Friday, 25 September 2015

Summer in the French Rivera

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..

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!

No comments: