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Published: June 16th 2008
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I LOVE FRANCE . . . . Cannes first stop. We drove from Italy with glimpses of the French Riviera, to arrive in Cannes. Dropped our bags and headed for the beach. They actually have sand. Yippee! Some of the boats are like the Queen's Britania, others are huge yachts. This afternoon the water isn't very inviting. It is a darker green.
The cannes Film Festival was on 2 weeks before, so mum and I were able to walk on the red carpet . . . more like felt than carpet. Tonight is the dinner trip to Monte Carlo. Our restaurant is on the hill overlooking the Prince's palace and all the boats. Dinner has changed, only 3 courses. A plate of salad, then the meat and potatoes with real veges (1st broc we've seen since we got here) and dessert.
Now off to the palace. The bus drops us under the rock, and we go up in elevators to the top.None of the royalty are home. The live on "The Rock", a huge, high, free standing rock, lijke Ayers rock, with a village on top. It includes the homes of Princess Stephanie and Princess Caroline. We also see
the palace of Prince Albert the Monarch.He also isn't home but it is still heavily guarded. The views from here are amazing. I've never seen such enormous and luxurious boats, and so many. Anyway back down and we head to the Casino. We pass the place where Grace Kelly died.
The Monte Carlo Grand Prix was only 2 weeks ago so the barricades and pole positions are still here. Our bus drives to the No. 1 pole position and puts his foot down. Only for a minute though, then back to normal for the casino. There is a lot of money here. The cars are all Bentleys, Rolls royces, a couple of ferraris and of course the one showing off is the mini. Yes the mini. A couple pulls up in the middle of the road in a mini. The lady passenger indicates to the doorman, who comes and opens her door - she doesn't look like anyopne special. Then the male driver gets out and they leave the car in the middle of the road and walk away. 20 mins later after the doorman has moved around the bentleys and rollls, he moves the car. Kareena saw a rolls royce pull up and the door opened for the dog to get in. That's how the wealthy live. Even the dog has a driver. Next we travelled through the french alps on the same track that Napolean took. I can understand why. It is magic.
Paris. Before we even unload our bags, we head straight to the Seine river for a cruise. We get to orientate ourselves to the major attractions and see them from a different perspective. Main sites - Eiffel tower, Notre Dame, The Louvre, and 9 bridges. The boat drops us back to the eiffel tower where we get the lift to the second floor (about half way up), which is high enough. We can see all of Paris from the open air viewing platform, and make out all the important monuments that we saw on the cruise. We walked down the middle of one leg to the 1st floor and them catch the lift to the bottom. Here we have our first chocolate crepe - the best and definately the last.
Back home to drop our bags and 4 of us head back to the eiffel tower to see it at night. On the hour, for ten mins, the tower twinkles as the lights all over it flash.
Next day a trip around the major sites, and a tour inside Notre Dame. Onwards towards the palace of Verseilles, the home of King Louis and Marie Antoinette. Money was no object and the structure and furnishings are top of the line, Soooo . . .much gold. We visited the main rooms of the house and then we had free time in the gardens - statues, fountains, hedges, orchards, lakes with boat hire, forests and whole villages are included in the gardens - mostly for the pleasure of Marie Antoinette. And the french music blarring from speakers all around the garden setting the party atmosphere.
Back to paris and ready for a night out, dinner in the cellars of a restaurant. Our last night with the bus group and nearly everyone goes, one long table for about 36 people and free flowing alchohol. What a party! Throw in an accordian player and a guitarist and it's a night to remember. But wait! That's not all . . . The food tonight is our own choiceand snails and frogs legs are on the menu. I couldn't try the snails but I had frogs legs for entree. Christopher was brave and tried the snails. Everyone tried the frogs legs but Kareena.
After dinner we caught the funicular up the hill to the Sacre Coeur and Montmarte - the artists quarter, where the real Parisians go. On the steps of Sacre Coeur, people juggle balls, sing etc to entertain the crowds.
After a drive through paris at night and a good nights sleep, we have to say goodby to our new friends. It's really sad because we've done everything with them for over 2 weeks. Anyway moving on, we repack and move our stuff to our new accommodation.
Kareena and I decide to try for Monetrs garden but after our plans are foiled by the Paris public transport system, we change tact and head off for Disneyland. We have a fantastic day, train rides, fantasyland, frontierland, adventureland, and discoveryland, and we visit them all. They have a good system for the rides, where you can advance book one ride at a time and avoid by only having an 8min wait. We go on the Snow White and 7 dwarf ride, the teacups, a maze paddleboat and the pirates of the carribean(quite a line and a boat ride) - a bit lame. Then we got an advanced ticketfor the indiana jones & the temple of doom ride. We run in at the last minute and push into the line and realise that we'd made a mistake. This was the really big roller coaster with the 360 loop. Oh dear ! too late. The frame comes down to lock us in and off we go. 30 seconds in & we're holding our heads from bumping the sides & sitting with our eyes closed. No screaming. We couldn't even breathe. My legs are shaking now just thinking about it. Man What a ride. Next stop the big parade. It was fantastic, with all the disney characters either on a float or dancing in the streets. Next we hit the millions of shops to get souvenirs for ourselves. Ooops! We spent our Paris budget in one go. No food for a week. Oh well. One more day in Paeis & we decide to go to the Lourve to see Mona Lisa and to the L'Arc de Triomphe. This is in the middle of a roundabout and we go underground and pop up in the middle. It is an enormous structure and very intricately carved stonework. On to the Lourve. We see the paintings that are copied at Verseille and Mona Lisa which I thought was only A4 size but it's about A3. Venis De Milo statue and Madonna on the Rocks . I could have stayed longer but we're on a time limit. Can't leave withoput seeing the glass pyramids. Then we visit the Madelaine churchwhich looks more like the Pantheon. Of course we arrive with a funeral . A quick peek and we're gone. Back to the tunnel where Diana died. You can still see the marks on the pillars. We go back to collect our luggage and head off to London. But before we do , we have to spend our Euros. They're useless in England and Australia, so off to the local markets for souvenirs.
P.S. sorry about the photos. they wont go on. I'll try again
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