mini carnival rides, and for us big kids, there is going to be a real carnival around the corner ...

... to see a movie. To get to the theater we had to walk through these gardens and they were so beautiful. I wish it would have been nice so we could have enjoyed walking, but it was not meant to be. When we got to the theater, we had missed the show by about 15 mins. They rain had began to let up so we went walking again. We got some snacks from a grocery store and found a garden with beautiful views to rest in. We went to a few tourist shops and got a citron pressé at a ...