Jul 3, 2018 - Monaco

Monaco is like watching an episode of “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.” I say, watching an episode becasue most of us arent’ driving Ferrari’s. Most of us are on foot, or are fortunate enough to have a little used motorbike. But, I have never seen so many people with perfect hair and perfect teeth driving the perfect convertible in my life. It’s actually a little funny to see all of these $100,000+ cars all over Monaco because there is no place to park. So, if you want to go to dinner, I’m thinking you have to leave the Ferrari in a...

Jul 2, 2018 - Back Across Italy

Set the GPS and headed out of San Marino. Next stop is Monaco. Monaco is actually the second smallest country in the world. Only Vatican City is smaller. The trip was pretty much without adventure until my GPS decided to give me a bit of excitement. I’m not sure why, but it decided to take me by some Italian person’s house in the middle of the Italian countryside. I was simply following directions, like a mindless robot. Suddenly, I realized that I was driving on little country roads instead of major freeways. I dismissed my first...

May 23, 2018 - Monte Carlo

Day 5. Monte Carlo. 23/5/18. Wednesday Sunny 17 - 25 degrees. Saint-Paul de Vence; Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild. A beautiful sunny day with a picture perfect view from our room. There are luxury liners big and small, huge seagulls and pink sky and glistening blue water. The roads are being blocked off, making it difficult to go from A to B in a direct way. But an exciting time to be here, especially for Ian. The traffic is horrific, but fortunately going into Monaco and we were leaving. 45,000 people travel into Monaco each day to work,...

May 23, 2018 - French Riviera

Today we left Pont du Gard, went north to Orange, got on Motorway 8 and headed south towards St. Tropez. We took the very scenic La Garde Freinet from the motorway. It was a small country road that went up, down and around mountains. The traffic was heavy. We saw several Chateaux which were wineries. We saw Fort Freinet, a medieval town with its high beige block buildings amd its old Chateau. We stopped here for a cafe. From here we descended to Grimaud before heading east along the French Riviera through San Raphael, Frejus, Cannes and on...

May 22, 2018 - France River cruise & Belgium

Day 4. Monte Carlo 22/5/18. Rainy. 12-20 degrees Breakfast 39 Euro p/p - all part of our upfront costs. I had o.j, cereal, yoghurt, small omelette, toast, 3 mini pastries and cappucino. Ian had o.j, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages, toast, pastry and tea. Tomorrow it’s back to normal! And I know I’ll pay for it......but it’s hard to resist, especially the first time. The sky is grey with light rain falling. Because of road closures due to preparation for the Formula 1 race on Sunday, plus the rain, the bus was late to take us on our tour of...

May 21, 2018 - Nice to Monte Carlo

Day 3. Nice to Monte Carlo. 21/5/18. Monday. Nice: Blue sky, sunny. Monte Carlo: cloudy, cooler, possible rain. We both slept well, and woke early, so we had a cuppa and museli bar, then headed out for a final walk. Saw lots of new places, and back over some we’d already seen. It was lovely walking along the Promenade des Anglais this morning, sharing the space with cyclists and runners. A different receptionist at the hotel today, who was as good as yesterday’s - both slight, small young women, but they bounded up and down the stairs...

Jun 16, 2017 - A Little Bit Of Monaco, A Little Bit...

Up after 0530 for the facilities. Thought the shower door did not swing out so I of course immediately thought BB could never use it! Molasses Man aka Lou was taking forever at everything, telling him I was heading down early for brekkie moving him to 3/4's Molasses Man speed. We could have had brekkie outside but the tables weren't set up yet. The pool is only open at 1000 so diners do not have to look at undesirable shapes and sizes over their bacon and eggs. Decent spread for choice this morning. Lou and I wound up with tears of laughter...

Jun 15, 2017 - On The Tracks Again

Not exactly a solid sleep so up at 0530 to use the facilities first. Lou must read a chapter of 'War and Peace' every time he is in the loo. What else could take a guy so long? Made a few notes about the good and bad of A-B to date. The latter is winning hands down. As a general proposition of law, the more comfortable the hotel, the older the group, many issues falling along from that. The blog site is working though still have to sort out some of its oddities. Its biggest drawback is the uploaded pix are rather small, anything other than...

Sep 30, 2016 - We won at the Casino in Monte Carlo

What another great day we’ve had. Up really, really early this morning as our tour left the cruise ship at 7.45am so we had to be ready and breakfasted and in the Epic Theatre by 7.30am. We were there and on the first tender across to the mainland of Cannes. (And lucky we were early as there were five buses going our tour today!!) The tender ride was a very interesting experience. The covered boat held about 50 people and travelled the 3-4 kms to the mainland, finding every wave it could. I enjoyed it though. We boarded coach 4 today and...

Sep 26, 2016 - Monaco, Cannes.

Friday 23rd Off towards Genoa, after a quiet lakeside walk with Blue. Took the toll road as the road ahead looks very winding. The signs are not good in Italy and even with the Sat nav we managed to somehow, halfway there, to go north instead of south, which cost us an hour and a few euros. We eventually reached the coast, turning west and reaching tonight's destination of a campsite east of Monaco. It had been a long tiring drive, so when we reached the site and found we couldn't even get into it as the incline was too sudden/steep for the...

May 24, 2016 - Monte Carlo

No I am not going to drive to Monte Carlo. We will catch the train. Phew. What a place. The race is on in a couple of days and the preparations are incredible. Whole streets boarded up with wire and railing. Huge signs everywhere. And the race company's trucks are a work of art. The red of Ferrari is a favorite. The city is on a very steep hillside with winding streets connecting huge apartment blocks. They sure know how to spend money here. We thought we would walk from the FOUR storey railway station to an 'exotic garden' look at it for a...

Apr 5, 2016 - Monaco

We stopped at the border to Monaco and expected we would have to show our passports. But that didn’t happen. David told us that we can cross borders with all the European nation countries and even though Monaco is not part of this union, passports are not needed. He reassured us that there are over 500 cameras on this “Country on the Rock” and they very much know who comes and goes here. On our way to the parking lot, we passed Princesses Carolyn and Stephanie’s homes. Beautiful and huge to say the least. David took us past the cathedral...