The End

Well, our fantastic holiday has come to an end. What a great month full of experiences that we will remember forever. Below is a collection of facts, figures, observations and ramblings which we will sign off on. There is no limit to the amount of time that women can look at shoes, handbags & scarves. We travelled a total of 2800kms in Pierre the Peugeot. Peugeot Eurolease is great to use. 46 hours from our hotel in Nice to the front door in Feilding. Just a tad tiring. Temperature ranged from 44 degrees in Dubai to 5 degrees up Mont Blanc. The Italians and the French were great people. Language barriers can be overcome. Lot's of useless little dogs and their not so little deposits on the footpaths. Watch where you step (eh Liz!). NZ doesn't have a mortgage on great scenery. Brilliant red poppies lining the roads and filling the fields. Helen Clark's anti smoking legislation hasn't reached France or Italy. Why are girls suitcases much heavier than a man's? Don't expect to get a flat white in Europe. Planning a holiday? Use Booking.com for your hotel bookings. Good savings, accurate descriptions and allows more time at destination. Stay off the motorways. Far better to travel the smaller roads thru the villages. Try different foods. Why can't we get veal in our restaurants? Don't travel without a GPS. The world is your oyster. Enjoy! Thanks for following our trip. We enjoyed bringing it to you. Cheers LIZ, ROSE & THE CHAUFFEUR

On the Way Home

Fri 1st June. This is written sitting in the lounge at Sydney, waiting for the penultimate flight back to the Manawatu. We took off from Nice on Wed 4pm and arrived in hot Dubai at midnight. We stayed in an airport hotel which enabled a few hours sleep before getting back on the bird for the long flight to Sydney. We travelled on the double decker A380 aircraft, a pretty impressive beast. Not sure what they are like on the bottom deck but we certainly had no complaints upstairs. Rose has made the most of her four upgrades and is smiling like a Cheshire cat. We get back to Feilding at 7.00pm tonight, just in time to watch the mighty Crusaders take on the Highlanders. The Chauffeur is looking forward to a bit of footy after a month away. Look for our trip summary, coming to this blog soon.

Nice in Nice

Tues 29th. Our final full day in Nice before jumping on the plane at 2pm local time tomorrow. It appears that the Chauffeur's brother has come thru and it looks like Business Class all the way home on the Emirates for the three of us. The extra baggage allowance will come in handy. As you can see from the photo packing the bags has not been the easiest of tasks. We have had a relaxing day in Nice, a nice seaside city. Not all of the sights on the beach were that great with some old leathery muttons not great for viewing. John Wayne's saddlebags is a description that comes to mind.  The Chauffeur dropped the car back to Peugeot this afternoon and the little scrape is covered by insurance. We off to town tonight for the finale dinner with the Chauffeur looking forward to his final meal of veal for the trip.

Cannes

Mon 28th. Today was our final travel day by road from St Maxime to Nice. It started off in brilliant Mediteranean sunshine and finished with a catastrophe for the Chauffeur at the end of the journey. The trip around the coastline was very picturesque and we stopped in Cannes on the way for lunch with our friends Lech & Lynne, who have a fabulous apartment overlooking the bay. They took us into town, which was still buzzing from the Cannes Film Festival finale the night before. Cannes was impressive, but not as impressive as the superb lunch provided by Lynne and the first class wine selection provided by Lech after our little sojourn into town. We were also shown around the amazing gardens of their apartment complex. A most enjoyable afternoon, with tremendous hospitality from our hosts. We left Cannes at 6.30pm for our short trip to Nice. It was heartbreaking for the Chauffeur that after 2800kms of travel on the trip without incident, and the day before Pierre the Peugeot is returned, an altercation with a concrete post as we descended into the gloomy, narrow catacombe like bowels of the hotel car park left Pierre with a scrapped mudguard. Bugger!!!!! We finished the day with another nice stroll along the Promenade d'Anglais to give us a bit of a feel for Nice so that we can explore it tomorrow.

St Tropez, C'est la Vie!

Sunday 27th.  Another experience of a different kind today with a ferry trip over to St Tropez, just 15 minutes across the bay. We docked amongst the super yachts. Some pretty amazing luxury gin palaces were a real eye opener. We arrived in ST early and it was quiet and peaceful, but after a walk into the old part of town, the Place de Lices and a visit up the hill to the Citedal for a view down on the town and out to the gulf, we arrived back at the waterfront to find things a lot busier. There were those who were there to see and those who were there to be seen. The pretty people were out and about and we sat in a cafe drinking our Perrier water and taking it all in. The Chauffeur thought that the two chicks from Feilding held there own in the looks department even though they aren't botoxed to the eyeballs.

Sunny St Maxime

Sat 26th. We started the day at a very leisurely pace with a bit of a lie in at our luxery Marseille hotel. To wake to the views out over the Old Port with the sun shining brightly, was magnified when we decided to treat ourselves to a breakfast on the top floor. The views were "magnifique" and the breakfast was delicious with plenty of fresh fruit and our first feed of bacon and eggs for the trip. C'est tres bon!  We were entertained by Buonana, a waiter from Senegal who thought the Chauffeur was an African chief, given the two "wives".  The trip to St Maxime was a nice easy drive of 120kms and took us thru a variety of great scenery, from rocky passes to vineyards and forests. We also took in the city of Toulon on the way. We now sit on our hotel deck looking out on the Med, sipping a gin & tonic and basking in a mild 26 degrees. We have another day here tomorrow and are planning to visit St Tropez, just over the other side of the bay from where we are staying. We are belatedly pleased to advise that Liz has lost her Elvis bouffant hairstyle that grew quickly on tour and is now sporting a sexy new French cut. Oh la la!

Marseille

Fri 25th. This photo shows the view from our room over the Old Port of Marseille. This is an historic fortified port with the first inhabitants of Marseille being dated back to the Bronze Age. That's pretty old. Our trip today was about 140 kms and first took us to Arles, and old Roman town and also where Van Gogh painted some of his masterpieces. We visited an old amphitheatre which is also used as a bullring. Lovely old buildings. Then we headed down thru the Camargue, a National Park wetland area. We saw the white horses, the black bullfighting bulls but didn't see any flamingos. A late lunch was at a little portside cafe where we enjoyed a meal of baby octopus and salad. It felt a bit funny chewing on all those arms and legs. Then into Marseille, a busy and congested city and France's second biggest. Another day on the big adventure comes to a close.

Aix en Provence

Thurs 24th. A lovely sunny day here in AeP and the markets were up and running in the town. We have had a very leisurely day strolling around the streets taking in the sights and sounds. The Chauffeur is quite enjoying some of the elegant ladies in their little sun dresses. We again caught up with Merrin and Kaye and had a relaxing morning together. Liz's hair has grown to the point of looking like Elvis, so Rose and the Chauffeur have packed her off to the hairdressers this afternoon for a "chic Francais coiffure". Meanwhile, we sit in a bar waiting to see the result with a nice cold beer in our hand. We are again going to dine with M&K tonigt before making our way to Marseille tomorrow via the old Roman town of Arles and then thru the saltmarshes of the Carmargue.

Ye Olde Friends

Wed 23rd. Another second installment due to the girls catching up with some old friends, Merrin and Kaye, who travelled down from England to see us as part of their holiday. We had a very enjoyable evening over another fine dinner in the heart of Aix en Provence. M&K were at a slight disadvantage in that their luggage was still in Manchester when they arrived in France, leaving them only with spare knickers and a letter from Fay in their carry on. Good advert for Ryanair, NOT!

Into Provence

Wed 23rd. Because of late night last night we had a leisurely start to the day at our Hotel du Clos in Le Rouret. Breakfast in the garden was a nice way to get things underway. Our journey today was 170kms to Aix en Provence, a large university town famous for Paul Cezanne, the artist. It was an easy trip down thru the countryside with the roads in France considerably wider than they are in Italy, resulting in far fewer underpant threatening moments. There were so many vineyards on the way that it is hard to imagine that this area produces only a small part of the wine for France. Aix en Provence is a bustling town and our hotel is just a 100 metres from the main area and close to the shops and market. Great! Tonight we are dining with some English fiends of Liz and Rose, who they first met nearly 30 years ago in their cricket days. Merrin and Kaye have coincided their holiday to catch up with us, which is great. We will update you on this front tomorrow, but the Chauffeur has been looking to buy some ear plugs given that he is dining with four women tonight. The photo of the day shows the girls outside the perfumerie in Grasse.

La Bastide St Antoine - Yum!

Tues 22nd. This is our second post for Tuesday, but our experience at the restaurant La Bastide St Antoine in Grasse deserves a special mention. Our friends, Lech & Lynne, who live part time in each of Cannes, Cyprus and Clearwater in Chch, took us to this fantastic restaurant for what has to be one of the best meals available on the planet. We all had the degustation menu which gave us an amazing array of tastes and flavours in small portions. The Chef and Owner, Jacques Chibois is a Michelin starred chef and it certainly was a dining experience that we will never forget. Monsieur Chibois visited us at our table at the end of the night, which ended up very late, to ensure that we enjoyed our meal. Superlative.  It was great to catch up with Lech & Lynne in their part of the world and we appreciated the opportunity to share both their company and this amazing restaurant.

Allez les Bleus

Tues 22nd. We spent the morning in Monte Carlo and got a good look at the principality that covers an area of less than 2 square kms. A long walk to visit the royal palace rewarded us with great views looking back into the city.  Monaco exudes wealth and is a nice place to visit but we didnt think it would be great to live there unless you were a squillionaire. We headed out of Monaco on a short trip into France to a place 70kms away to a place called Grasse, the perfume capital of the world. The girls did a tour of a perfume factory and came out smelling delightful. Our camp for the night was a short distance away in Le Rouret where we stayed in a lovely little stone cottage with relaxing gardens. We had time in the late afternoon sun to sample a bottle of Rose and a tasty cheeseboard before heading out to our dinner date with our frinds from Chch.

Another World

Mon 21st. Today we left Italy and have bunked down for the night in Monte Carlo. Our day started in heavy rain in La Spezia so we decided to hit the Autostrada to get some quick miles on the clock rather than meander thru winding roads. We left the autostrada in Genoa, a large port city and then followed the secondary roads thru the Italian Riviera, arriving in Monaco at 4pm after a journey of over 300kms. Unfortunately the weather was poor to average for most of the journey, but didn't detract from the trip too much. Monaco certainly shows signs of affluence with tidy streets and gardens and grand buildings. They are gearing up for the F1 Grand Prix at the end of the week and you can see the preparations already made for the track. We managed to stay out of the Casino but Rose had to have her photo taken with a flash Maseratti parked outside. If you like cars and boats, this is the place to be with many fine boats docked in the marina and an array of Ferraris, Bentleys, Rolls Royces, Maserattis, Mercedes, Maybachs and Porsches roaming the streets along with garden variety BMW's and Audis. The prices in the shops are pretty high so the girls have stowed away the credit cards for 24 hours. Yeehaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!

Cinque Terre

Sunday 20th. We got an earlier than scheduled wakeup call at 4am when an earthquake rattled thru La Spezia. It was centred at Bologna, a town we travelled thru a week ago and caused some damage in that area. We got a fairly good shake here and for a moment thought we were back in Chch. Back to the holiday, we caught the ferry out to the Cinque Terre villages and explored 3 of the 5, plus Portovenere, missing on Riomaggiore and Corniglia as the weather closed in and became wet and cold. While we all certainly enjoyed the experience perhaps it may have been more spectacular if the weather had been better. Because of the inclement weather we were unable to walk between any of the villages which was a bit disappointing. Tomorrow we say Ciao to Itsly and head to Monaco. Arrivederci.

Ciao the Med

Sat 19th. Today we left the lovely Tuscan countryside and headed east towards the sea. We stopped off at Pisa to see this badly built tower that somehow got a building consent from the local council. Then onwards to Lucca, an old town surrounded by a huge brick wall, where we had lunch and a wander. Next was the drive through changing countryside to La Spezia, a fairly large port town from where we are going to explore the Cinque Terre villages tomorrow. The trip here was about 160kms and took us from rolling hills, thru farmland, coastal and finally back to some large hills that fall into the sea. We took a stroll down by the waterfront and viewed some rather large yachts and fishermen hopefully casting into the water. We have a big day tomorrow so an early night is in store.

Franca's, Italy's Best Ristorante

Fri 18th. We have met some very nice people on our travels, and this is Franca, owner and chef of the Osteria Lo Ziro restaurant in Impruneta, who is one of them. We have had two special Tuscan dinners at Franca's and are heading back there tonight for our last meal in Tuscany. The food has to be some of the best that the Chauffeur has tasted anywhere in the world. Franca speaks little English and despite our very limited Italian we have had no trouble in communicating with her and meeting her and dining at her restaurant will remain in our memories for a long time to come.

Another kind experience occurred on our first night in Impruneta. We were walking the short distance into town for a meal when it started raining heavily and we took shelter under a tree. A lady who was out walking went into her house and returned with umbrellas and offered them to us. Again, she did not speak English but her kind gesture blew us away. These are examples of the friendliness that we have received from the Italians as we have travelled thru their country.

Arrivederci Tuscany

Fri 18th. Our last full day in Tuscany has arrived and tomorow we depart for La Spezia at the base of the Cinque Terre villages. This morning we took a short drive out to Grassina and took a look at the oldest golf course in Italy. You would certainly want to have the ability to hit off side hill lies. Grassina was bigger and busier than we anticipated and we decided that we would soon head back to our own village of Impruneta, especially after a viking demanded protection money for our car in the car park. We have really enjoyed our stay here at the Villa l'Olmo in Impruneta. We have had lots of space and the view over the Tuscan hills has been soothing. This afternoon is about some more relaxing and re packing for our onward journey. We will have very fond memories of the Tuscan / Chianti region, and Liz has the photos to prove it. The photo shows the town square of Impruneta.

Under the Tuscan Sun

Thur 17th. After some hectic travelling and sightseeing so far, we all decided a day of rest was in store. Luckily it concided with our best weather day in Tuscany. The girls broke out the togs and we spent the day reading and relaxing by the pool. The water in the pool could be described as fresh and invigorating and caused the Chauffeur to resemble many of the statues seen in recent days. Unfortunately this physical resemblance did not apply to the abs. Tonight we are returning to a lovely little Italian family restaurant in the village, where we had a great meal the other night. The hospitality of the Italians has been one of the highlights on the trip so far. We are loving our cottage here and the peace and quiet of the surrounds. Although this has changed a bit this afternoon with the arrival of some loud Yanks, but I am sure the Chauffeur will sort them out if they get too annoying. Tomorrow is a toss up between a trip to Lucca and another rest day. Watch this space!

Out & About in Tuscany

Wed 16th. This started out as a pretty tough day for the Chauffeur. First there was extreme difficulty (abject failure actually) in getting the girls out of their beds for an early start on the road to Siena some 60 kms away. Then he forgot the ipad that allows you to view the picture of the day. Next was falling foul of a carbineri with his speed camera as he tried to make up for lost time. And lastly, upon arival in Siena to be met with so many vehicles circling to try and find a car park it was like watching a large school of pirranha fish pouncing on a fresh T bone steak. With so little chance of finding a park we decided to head 30 kms to San Gimignano, an old walled town with narrow alleyways (yes, more of them) and tall smoke stack like towers protruding into the sky. SG was a pretty special place to visit and has probably been the favourite in Italy for the Chauffeur. On the way to SG, we stopped into the castle at Montiriggione, where we had lunch and again wandered the cobblestoned streets. After SG, we decided to head back to Siena in a hope that a lot of the tourists had gone home. Fortunately they had and we were able to explore the streets and famed palazzo without too many numptys getting in the way. There were also a couple of old churches and a number of handbag shops to view. We finished the day successfully with dinner in a cafe in the palazzo as the sun was setting. How romantic! sorry about the photo, it is from todays lunch as explained earlier.

A Day in Florence

Tues 15th. Today is the halfway mark of our holiday. The time has gone both fast and slow, as it seems ages since we boarded the plane in Auckland and we have fitted much into our journey so far, but we are also conscious that we are racing thru our destinations and are closing in on the finish line. We marked this point with a trip into Florence on the bus. The thought of trying to find a car park in Florence and then finding where we left the car at the end of the day was going to be too much for The Chauffeur. The bus picked us up outside our front gate and we headed into the big smoke at 8.00am. We wandered the narrow alleyways, walked around the Duomo and across the Ponte Vecchio bridge, all the main touristy things. The girls also found time to look at leather jackets - as you would expect. Theay also had a good look at some of the statues, also as you would expect. Lunch was a pizza in ristorante sitting in the sun in one of the piazzo then we did a 2 hour tour of Florence on an open topped bus, which gave us a great perspective of this city. There is beauty, there is drab, there is opulence, there is poverty - but over riding it all is the feeling that this is one of the great cities this world has seen in history.