Home » Monaco Italy Greece » Greece (Nafplio), Crete (Matala and Rethymnon), Italy (Tuscany and the Cinque Terre), Monaco and the South of France.

September 1999

Greece (Nafplio), Crete (Matala and Rethymnon), Italy (Tuscany and the Cinque Terre), Monaco and the South of France.

Jvi
2004-09-14 11:44:18

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television. Then we walked to the New Eden Bar on the beach and had some wine with chips and olives. Most all the bars give you snacks. There is one bar that I haven’t mentioned, it’s south of the train station and right on the beach and is a great place to watch the sunset. They also give you snacks.

The next day we met Andrea in town for lunch. Andrea ordered for us and we had stuffed anchovies, they were the size of hot dogs and very good, not salty. Then we had fish salad and a large parasol mushroom that we all shared. Here are John and Andrea drinking. Later, Christine hitched a ride back to the La Spiaggia with Andrea and John had to walk. That evening we ate with two friends from Minnesota, Bonnie and Wendy. We had risotto and stuffed mussels and then ended the evening at the bar and some of the local Sciacchetrŕ wine. We said goodbye to Deborah who was leaving the next morning to find work at the ski resorts in northern Italy. The Cinque Terre season was just about over.

We left by train the next day on our way to Monte Carlo to meet some friends (Tom and Beryl) from Auckland, New Zealand. Tom and Beryl were traveling around Europe for two months and had arranged to rent a time share in Monaco on Cap-d'Ail and since we were going to be just down the coast, they invited us to stop in a stay a few nights. They had a great view from there place and I think having a place like this is a nice way to unwind on a long trip around Europe. It was a 5 hour trip along the coast from Monterosso and we splurged and got first class tickets. The trip went well until Ventimiglia where we changed to a local train to Monte Carlo. When we got to Monte Carlo, the platform was packed with commuters and we had to push our way off. Beryl met us at the train, Tom had dropped her off and he went to park the car. Unfortunately, the streets are narrow, they go up and down the hills and some streets were closed for the rush hour. Tom had trouble finding a parking lot in the rush hour and we were getting worried. Before long, Tom came along with his story.

P>Beryl figured we would be tired when we arrived so she had purchased some food and we just sat around the apartment the first night with a lite dinner, some snacks and wine and caught up on old times. The second night Beryl and Tom had found a restaurant in Monte Carlo for dinner. It was to be our treat but I tried an old trick and left my wallet in the room. Tom paid for dinner and I promised to reimburse him the next day. I guess they haven't heard of that trick in New Zealand. Tom had a car so we went off in the countryside. I was very impressed with the hill towns in the south of France, Christine now wants to go back.

We travled around with Tom and Beryl for the next few days visiting some hill towns in the south of France. Here are some pictures we took of Tom and Beryl, one of Christine and Tom, the four of us , a nice flower stall, Christine and I; and one more of the four of us having coffee. Here are some photos we took of the hill town Eze and several in the town of Vence, Grasse and St. Paul: Picture one; and Picture two; and Picture three; and Picture four.

We flew home to Chicago from Nice airport via London on British Airways. It was a nice flight.

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