Today we departed
Barcelona heading up to the French Riviera to our destination of Monaco.
Our first stop of the
day was in a little town of Arles.
Apparently Vincent Van Gogh lived there for a while and if memory serves
me correctly he may have painted quite a few of his masterpieces there. When we arrived Leo led us up to the
Roman Colosseum that was there.
Unfortunately there was restoration work going on so we couldn’t go
in. Leo gave us free time to
explore the city saying “it is impossible to get lost”. Straight away I headed back the way we
came to photograph some places I spotted as we were walking to the Colosseum. Good thing I spotted Leo when I came to
a junction in the street because I wasn’t sure which way to go. We all made it to the bus with the
exception of one couple who had to call Leo on his mobile to say they were
lost. Now, along with the “it’s a
10 minute walk”, “it’s impossible to get lost” also results in giggles from the
bus when Leo utters those immortal words.
So on we go to
Cannes. We reach the outskirts and
it is hard to believe that this is where the Cannes International Film Festival
is held. Watching Cannes pass us by
we notice a BMW Convertible driving along beside us with 3 rather good looking
fellows in it. I look down at them
again a moment later to see the bloke in the back seat throwing up into a
bag. There’s husband material
right there…. Classy….not.
We make it into our
hotel and are given a little time to get settled and get ready for our night
out in Monaco. As usual we are
herded onto the bus and first given a driving tour around Monaco before being
dropped off at the base of the rock where we made our way up to the top of the
hill where we saw the church where Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier were married,
the outside of the Nautical Museum that had a yellow submarine out front… Leo
said it was donated by The Beatles, I think it was actually Jacques Cousteau’s
submarine and finally the Royal Palace.
We were given a few minutes to take some happy snaps before heading off
to a very nice meal at a local restaurant called St Nicolas.
After dinner we were
back on the bus and off to Monte Carlo.
We were given a free drink at the “unofficial” casino before being let
loose for some free time. I never
bothered going to the “official” casino.
To go into the gambling room you had to pay 10 euro and I have been in
there before. So I hung around the
unofficial casino (donating 20 euro to the economy of Monte Carlo…. Actually
they owe my 60 cents. I’ll claim
that next time I’m there!) before wandering around outside with a few of my
tour group husband hunting… whoops I mean taking photos of all the fancy schmancy
cars parked outside.
On the bus back to
our hotel we learnt one of our tour group won 300 Euros. Alas, drinks weren’t on him :o(
Thanks so much for this blog! I am doing this tour at the end of this year so it's really good to read all about it. I enjoyed it so much I was disappointed when the blog ended in Venice! I wanna know what happens next!!! :) I can imagine its hard to keep up with when you are having so much fun though.
ReplyDeleteTell me, what time did you end up arriving back in London in the evening when the tour finished? Is it LATE PM?