May 12, 2004 - St Raphael

We had a rest day today after all our tripping around. I sat out by the pool to try to get a tan, and then had a walk along to the local shops and restaurants, situated by the St Lucia harbour. There were real estate agents having open days on some of the boats, quite interesting. We have discovered that the Bakery across the road from our Resort does a lovely grain bread, so we have been buying one of those every day. Yum.

May 11, 2004 - Grasse and St Paul de Vence

This morning we set off for the beautiful town of St Paul. We drove via Grasse, a lovely town with cobblestone streets, a market place and lots of little alleys. Unfortunately it was raining and so we were restricted to keeping under cover somewhat. We then drove to St Paul de Vence, a place that Lorraine had visited last year. Again, the rain dampened the views and our photos didn't turn out as well as they would have had it been fine weather. It was still a beautiful place, a lovely walled city up on top of a hill. You walk up from the...

May 10, 2004 - Cannes

Today we headed into Cannes for the day. The International Film Festival was about to start on Tuesday and so the place was really busy, and they were busy rolling out the red carpet at the Festival Hall etc. so it was all go. We walked around and took lots of photos and tried to see famous people. We think we might have seen Brigitt Bardot, we took a photo anyway, she was with her minder and holding a little dog (like they all do in France, never seen so many dogs). The huge yachts that are at the Harbour are amazing, we walked around...

May 9, 2004 - Monaco to St Raphael

After Monaco, we headed down the Motorway (A8) to St Raphael. We had our first introduction to the Toll Roads - 5.50 euros, 2.20 euros, etc. etc. If you got off the toll road, you paid and also paid again when you got back on. It was a curse. Finally we reached our destination St Raphael, and checked into our Timeshare, the Maeva Clubhotel St Raphael. We had a downstairs unit near to the pool, with a double and 2 single beds. Quite adequate for the three of us.

May 9, 2004 - London to Monaco

This morning we set off to Heathrow Airport bound for Nice on board British Midland flight. There were 3 of us - Lorraine and myself and Shannon, Lorraine's daughter, who was spending the week with us. Peter (her Fiance) is having my car for a week whilst his parents are visiting, saves having to park at Heathrow for an exhorbitant amount. Our flight was only a couple of hours and we arrived at Nice at 10.40 am (France time - an hour different to the UK). We picked up our Hertz Rental Car - a Hyundai - at the Airport and because we were...

Apr 5, 2004 - Lyon/Avignon/Nice/Monaco/Nice

Left Lyon (which I liked but was obviously just the mid-point from Paris to Nice) and headed South. Stopped at Avignon, a fortified city dating back to the Romans, for lunch and then continued on to Nice, arriving in the late afternoon. After sending our laundry out (which was a nice option) and changing our clothers we headed into Monaco for dinner. The cliff-top views on the drive were great and then Monte Carlo just jumps out at you with the sun shining on the rooftops and off the water. I can think of places I'd rather live but I can...

Mar 24, 2004 - Nice, Monaco, and France's Cote d'Azur

NOTE: TIME (AND MONEY - EUROPE IS EXPENSIVE!) DOES NOT PERMIT A LENGTHY WRITE-UP; APOLOGIES TO ALL. Nice is magnificent, there can be no ifs, ands, or buts about it. It has lovely wide streets lined with palm trees and cafes, all shrouded in a wonderfully relaxed atmosphere. The sea is a stunning turquiose blue, yielding to a deep, vivid blue as the water deepens. Greenery abounds everywhere you look, and to the eastern side of the town is the beautiful Parc du Chateau, built on a hill overlooking the historic center of Nice. We strolled...