Episode IV - The Final Countdown

---

Well folks this will be the final instalment of the 'Griswalds European Vacation'.

It is Monday evening here in London and we will be heading home late on Wednesday. The weather here has been great apart from 1 day when all hell broke loose and flooded many parts of south east England. Well it's Wimbledon so it had to rain didn't it.
Since our last episode we left Florence and in our honour they decided to hold a half marathon at 9.00pm right outside our apartment window. It made it tricky to get in but provided lots of entertainment for a couple of hours.
We then headed for Pisa for a whistle stop tour. We had been asked to fix a building that had a bit of a lean so having completed that task we headed for Nice. On the way we stopped off in Genoa for a look see. Looks like a nice place, beautiful harbour, street markets and hot weather.
We stayed in a hillside suburb called Eze, which is midway between Nice and Monaco, about 8km either direction. That night we went in to Monte Carlo. What a place. You can smell the money. They want $17AUS just to go into the Grand Casino. The carpark to the Casino looked like a prestige car yard. We lost a quick $20 on Machines we couldn't understand!!
The boats in the harbour were unbelieveable. Helicopters on the back and 2 or 3 speedboats hanging from the decks. So having eaten our hamburger and drooled over the rich and famous we went back to the reality of our bed and breakfast. (with a quick drive around part of the Grand Prix track including the tunnel under the Casino)
The next day we went to Nice and shop hopped due to the heat. We ventured down to the beach for a quick perve, sorry look. The women seemed to have only bikini bottoms but Annemarie said we had to get back to the shops so I only had time for 40 or 50 photos.
The next day we dumped the car at Nice Airport and flew to London with EasyJet.
Note to John Plummer - if you think Virgin Blue is a bit basis you should try this mob. No priority seating, just get on based on when you check in and grab the seat you want, just like on a bus.
So we arrived at Gatwick Airport picked up another car and drove on the proper side of the road - what a relief!! We had no prearranged destinations arranged for the next few days so it was do what we want when we want. We went along the southern coast and saw Brighton, Bournemouth and Plymouth. We were still looking for accommodation at 7pm when we came across 'Rose Cottage' in a place called Chidoak which we can't even find on the map. This place was fantastic. In the morning we went for a walk to the local beach which is heritage listed (isn't everthing here). We drove on to the Eden Project in Cornwall which is a huge series of domes (see picture) which recreates the environment for all different parts of the world. This was really impressive, except for the Aussie bit that looked a bit familiar.
Next day we moved on to Longleat, which is the huge Safari Park and stately home of the Marquess of Bath. We had a ball and an encounter with an Ankole (big Bull) that decided to use our car as a scratching pole with his big horns banging on the bonnet - all I could think of was the excess on the insurance and how I was going to explain the damage to the rental company.
We are now back in London with Tania for the last few days and went on the London Eye yesterday. Today was the beginning of the summer sale at Harrods (which means they have dropped their prices from exorbitant to bloody expensive.)
We will be visiting a couple of Museums etc before we leave and trying to relax ready for a long flight home.
Hope everyone is well and hope to catch up with you before too long.

Regards

Annemarie and Martin

From Annemarie
ps: Happy belated birthdays to Jamie and Stephen M. (I didn't forget -sort of)
pps: Andrew - 'What do I do again?? I will need serious retraining
ppss: Vanessa - What about the baby?

---

Photos

Pisa
Just before we fixed it

Monaco
Parked the boat, picked up the car, just heading for the Casino.

Eze
Our home in Nice.

Eden Project
The gardens of Eden.

An Ankole
The photo that explains what happened to the insurance company.

London Eye
Tania and Annemarie - NOT LOOKING DOWN!

View from London Bridge
We went on that!