30/11/2013 - Today we headed back into France to explore the French Riviera before
heading into Provence. Our first stop is a small town just over the
border - Menton.

The day starts out with a heavy layer of smog. Visibility is down to a
couple of hundred meters. Real pea soup stuff (and still they drive at
130+ kph). I am officially an Italian driver. Ran two red lights,
switched lanes three times without indicating, cut across two lanes to
turn right, and stalled the car midway thru an intersection - all within
20 minutes of leaving the hotel. After that it was clear sailing along
the freeway.

For awhile we headed south parallel with the Alps. We could just make out the snow capped peaks through the haze. Pity the air pollution was so bad, it would have made for a spectacular drive.

Soon we were driving along the coast headed for the border. We kept looking at the map on the GPS thinking "We should be on that road which runs right along the edge of
the coast, instead of the freeway which runs further inland". We soon
realised that this wouldn't have been such a great option. If you
believed the map, the coastal road passed through a number of small
villages and hamlets - very charming. Truthfully tho, we couldn't see a
break between the villages. It seemed like one continuous urban sprawl -
nothing charming about it.So we stuck to the freeway.

Crossing the border was a non event - into a tunnel on the Italian side, out of
the tunnel on the French side with just a small welcome sign. We'll
never get our passports full of stamps at this rate!!

Did I mention that Menton was a "small" place? WRONG!! It too is a
sprawling metropolis. Nothing ar all what we had envisaged. Welcome to
the French Riviera!!

Tomorrow we'll head along the coast a bit, haver some lunch in Monaco, then move along to Nice for dinner before heading back to Menton. And that'll just about do us for the Riviera.

PS: finally some news about our luggage -they found it. Its in Geneva and they told us they would deliver it to us in Menton on Thursday - fingers crossed.

01/12/2011 - Monaco & Nice - Today was a driving/exploring day. From Menton we drove along the coast to Monaco for a bit of a look. What a disappointment. You can't even
tell when you are in Monaco. It just blends into the urban sprawl. Even
the architecture doesn't change. From movies and books and such, you
expect this fantasyland place of streets paved with gold, magnificent
buildings, and exotic sports cars to be lining the streets. but its not
like that at all. it's all rather humdrum and tacky. Can't think of a
single reason to stop, so we didn't; just drove straight through and on
to Nice.

Again we encountered a continuous urban sprawl. There seems to be no end of development in this region. The outskirts of Nice don't exactly inspire confidence - industrial, high
rise tenements, seedy and run down. as we get closer to the center
however, things are looking up. The buildings become a bit more
grandiose, and the shops a bit more upmarket. We parked the car and set
off in search of of wonder and enlightenment. We're soon sitting in the
sun in the main square, partaking of a particularly good cup of coffee
watching the world go by. I only mention the coffee because we are still
in France after all (refer to previous posts). The port/marina area is
interesting if you're a boat buff - lots of shiny big boys toys to look
at, but not much else. Walking through the old quarter proved to be much
more interesting. Narrow cobbled lane ways lined with shops selling
everything from clothing, spices (the aroma is intoxicating), meats,
fruit and vegetables, shoes, crafts, etc etc. As well, there are
numerous small cafes and bars scattered throughout the area. A
fascinating place to wander around in.

The high point of the day comes when we discover there is a museum/gallery devoted to
Henri Matisse. This proves to be a real find. Three levels of paintings,
pencil lithographs, bronze sculptures, and photographs. The collection
is quite extensive, and takes an hour or two to see. Next to the Matisse
gallery is an old Francescan monastery which also proves to be quite
fascinating.

As we walked through the parks and gardens back to the car, we came across a group of 30 or 40 men and women playing bocce. So we sat on a park bench watching them for a while
- it all looked so serious, with lots of gesticulating and animated
conversations. It was good to just sit and watch a group of people
partake in an activity which is so obviously a part pf their life.

by the time we had had our fill of bocce watching, the sun was starting to
disappear and the air was getting a definite chill to it - time to head
back to Menton.

All in all, the French Riviera is
not a place I would hurry back to. nor is it a place i would recommend
to fellow travelers. There are far more interesting places to go to than
here.

PS: Arrived back at the hotel. Checked with reception - guess what - STILL NO SIGN OF OUR MISSING LUGGAGE!!!!!! A quick check with Gemeva airport reveals that the missing bag is at Nice Airport, and the staff inform us that "We are very sorry monsieur, but we have no one available at Nice to deliver your bag. You will have to go and pick it up yourself". We were just in Nice!!! If they had told usthat yesterday we could have picked it up today. As it is, we'll have
to call in there on the way to Provence.

"NOT HAPPY JAN!!!!!"

V AUSTRALIA AND ETIHAD WILL CERTAINLY BE HEARING ABOUT THIS!!!!