So this is the
sentence that will make you hate me just a little bit – Summer in
the French Rivera..
Although it wasn't
quite as glamorous as it is in the movies, mainly because they never
camp in dodgy campsites with horrific wifi and jellyfish in the
ocean... Not so much hate for me right now eh?
So yes, our next
stop was Antibes, and perhaps the worst campsite of the trip where
you had to pay for bog roll (which you could only buy from the
campsite's office, and it wasn't cheap) But this was made somewhat
more bearable by the fact that there was a small amusement park just
around the corner from our camp site (where Scotty would win the bus
its very own mascot – Snowflake, the white tiger).
The bus ride there
was just like any other – sleeping the morning away and being woken
up by the now all too familiar wake-up song in a new country. But it
was changed slightly because we got to design our tour hoodies!
Basically we got to create a design that would be printed on the back
of hoodies that we could buy and then we would get when we got to
Venice! We also stopped at a perfumery on the way to the campsite
which was really interesting! We got a tour of the factory and were
told all about the 'noses' who are people who study for 10 years and
can identify hundreds of smells, and there are only 50 of them in the
world... After the tour we were let loose in the shop where I treated
myself to a proper french perfume (well classy, I am).
The ocean was just
across the road from our campsite, so most of the group went there
straight away, but I stayed behind and had a shower before somehow
managing to connect to the wifi when everyone else’s phones
wouldn't..
I think I made the right choice on this one because when I went back to the campsite, I found out that two of the guys on the tour had been stung by jellyfish.. Not badly (thankfully) but still.. After that people didn't really go in the water there.
That night we all went to the amusement park, and while I didn't play any of the games or go on the rides (because they weren't exactly cheap) but it was just as hilarious watching the others all play the games and win their 'power animals' – Scotty won a cow, Kiki won a shark and Matty felt left out so asked if he could get one, so the guy gave him a lizard thing..
I think I made the right choice on this one because when I went back to the campsite, I found out that two of the guys on the tour had been stung by jellyfish.. Not badly (thankfully) but still.. After that people didn't really go in the water there.
That night we all went to the amusement park, and while I didn't play any of the games or go on the rides (because they weren't exactly cheap) but it was just as hilarious watching the others all play the games and win their 'power animals' – Scotty won a cow, Kiki won a shark and Matty felt left out so asked if he could get one, so the guy gave him a lizard thing..
The next day we
bundled into the coach and made our way to Nice for the day. As
always we had a tour of the city and then was let loose for the day.
Myself, Greer,
Stacey and Nat decided to hire rollerblades for an hour and skate
along the seafront, which was incredible and hilarious, and also
about 1000degrees. We skated along, and miraculously none of us fell
over (except for when Nat fell over literally 30 seconds before we
took the skates off, because crossing a road isn't all that easy..)
even when we skated up a hill (it took me a long time to get up that
bloody hill! And just as long to get down it because I was holding
onto the rail because I didn't fancy death by rollerblades).
Pretending that I'm not dying after getting up that hill... |
After the workout
that was rollerblading, we indulged ourselves in our second gelato of
the day and then made our way to the shopping street (I have no idea
how we ended up there...) and after a bit of retail therapy we had
the most incredible kebab for lunch, and then made our way back to
where the bus would pick us up and take us back to the campsite.
We had a quick
shower, change and glam-up, because that night we would be mixing
with the rich and famous in Monaco!
The drive along the coast to Monaco was probably the most stunning drive I've ever been on, and our dinner stop was breath taking. We had champagne in plastic cup and a feast fit for royalty (but unfortunately the Prince of Monaco and his family has other commitments for dinner..
We
also drove past Elton John's house there, which, as you can imagine,
was huuuuuge.
We drove through the tiny streets of Monaco in good ol' bessy, and had a drag race with the other coach on the start line of the Monaco Grand Prix – which was short lived when we had to stop at a crossing to let a lady cross... But we deffo won (while obeying all road rules of course).
Then we walked up to
the casinos, and it was then that it hit me – I had absolutly no
idea how to gamble at all.. So me, Greer and Maia put in 2euro each
and hit the slot machines (we thought it would be simple enough
because all you had to do was push buttons. Turns our this strategy
was a good one, because we walked away over 2euros richer than when
we started! However when we cashed in our cheque (something massive
like 7,40euros) and moved to a different machine to try our luck
again, we lost just over 2euros and decided to stop before we got too
addicted to it... Needless to say the others who played all the
proper games – the ones with cards and people shuffling them and
the chips- did a lot better than our win of 2euros. Some of the kiwi
boys won over 100euros! After our try at gambling, we went up to the
rooftop bar which had an incredible view over the yachts and casinos,
but we didn't buy any drinks because the cheapest one was over
20euros... which was also the entrance fee for the Grand Casino (who
would've thought the country full of millionaires would be so
expensive?!) so we just stood out the front and stared at all the
crazy expensive cars – Ferraris, Lamborghini, McClaren and every
other car you've dreamed of owning..
I had to get a photo with my brand in Monaco... It's like the richest of the rich! |
The view from the rooftop bar... |
After looking at the
cars for what was probably a bit too long, we thought about getting
some gelato (because it was still around 30degrees) but when we saw
that it was nearly 4euros for one scoop, we reconsidered and walked
back to the original casino where we met up with the rest of the
group and got back on the bus and back to reality – tents and air
mattresses, and not five star hotels and invite-only parties where
you wear ball gowns and have security at the gate (yes we walked past
one of these and it looked like something out of a movie..).
And there we have
it! Another country off the list, and the realisation that I will
never be able to afford to live in monaco... Always a nice thing to
realise..
So that's it for
this time! Next stop – Italy!
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