Day 5 - Nice to Saint-Remy

Well, where do I start today? We have done and seen sooo much in the last 24 hours that it is hard to believe that it has been only the one day.

Monaco last night, holy moley! We took a tour where there was only the 4 of us with one other family, so almost like a private tour. The border between France and Monaco is literally a red line on the road – bizarre. Our gorgeous French guide (with Al beside her in the front seat of course) took us for a drive around the grand prix circuit – so cool to see the starting grid in permanent paint on the road – and to the cathedral and palace before going on to the Monte Carlo casino. We all had a go at three words each to describe it on the way home and the ones I remember are: opulence, extravagance, luxury, sumptuous, clean, money, money and money. The cars outside are enough to make your tongue drop if you are a car person (and I am) - a line-up of Ferrari, Mercedes, Bentley, Audi (yay!), Lamborghini, even a gorgeous Morgan ooh la la. Inside, frescos on the walls and ceilings, amazing chandeliers, marble statues – the works.

So we pretended to be some of the beautiful people – having a drink in the bar then spending 5 Euro each on a slot machine – but that was the extent of our mix with the big-time. Al had an interesting experience having a cigarette in there though. They have little Perspex booths with suction fans in them that the smokers have to stand in to have a ciggie. He looked like Maxwell Smart in a cone of silence – hilarious to see, especially when he was joined by a little Italian man who looked like an agent from KAOS lol. No photos are allowed inside the casino, but Christine took a sneaky one anyway – and then got growled at coz the security guy saw the flash.

After cruising the casino for a while we had dinner at a nearby restaurant, before hopping back into the van for the 20 minute ride back to Nice – going around the remainder of the grand prix circuit, including through the tunnel (recognised it from PlayStation) and past the pits.
This morning, Brett and I got up early accidentally, so went for a swim in the Mediterranean before breakfast. Talk about bracing! Not exactly the warm waters we had anticipated but we were very pleased to have fitted it in. The beaches in Nice are stony with no sand and they drop away sharply from the waterline. A lot like Birdlings Flat, but with no pounding surf.

After breakfast, the fellas manoeuvred the van out of the parking garage without incident (that they told us about anyway) and we were all very happy to find that the clutch still worked. With Brett as driver, we went toward Monaco again to Eze – for a visit to the perfume factory and to the ancient town on top of very high precipice. The town was built as a fortress and was supposed to have been impregnable. Unfortunately, the ancients didn’t consider the fact that there was no water, so invading armies simply waited until the people were weak with dehydration before taking the town. Three times this happened – duh! Nowadays it is a warren of curio shops, but still with the beautiful chapel and incredible views up at the cloud line.

After getting some pretty good stairmaster exercise, it was in the van again and back through Nice on our way to Provence. We took the coast road and stopped at Cagnes-sur-Mer to have our picnic at the beach where we took another chance to get our feet wet in the sea before we left the coast.

Now, after successfully negotiating the motorway (crazy to get onto, but fine once we were and nice driving skills from Watty), here we are in St Remy de Provence. We are sitting in a beautiful garden, waiting for our meal, drinking French wine and in absolute holiday heaven. This is the France that you see in movies – grape vines, wrought iron, old stone, floral aroma on the air and creme brulee (the real French version) on the menu. Sigh…. (Hey Dan, there’s pamplemousse salade on the menu too lol).

So signing off before I order dinner, catch you again tomorrow. Enjoy your Queens Birthday sleep-n. Love to everyone xx

PS.  Lulu I have lost the paper with your email address.  Please let me know what it is via comment xx