Sep 4, 2005 - Day 8: Barcelona to Antibes - French Riviera.

I got my day pack off the bus eventually and did a super quick pack. At 8am we were on the road again to the French Riviera. We had a service stop just before the Spanish/French border and then stopped for lunch at Aigues Mortes which is a lovely walled city. Due to Nicki's wallet being stolen last night, Donna ran a pool and everyone put money in to help her out. It just shows how great our group is (in my opinion). At our first stop, Andrew must have fallen asleep on the bus. One of our group (who shall go unnamed) drew 'Tool' across his...

Sep 4, 2005 - Riviera, Here We Come!

We were up early and walked up to the railway station where we waited for customs to open so we could board the train from Geneva to Lyon. Once on board we had a snack for breakfast as we had to leave before the hotel served it. The journey was uneventful, retracing part of the may we had travelled on Thursday. We got off at Part Dieu, Lyon and had almost three hours to wait on the TGV to Nice. The station is quite large and has a beautiful forecourt with an interesting copper sculpture. I read and Christine did craft work while we waited....

Sep 3, 2005 - Villefranche-Sur-Mer, France

Our next stop on the cruise was Villefranche, France. We enjoyed a shore excursion which took us to Nice, the village town of Eze and finally Monte Carlo, Monaco. Our stop in Nice was quite short...they left us at a little street market where we got to look at--but not purchase--the beautiful flowers. We couldn't buy any because we couldn't take them on the ship! Next was Eze...what an amazing hilltop town! It's this beautiful town with no cars...just walking all around the brick/cobblestone foot paths...we had tons of fun exploring all...

Aug 19, 2005 - Barcelona - Nice

After breakfast we cross the French border at La Jonquera past Perpignan into the wine-producing plains of Languedoc. From here we follow the Amethyst Coast to the Carmargue, before we continue through Impressionist Provence on our way to jet-set Nice for two nights. (Buffet breakfast)

Aug 19, 2005 - Nice & St. Paul de Vance

Bon jour!!! Yes, we are now here in Nice which is located on the coast in the South of France in the region of Provence. This coastline is known as the Cote de Azure, or "Blue Coast". Our hotel the Palais de la Mediterranee is a new hotel, only a year old and is quite fashionable. We are across the street from the beach, and have beach club privileges. It really is so beautiful, our room has an ocean view, a balcony. We're not suffering to much!!! Wednesday night we walked around and had dinner in a small café. It is so international -...

Aug 12, 2005 - Bus trip to Nice, the Southern French Coast

So now after no sleep the night before and only 1 hours of sleep the night before that, we commence another day of travelling on the bus. Each time I managed to drift off to sleep sitting in my chair I would wake myself up after hitting my head on the chair in front - no rest for the wicked (apparently!). Silly bus games are played all day including the latests DARE and now I apparently have to get kissed by a boy in every country that i go too... well at least that wasnt a dreadfull as singing kareoke or doing a nudie run like some of the...

Jul 27, 2005 - Cote d'Azur

Nice has proven to be a bit more interesting than we thought initially, but not terribly so. We hiked up to the Matisse Museum on Monday (and 'hike' is in no way an exaggeration!) and saw some of his most famous works, which are housed in an old villa of his. Nice, but paled in comparison to other museums we've seen. We also walked around the old town of Nice, which was packed with tourists and touristy shops but some of the architecture was neat. We put our toes in the Mediterranean for the first time and were surprised by how rocky the...

Jul 27, 2005 - La France

Well here I am in France and eating my way through all 400 kinds of cheeses. Things are starting to block up but thank goodness there is wine to deblock. Paris on the 14 was beatiful and full of parades and fireworks. And thanks to a new Spanish friend I was shown all the best spots in Paris. Nantes was calmer but just as beautiful and now I am wrapping things up in Cannes-Nice-Monaco. The water is amazing and I have the sunburn to prove it!!! No one doubts that I AM CANADIAN!!! I leave for the Swiss Alps tomorrow. OH MON DIEU more cheese...

Jul 15, 2005 - All roads lead to Rome?

In our last entry, we were tearing ourselves away from Austrian family and unfortunately, Austrian rain. We made it over the Brenner Pass into sunny Italy in record time. Don't ask us if there is a speed limit on the Autobahn... As I pulled out the Italy map to plot our way to Rome, a text message (on the phone) came in from Tara and Mallory telling us the beach in Antibes was really nice, if we were interested. Now, who would have known the French Riviera had nice beaches?? We checked the map and discovered it would only add, well, many...

Jul 13, 2005 - Cote d'azur

Allo! Pas grand temps pour taper ceci donc je serai bref... We've been in Nice for a few days now and I'm loving it. I was due for a little break and this is certainly the best place. Haven't been doing much except going to the beach or different beaches as it is. There are so many to chose from and not nearly enough time. Yesterday we went to Juan les Pins for a sand beach instead of a rocky beach and it was a nice change but i must admit that i don't mind not being covered in sand at the end of the day. I've managed to burn anywhere that...

Jul 12, 2005 - Nice Is Nice

Managed to retreat to the Cote D'Azure and get a few days of sun in Nice. Extremely busy days on the beach are followed by equally tensions riddled evenings. As sasha would argue Florida has the best beaches but even any sandy beach would put these to shame. The shore is covered in large rocks just to make your sun bathing experience all the more enjoyable. but the water was super clear and blue and you cant argue with that. We had a 5 bed drom with some guy whe barely got to meet. Good ol' Dave. Some 30 something computer programmer that...

Jul 10, 2005 - Train to Nice

10/7/05 We decided to travel from La Spezia to Nice by train as it wasn't that far and it was a chance for us to save a travel day on our bus vouchers. It was very exciting tackling public transport for a major trip with all of our luggage and apart from a few strange connection problems the trip went smoothly. We met a very nice American from Louisiana who helped us out with a lot of the stressful parts of the trip. We arrived at Nice at dinnertime and walked down the main street to get something to eat. Our hotel room is very nice, it has...