Nice: I am not sure why the French are labeled as rude. We have not found that to be the case. In some obvious ways, the south of France reminds me of Southern California where I lived for many years. The climate is dry and sunny and the hills above the coastal towns have exposed rock and limited foliage during our visit in the late summer. The French love the beaches, the sun, cars, and their beautiful woman. The French are excellent designers and dressers. The South of France is a playground for all of Europe. You hear different languages all [View Full Entry]

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Paris: We had a 6 hour layover in Paris on the way to the south of France and a surprise overnight layover on the way back. Even more surprising, my sister Kathleen (who lives in London) had sent me an email right before we headed back to Delhi. She mentioned that she would be in Paris celebrating birthdays in Paris with friends at the time we were connecting for our flight to Delhi. So when Air France screwed up our connection and couldn’t fly us out of Paris until 24 hours later than their promised time, we spent the day in [View Full Entry]

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Not much to say here. Just take a peek. If you are wondering if anyone reads our travel blog, we just got our ten thousandth view last week. Phi Phi Island is the most viewed blog with over 600 hits so far. [View Full Entry]

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Cannes: Cannes feels sort of like Los Angeles ( California ) with palm trees, sandy beaches, and extravagant cars with a Newport Beach chaser of multi-million dollar yaughts. Being from California, I quickly realized how the Mediterranean has influenced everything Californian. I had noticed this first in Spain , but the influences are throughout the Med. The only thing clearly better in California is dance music, vegetarian food, and Mexican food. The French school Americans in just about everything else. The USA is also better for shopping selection, prices, and electronics [View Full Entry]

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Monte Carlo, Monaco. Wow, this place just oozes money. Check my video of the automobiles in front of the world famous Monte Carlo Casino--Rolls, Rolls, Bently, etc. That video is in the French Riviera Cars and People Blog. The Monte Carlo Casino is one of the most famous tourist attractions of Monaco. The casino complex is a gambling facility which also includes the Grand Théâtre de Monte Carlo, an opera and ballet house, and the headquarters of the Ballets de Monte Carlo. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monte_Carlo_Casino Monaco is a Constitution [View Full Entry]

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My friend Sunjay moved back to India for a few years for work and to spend time with his family and friends in India. His wife Bindu and daughter Maya will be joining him in a few weeks. My work flew me down to Bangalore for a seminar last week. When Sunjay heard we would be in Bangalore he invited us to spend the weekend with him. I haven't seen Sunjay since we left the USA so the answer was a big yes. We were excited to see his family and friends and where he grew up before moving to the [View Full Entry]

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Having learned our lessons in Moscow, our hotel in Saint Petersburg was in the thick of the action only three blocks from the Hermitage. We spent the first day wondering the halls of the Hermitage and were delighted to learn that photographs were allowed. The Hermitage was all that we expected with works of art from earliest civilizations to Picasso. There was a huge party going on outside the Hermitage and the city was alive with students who were celebrating graduation. There were good restaurants and events all around our hotel. We found a few dive bars playing great music and [View Full Entry]

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We spent the first day wondering the halls of the Hermitage and were delighted to learn that photographs were allowed. We will let the photos do the talking. [View Full Entry]

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Despite advice from others we flew Aeroflot to Moscow and indeed the warnings are correct. Two days before the departure date we received an email that the flight was moved to a day later and the only option was a refund. By then it was too late to move our hotel reservation, so we missed a day of vacation and paid for a hotel we could not use. Don't trust the Internet either when you book a hotel in Russia. The hotel we booked was listed by Orbitz.com as within 3 miles of the Kremlin, but it was 50 miles away [View Full Entry]

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We enjoyed people watching in Russia, so we took a few pictures so you could get the idea. [View Full Entry]

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