1st leg of france done

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Ok so this is the brief run down...
We made it to Barcelona, but we did get robbed!! $22 EURO for a stein of sangria EACH just cos we drank it outside on the 'terrace' (the footpath that i bet they pay NO rent for!!!!) and that didn't even include the actual stein, we had to give that back when we were done! we must at least have shares in the 'terrace' surely, if any paperwork arrives for me from spain Ma that will be it!!!!
Barcelona was great - too little time though so im gonna have to go back - gutted! haha didn't get to Sangria Familia in the little time we had unfortunately so I am definately gonna have to go back! did enjoy some of Gaudi's other work however, but kinda got stuffed up when we hung around on monday morning waiting to see the Museum of Ideas which looked awesome... turns out it doesn't open on mondays! hahaha typical!! had fun though & apart from the restaurant robbery we didn't get anything theived!!!
So onwards to France on the monday afternoon... 1st class no less! we did a cheers to france somewhere along the line, no idea where but its the thought that counts right?!
Monday night in Marseille! we arrived in the early evening & found our accommodation then headed down to the port to find some dinner - our first negative experience with France/the french is seated at a restaurant but no actual service after we asked if they had an english menu - our first mistake obviously! after waiting long enough we left & tottered along to another restaurant a few down, carefully checking for 'terrace charges' this time, none to be seen AND some english on the menu - we are in! set menu, 3 courses for $17 euro - awesome!!! started with oysters gratin - YUM! profiteroles for dessert, perhaps i could put up with the french when they have desserts like this!!!!
Tuesday morning was spent exploring Marseille, went up to one of the forts & meet a man who asked me if i was for sale then as i headed back out towards the guard which i assumed was 'safety' the guy comes out & offers me a drink!!! ok so its 11am somewhere & it is a glorious day but heck, he is working, he is drinking hard liquor AND its still on 9am in france! haha so instead of heading up to Notre Dame on foot i meet up with Rudz & we caught a wee train - much better!! Amazing Church and amazing views of marseille - would have been worth the walk but pleased i didn't have to sweat it up the hill!!
Marsaille to Nice on Tuesday avo - we are using Nice as our base & exploring a bit of the French Riviera from there!! Off to Monte Carlo on tuesday night - nice place to walk around in the evening, especially with the great weather!!! didn't spot any celeb's but watched some interesting people getting around the place!
Wednesday was Cannes for the morning and then on to St Tropez in the afternoon - Cannes was really really nice, would have like to spend more time there sometime but Nice is definately a great base!!! so easy, relatively cheap accomm & a really nice town in general really! good mix of flash & reasonable in restaurants & shops! St Tropez was a bit of a let down for me i must say, went up the Citadelle & got a view of the city & all around the big bay, but that was probably the excitement! saw a few more fairly night yachts but they didn't really compare to those in Monte Carlo!!!
We walked along the promenade in Nice on our way home & it was gorgeous - so many people out & about BUT big enough footpaths to fit everyone in! FINALLY!!!!
Thursday - today, we left Nice first thing & headed to Milan, Italy on the train - we are officially away from the sea side - ooohhhh!!! oh well, still way too much stuff to see and do so i doubt ill even notice!!!
Milan, nice city, really nice! picked a good night to be here too, it is some kind of Vogue fashion night thing and all the out-of-my-price-range-but-nice-to-look-at shops in the city are open - there are soooo many people out & about! fair to say we ate dinner in amoungst it & didn't even speak except when we were guessing who's handbag was real & who's was fake! haha sooo many people - even a brass band that also danced were going around the streets playing - they were very VERY cool!!!!
So thats the last few days in a nutshell - Tracey is heading to Morocco for the weekend with Debbie, Rudz & I are off to Venice, via Verona tomorrow then Florence on saturday, then Ruddy heads to Rome & im still not completely sure what ill do, probably relax a bit around Florence/Pisa i think then night train it to Paris to meet up with the girls again on tuesday!!!
I have some photos which i will post when i have sometime, right now though i need to go to sleep!! yay - sleep!! loving all the sightseeing/shopping/eating but i will admit that a sleep in sometime over the weekend is definately something ill be looking forward to too!! (by sleep in i mean like 9am - there have been a fair few early starts this week!!!)
Hope everyone is well wherever you are - this time next week we will be heading on the train to Munich... have been continuing to work on my beer drinking - im def not gonna be match fit but ill give it my best shot!
Also as an aside - came across our first 'RWC' thing over here in Nice, a bar on the waterfront that was advertising that it was playing every game live!!! We have also had a couple of people (in france) comment on the AB's, one comment wasn't quite so cool!!

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Comments

[Richard Hogan]

cool pic... cool place ay!??
Classic... Kasey and I had lunch around this same spot in Milan. But the street behind you was full of marquees for the Milan Fashion week (which we missed by a few days unfortunately)... We just loved Milan!!!!

[Manda Maree]

YES!
very cool place, but really haven't even seen the tip of the iceberg! oh to have more time (& more money!!!)