Ladies Day in Nice....

 Whilst in Monte Carlo last year I had a fun day out with some of the other wives who had also travelled with their husbands. I knew before hand that we were going on a boat to Nice but thought it would be a short trip that I could manage. Well of course, although it was a beautiful sunny hot day it was also breezy and the water was choppy. Firstly because of the choppiness the catamaran was not allowed into the marina near the expensive boats so we had to get on a tiny dingy to take us out to the boat, it was scary jumping down to it and scary scrambling onto the catamaran and very undignified, thank goodness I had trousers on. I took a few pictures and a little film for about five minutes then felt ill the whole journey. I was hoping I had enough money on me to get a taxi back if there was no other option. The bus met us in Nice and took us to the old town area that we had been in on our last day after holiday as well. We had an hour to shop then had lunch at Le Hussard which was lovely. I was not the only one who opted for the bus ride back to Monte Carlo there were about eight of us not keen on the boat ride back. It's always interesting mixing with other wives of people in the industry but I always realise I am not a good corporate wife.

The perspective of this photo does not show the drop down to this tiny dingy!

On the catamaran

The Casino from the water

Hotel de Paris from the water

The old town and palace up on the hill

We were allowed right into Nice harbour

Some of the.....

.......quirky shops

Parts of the......

.....old town square

Lunch is served....

.....up there on the terrace

The opera building

Looking out from the terrace

Dining al fresco on the terrace

Goat's Cheese starter

Love Creme Brulee

You could miss the entrance to Le Hussard,
I have bought things from these shops on previous trips

Part of a mural outside the old town

Nice has so many.....

.......beautiful buildings.

Monte Carlo....

Last year I joined Chris on his annual business trip to Monte Carlo for what will probably be my last time. I'm sure I will visit Monte Carlo again some day but probably not in quite the grandeur to which I have become accustomed on these business trips. The weather was not quite as great as usual but I still got two days at the beach club and a trip to Nice along with some relaxation time. I love staying at Le Metropole, it is so comfortable yet old school , it's easy to imagine all the glamorous people who have stayed there in the past.

I love coming back to Le Metropole at night it's like a fairytale.

Looking out to the entrance at night.

The reception area.

One of the seating areas.

Leading to lift.

Upstairs corridor.

Daytime view of the hotel.

Part of the entrance.

Daytime view of drive.

Lift area.

The Journey Home Via Nice....

What an ending to a great holiday. Unfortunately Xenia was ill all day, too much sun in St Tropez I think, as she hadn't been quite right since then, so she had a completely miserable day and dreadful journey home but we had to work round it. We shut up the house, threw all the pool noodles and air-beds over the fence to the neighbouring family and drove to Nice old town for lunch and to spend a few hours but it actually turned into finding some air conditioning for Xenia to sit in while some of us had lunch then out to the air conditioned airport. Nathan and Teri went to a board games shop and found some treasure that they had been looking for.We found a place called 'L'Atmosphere' that did great food. I would love to go there again with a well Xenia so we could enjoy it more than we were able to with the circumstances as they were. Oh well such is family life sometimes!  The flight was ok and we parted with Nathan and Teri at Heathrow airport as they headed home to East London. Although we all wished we were still in France it was good to get the journey over with. I don't enjoy flying anymore and Xenia certainly didn't today. Bed never looked so cosy!

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Balmy Evenings in St Raphael.....

There is a lot of construction going on in the harbour this year but we were still able to have some great evenings in St Raphael. The evening market doesn't start until 9pm for future reference, I had thought that they set up a little earlier than that. We found great ice-cream, great candy-floss (note in the photo it is bigger than Teri's head!), delicious food. I was only sad that we were there too early for the amazing jazz festival that was going to start as we left.