Monte Carlo by bus (or train)

We're now home in Autumnal Britain although we didn't get home quite as early as hoped because we couldn't find the car in the airport car park. Top tip: make a bloody note of where the car is parked because you're unlikely to remember after three weeks and these airport car parks accommodate a lot of Ford Foci (other cars are available).

What follows was actually composed in sunny Nice yesterday but I couldn't post because of the problems we had with the wireless network. One advantage of coming home!

Yesterday was the day when the blog title manifested itself; except we chose to travel by train. OK, so it was more expensive but did take half the time. However, the day didn't start well because I discovered that my 'expensive' TK Maxx sunglasses were broken. I suspect foul play because Mike and Lou had been telling me that they are the kind of sunglasses worn by 8 year-olds. Of course, Lou wasn't prepared to accept responsibility, even under interrogation but I know better

As planned we met up with Mike and Emily at Gare Nice Ville before 9.30 and did battle with the automatic ticket machine, which used a wheel to select options and didn't accept bank notes. Quoi?

Once the battle was won. I was left with a single small ticket for Rach, Lou and myself. Mike chose to use the ticket office instead, got a 25% student discount (for under 25s) and was provided with two proper tickets. His tickets had no problem with the ticket validation machine whilst my pathetic specimen was rejected at every attempt. And I wasn't the only traveller having this problem. Eventually a helpful gendarme ("Je pense que j'ai une probleme avec mon billet occifer") who happened to be standing by one of the machines sorted it out for me. The trick is to place the puny ticket to the far left hand side of the slot.

We then squeezed in to the 9.56 to Ventimiglia (standing room only) and 25 or so minutes later arrived in Monte Carlo. We stepped out into the sunny main harbour area and as soon as we did, a Bugatti Veyron passed us. We were also facing up the iconic hill towards Beau Rivage (a la Monaco Grand Prix). Some of the private boats were more like small cruise liners and many had crew who were cleaning and (I kid you not) plumping cushions. The scene with the backdrop of old Monaco sitting atop Le Rocher and the smart apartment blocks running up the hillside behind was classic Monte Carlo.

One thing I discovered from the guide book is that as well as being the name of the principality, 'Monoco' is also given to the old city whilst Monte Carlo is the area associated with the harbour, casino and all that celeb stuff.

It was then a case of following the Grand Prix course in reverse and via the tunnel until we wound our way up to the Casino, Hotel de Paris and Cafe de Paris. Inevitably, the cars on display were a 'little' on the expensive side although we did pass a Suzuki Wagon en route. We spent quite some time counting the Porsche, Ferrari, Rolls Royce, Aston Martin and Bentley.

We stopped for a bit of lunch before going back down the hill, around the harbour and then climbing up the side of Le Rocher to old Monaco perched on the top. This afforded a great view across to Monte Carlo and is where the royal palace is located as well as the cathedral (resting place of Grace Kelly) and some quaint and very narrow streets.  Also, shops selling every kind of Monaco Grand Prix hat imaginable. But nowhere to purchase a replacement for my vandalised sunglasses. At least not at the price I was prepared to pay.

Once we'd seen enough, we headed back down to Monte Carlo and after a fuel stop in a (what else) Casino supermarket, squeezed on the next train back to Nice. Unfortunately, the train had no internal lighting which was a little inconvenient as we passed through the many tunnels scattered along the route. Almost inevitably, we had to stand again. It was a good day and we all returned tired and sunkissed (burnt in Mike's case - he hadn't used any sunblock).

Today was a bit of a shopping day however en route we tried to track down a restaurant we'd picked from more thsn 1300 listed on Trip Advisor. It wasn't easy and when we did eventually locate it, found it was closed due to holidays until 28th August. Choosing a restaurant in Nice is so, so difficult.

We (almost) travelled the length of the main shopping street, Rue Jean Medecin, before returning to the old town for a lunch of moules et frites (it had to be done) or salade ceasar (Lou). We're now back at the apartment having selected Cafe de Nice for our last supper. Before that, we're hoping to fit in our first and only dip in the Med (we did and it was great if a bit stony).

Well, I guess thst's it, at least for now. We're due to pick up the airport shuttle bus just after 9 tomorrow morning and should be back in the UK by 1. It's back to work on Thursday but at least we have the bank holiday weekend to soften the blow. Until next time then. ....ciao e/et a bientot.

Nice to see you, to see you Nice

Another early wake up alarm yesterday morning courtesy of thunder, lightning and heavy rain but this cleared by the time we were ready to leave at 9.15. Manuel and Simone (both of whom have been fantastic hosts) and their recently arrived son, Alessandro, all appeared to see us off. Reluctantly we bade farewell to their hideaway former hamlet in the hills and were on our way.

Our first stop was Genoa to take a look at the Costa Concordia in its final resting place. We weren't the only ones. You can't get very close but near enough to see the damage done to this enormous cruise liner. The damaged side (starboard) faces the land and the rusted and twisted metal is plain to see. It seemed a bit ghoulish but I have to be honest and say that the sight was a fascinating one.

Our plan was to take all day and follow the coast road between Genoa and Nice. How naive! Firstly, it's a long way on slow roads and secondly it was a public holiday weekend in Italy and France. We managed to journey as far as Savona without finding anywhere to park before capitulating around lunchtime and rejoining the autostrada. And within a matter of seconds we'd joined the public holiday motorway crawl.

Still, the drive both along the coast and the motorway is spectacular, passing through glorious scenery and past pretty villages and coastal towns. The motorway is an impressive piece of engineering because it seems to consist largely of tunnels and bridges. The downside is that it hardly enhances the environment. Without it however, we'd still be travelling.

In fact, we arrived in Nice earlier than planned and dropped Mike off in central Nice to wait for his landlord for the week (a French Michael). This gave us time to nip to a Carrefour to stock up on a few bits. Or so we thought. After negotiating a route to the supermarket, parked the car and started to shop, we realised that we wouldn't make the 5.30 rendezvous therefore abandoned the shopping and made a dash for it.

Driving through Nice is not easy despite the help of Thomas and his namesake but we managed to get to our destination a few minutes late only to discover that no one was there to meet us as arranged. Or so we thought. Inevitably, there was nowhere to park and so I deposited Rach and Lou with the bags, a little unceremoniously it has to be said, before speeding away in the hope of finding a parking space somewhere between Genoa and Marseille. I turned the corner to be met by a guy directing me to a gap (not exactly a space) on a corner. He recognised the car, spoke with a Yorkshire accent and had been waiting for us. We'd got the wrong street. Bloody sat nav.

Long story short, I managed to recover the baggage (with luggage) and Nigel and his wife Jane (originally from Leeds) introduced us to our new pad. The air con was on and it was very welcoming and homely. All good except (the saga continues) we couldn't connect to the wireless network apart from via the owner's netbook. This remains the case I'm afraid despite much resetting and rebooting. On the plus side, we appear to be free of mosquitoes and (hopefully) the bed bugs we were promised at the original flat.

All that was left yesterday was to take Mike and the hire car to the airport. Nice is not especially car friendly but with the assistance of the e-navigation system, I managed to rendezvous with Mike and return him and the hire car to the airport. It was then simply a case of jumping on the bus from the airport to Nice (disembarking at Boulevard Gambetta). Or so I thought.

I bought my ticket (6 euros), caught the 98 bus from Terminal 2 and got off when the driver announced Gambetta. I then walked up Gambetta Blvd but didn't recognise any of the street names. This wasn't a problem however because I had both Thomases with me so switched on the sat nav. It advised me I was more than 2.5 km from my destination. And it was raining. And I was only wearing sandals and shorts. I set off and Tom et Tom guided my via the one way system to the flat. Or so I thought.

After walking for half an hour and feeling that I seemed to be heading in the wrong direction, it dawned on me: I was walking towards Mike's flat and he was still at the airport waiting for Emily to arrive from Heathrow. I found the correct destination address, reset the sat nav and retraced my steps, eventually discovering I'd originally been one street away from where I'd wanted to be. I got back just before 9. Rach and Lou had been shopping (at a nearby Intermarche) and we finished the day with pizza, taboulet and a few other accompaniments, all washed down with a very nice bottle of Clairette.

Today started with a return trip (for Rach) to the Intermarche and then a leisurely breakfast which included croissants, une baguette and cafe. Mais bien sur! We then went exploring to discover Paris sur le mer, which I'm sure isn't an original phrase. Nice is elegant and chic, with some great architecture, numerous galleries and museums, and the added bonus of the Mediterranean. It has a wonderful relaxed atmosphere, a mountain backdrop, and a centre (including old Nice) which is compact and all within walking distance. I'll let the photos do the rest of the talking...

  

Mission accomplished

We were woken by pouring rain early yesterday morning which provided a slightly inauspicious start to the day but by the time we were up and about, the sky had cleared and it was more like the kind of weather we had hoped for.

We spent most of yesterday morning awaiting Lou's AS level results. This involved a fairly convoluted system that would have been the envy of MI5: Lou's friend and fellow Bilbraps (Bilborough College to the rest of us) student drove to the college under the cover of full daylight and the story that she was collecting her own results only to pull on a Mission Impossible style, latex Lou face mask and thereby retrieve Lou's results.

She then drove to a pre-arranged drop point (Rachel's sister's house, but keep that to yourself) to hand the package to an agent masquerading as Rachel's nephew (who I'll call 'Jonny'). Jonny then phoned through the results to Rachel's sister (who I'll refer to as 'Becca') for Becca to then call a secure number in Italy. The agent in Italy who received the call then transferred it via a secure hand to Lou for Lou to discover her fate.

As it turned out, Lou had nothing to worry about although it has been hanging over her during the first two weeks of the holiday Her results were much as she expected and reflected the hard work she put in during the first half of the year. We could then enjoy the rest of the day and decided to spend it by and in the pool.

Today is our last day here near Casasco and so we decided to set off 'early' (@ 10.15) to explore the area beyond San Sebastiano once we'd visited the nearby observatory.

Once we passed San Sebastiano, we started to test the Corsa once again as we climbed up in to the mountains and to 1000 metres and a temperature of 16 degrees. It was glorious and almost alpine. However, today is a public holiday therefore it was also popular with visitors on their extra day off. Parking was at a premium and we quickly turned tail and headed back down the valley, passing a significant amount of traffic heading in the opposite direction.

By this stage, it was approaching lunchtime and we'd decided to eat out. After much driving and indecision and as we got close to San Sebastiano, we spotted cars pulling up outside a restaurant by the side of the road called 'Belvedere'. By this time, it was close to 1 o'clock.  Not ones to follow the crowd, we decided to join them.

As we climbed the stairs, we noticed an array of stickers on the door (including Michelin). Must be good we thought to ourselves although checked that we had plenty of cash with us (not enough as it turned out).

When we entered, the place was full with the exception of a single table for 6 in the middle of the restaurant. It seemed every one else had reservations but they squeezed us in, which was probably easier than explaining to us that we should sling our collective hook. Phew!

And then it dawned on us: nobody was eating anything, there were no menus and no orders were being taken. Had we crashed a wedding party? Or was it a special celebration for the saint after whom today's public holiday is named and we were going to be the sacrificial offering?

None of the above as it turned out because it all kicked off shortly after 1. We were brought a bottle of Barbera vino rosso (very nice btw) and a carafe each of still and carbonated water.

The food then started to arrive. And kept coming. Anti pasti x 5, primi x 2, secondi x 2 and dolce x 3 followed by coffee and accompanied by bread and foccacia. By the time we finished (and boy were we finished), it was approaching 4 o'clock but not before we found out what the damage was. I'll leave that to your imagination but suffice to say I'm glad they accepted credit cards. Having said that, it was a fantastic, gastronomic experience and well worth next week's spending money.

It's now evening and we're preparing to leave in the morning. I've hoovered the inside of the car in the hope of avoiding the cleaning charge and am trying my best (single handedly) to finish off a 1.5 litre bottle of Barbera red (cost less than 3 euros from Esalunga and bloody good).

Tomorrow we follow the coast road from Genoa to Nice. Should be fun although it's a busy weekend on the roads. Oh, and it's started to rain!

Genoa? Only vaguely

Internet access was restored this morning but it's been very patchy since. If needs be, I'll have to resort once again to broadband bandwidth banditry. The weather today is very UK like - grey, very windy and wet. We won't be getting on the bikes any time soon.

Another day, another airport pickup on Monday but this time at Genoa Aeroporto to meet Mike. But first we had the fascinating and at times exhilarating drive to the coast. It must be one of the most interesting motorway drives - through the mountains, including multiple tunnels, sharp bends and roadworks. Also, I don't think I've ever had to exit a motorway in a tunnel before.

It took about an hour and a quarter to reach the airport and Mike was already waiting in Arrivals by the time we'd parked up and got there. And then it was off to explore the city of Genoa, which is the birthplace of Christopher Columbus who was still convinced that he sailed to Asia and not the New World when he died. He should have looked at a map - what a numpty.

Genoa was once the mightiest city state on the planet and its dominance continued for several centuries until its defeat by arch rival Venice at the Battle of Chioggia in 1381 (Berlitz, page 17).

It's still a major sea port and is a workaday city but has invested in the old port area in recent decades. It has an additional attraction these days: the Costa Concordia which has been brought to Genoa to be broken up. This apparently has generated a lot of interest however we managed to miss it.

The old city is an incredible collection of narrow (extremely in some cases) streets which hark back to the Middle Ages (a recurring theme). It seems to also maintain some of its port traditions as a number of the narrower and therefore darker streets were occupied by 'ladies' (those of the oldest profession) plying their trade. I guess you'd call them 'ladies of the early afternoon' in Genoa.

It was then time to introduce Mike to the delights of the set menu (menu turistico, although I'm not too sure about the spelling). After much searching we finally chose a café located in a small piazza. 10 Euros each for a primi, secondi, contorni (side dish) water and coffee. So, for the price of a coffee and panini or sandwich back home. I know I've mentioned this before but I do like a bargain.

After lunch we headed down (it had to be down after lunch - up would have to come later) to the cool (in more ways than one) old port area which has an eclectic mix of expensive boats, an aquarium, biosphere and shops. This included a pharmacy that charged 7 Euros for 20 paracetamol tablets (Lou's been getting some gip from her wisdom teeth). But 7 euros?  The area also has the galleon 'Neptune' which was built for the Polanski movie Pirates.

Before we left, we went in search of gelato. We'd been in Italy for 10 days by this point and it was the first time. However, the wait was well worth it and we tracked down (Mike and Lou remembered) a traditional gelateria in the old city. Rach and I had a cone each and Mike and Lou a tub of fantastic ice cream ranging from coffee, nut and chocolate to strawberry and melon. It quickly became apparent why the youngsters chose the tub instead of a cone; fortunately, there aren't any photos of the rents to illustrate this but suffice to say the wipes came in very handy.

It was time to leave but not before we pulled in the cathedral (di San Lorenzo) and a few other impressive buildings. We enjoyed Genoa very much. It's certainly not been gentrified or sanitised, which is part of the appeal, but it is varied and real. We also enjoyed the return journey up (I discovered this morning that where we're staying is 400 metres asl, which could explain the wind) although the same might not be true for the Corsa. Having said that, we seemed to get back in double quick time. Time enough anyway for Mike to enjoy his first dip in the pool as the sun started to set.

After our exertions in Genoa, we decided to take it easy yesterday. This gave Rach and I another opportunity to track down San Sebastiano and it was second time lucky. The drive through the hills was glorious and San Sebastiano proved to be yet another delightful village with a street layout from the Middle Ages. Also, everyone seemed to know each other. We braved the panetteria and supermarket before heading home.

We had an afternoon by the pool but not before Simone had explained that this group of buildings, all of which they now own, were once home to more than 40 Individuals (peasant farmers and their families). The pool must have been a squeeze.

We also received some 'good' news during one of our raids on Manuel and Simone's broadband. The flat we've booked in Nice has bed bugs (not so good) but the owner has offered her apartment which is nearer the coast and has a second bedroom , which means Lou won't be having to sleep on a sofa bed. Not great for the guests who  experienced the bugs but a bit of a bonus for us.

The evenings have been spent outside on the terrace and we have a hornet which likes to hang around. This has been a little disconcerting because they are menacing (and large) but it's largely left us alone (apart from landing on Lou's leg last night!). We also had a visitation from an owl, which we think was of the Barn variety. No sign of the bears yet although there's been a lot of movement in the undergrowth above the house.

Anyway, I've prattled on long enough. You may have guessed it's still raining. In fact, we now have thunder and it's pouring. We won't be going outside anytime soon and the virtual bikes will have to remain locked away. Also, it may be some time before I'm able to post this from the front (in the battle with the mossies). Another cup of tea (Mike remembered to bring supplies) anyone?