Hoppy's not the man who robbed the bank at Monte Carlo (too rich for us) But we did see Monaco +++

OK so you're too young to remember that song - well some of you!!

We got off to a very late start and thereafter the driver drove like he was in training for the Grand Prix. If you’re going to look down –don’t think about it, just admire the view!!Poor Hoppy trying to take photos from the bus – there are lots of pine trees (but not as we know them) and houses crouched right on the side of the road, which is also the side of the cliff. French Riviera? Nothing like I imagined. Strange to think Monaco is a country with only two square kilometres. It has three French villages around it and on one round a bout you pass in and out of the country!! In some of the road tunnels there are intersections and traffic lights. Tunnels are nothing to the Italians as we have noticed before. Just a hop south in Menton – a ten minute walk takes you into Italy. We drove on the high road to Nice which itself has only been French since 1870. Crazy, these countries with land borders. I’m so glad we don’t have any – YET!! All the way up and down the coast, the French Riviera no less, there are little beaches, crowded by the time we got there, covered in pebbles except where some sand has been imported, and quite steep into the sea of blue of course – the Cote d’Azure. It apparently just stopped raining two days ago. We were lucky there. North at Antibes, the beaches are naturally of sand. At Nice we didn’t do the harbour drive we expected as the amateur part of the Tour de France was taking place. We only skirted the town then back on the second coast road past the medieval village of Eze, where we were supposed to stop but didn't! Then on to a perfume factory. What a shambles, however, determined to buy something I did considerable damage to the credit card – at least I’ll smell sweet! More frantic driving to the seaside town of Menton.  Here Hop managed to snap a voluptuous topless bather taking a shower beside the road – shattered some illusions – yeah! We had a wander around the market, downed a beer and mocktail, then back to our bus and the ship. Our 4 hour trip took under three and we beat a bus doing the same trip home by ½ an hour even after leaving 1 hour later than it did. The worst trip and quite boring!! BUT we did see some quaint villages and villas, Monte Carlo -  the Casino; the Grand Prix track; the place where Princess Grace had her car accident and died; some snow on the French alps; cyclists; pinetrees; near accidents; pinetrees; more faded yellow and orange apartments/houses; cyclists; pinetrees. We’ve certainly had time to absorb the overall feel of the Med if not experienced it in depth. So the trip was called Nice and Eze – not nice and eze! Keep warm.XXXXXXXXXXX