"Driving" in France

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Hi All

We have internet again. Signal not great but at least we are back in contact.

After leaving the safety of our Dutch "protectors" we have now headed off on our own.

The Car people in Nice gave us a 30 second lesson on the car - sorry, I exagerate, it was 15 seconds. Then we tentatively hit the road, trying to remember all Hennie's lessons. They did give us directions to the Motorway but neglected to tell us about the Toll. So here we were in our brand new Citroen, reversing across 6 lanes of traffic, because, firstly we picked the auto booth, then we picked the coin booth, but had no coins. They eventually took pity on us and took our 20 Euros, to turn into coins - next time use the far right lane! All I could say was Merci, Merci - perhaps it should have been Mercy, Mercy!!! But we were still laughing.

We managed to find Grasse without any problems as the rain and the problems hit - no laughing. Had trouble finding our B&B on the car GPS. Then hit a bigger snag. My phone had gone missing!! Lets just say I was not a happy person to be around at this time. The only positive was we were confident (sort of) that the phone was probably in the shuttle we got from the airport - which it was!! We eventually made it to the B&B a little stressed but in one piece!! Had enough energy to climb up the hill to the old city with its winding narrow passages and walk-ways, dodging doggie do.

Place was a little strange. Groups of old and young men but no women. Not dangerous, just felt funny.

The B&B owners are really nice and nothing is a problem - even helped with our washing today (not as good as Annemeike!!).

Today (Tuesday) we headed back to Nice, about 30km drive to rescue the phone. We took the back roads so we could see the scenery. Didn't see a lot of scenery for the first 10kms as we dodged crazy Frenchmen in roads too narrow for Roman chariots - or what ever the roads were built for!! At one stage we had a very large Audi A8 (or was it A7 - not sure, it was big) ready to wipe one side of the car as Anita screamed because of the drop-off on the roads edge - Hennie what did you say about your wing mirrors being your margin.

We made it. Got to walk along the Cote dÁzur in Nice. Rocky beach, beautiful blue water and the odd scantily clad sun baker. From there, we ignored the GPS and made our own way along the coast to Antibes a little town between Nice and Cannes. The town is just beautiful. Great atmosphere, lots of narrow alleys with shops - all clean and tidy. Anita said it reminded her of Malta - but Malta was prettier. The Harbour was full of massive motor yachts - absolute billions worth. Octopus, 8th largest in the world was in port.

From there we went on to Canne, about 12km away. Walked along the beach in front of the hotels where they are setting up for the film festival next week. More large yachts and one large cruise ship were on display. Managed to survive the peak hour traffic and made it back to Grasse.

Will spend the night brushing up on French road rules. Got beeped for stopping at a red light - not sure why! Got beeped for not stopping at the next red light in the same situation - can understand why!!! Got beeped for not going around a corner against a red light - still not sure why!! But, to be honest between the GPS and Neet calling the turns we have done OK - not getting cocky!!!

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Photos

Small Boat for Sale
Pete got out his cash but I told him it would be showing off if we took this home.