France

Left Lyon fairly early to make our way up to Paris. Arrived in Paris just after Lunch and went to the Louvre and Notre Dame Cathedral, Very imposing and beautiful buildings. From there we spent a few hours in the Latin Quarter and had an early dinner. After dinner we boarded our coach to the Eiffel Tower. We went up the tower at 8:30pm so that we could see the views in daylight and by the time we came down at 9:45pm the city skyline was lit and the Eiffel Tower was lit in all it's glory. We then did a tour of the night lights of Paris before making our way back to the hotel. This morning we had a later start than usual and made our way to the Champs Elysees and the Arc de Triomphe. We spent our few hours in the area visiting some of the shops and having a leisurely lunch. Before making our way back to the hotel for a siesta. We finidshed off our tour with an evening of dinner and cabaret entertainment at the Nouvelle Eve which was awesome. A great end to our European cavalcade and now it's back to the UK

After our awesome evening the night before, we made our way to Cannes on the French Riviera for early morning tea. Beautiful beaches and enormous yachts, lots of money there. From there we made our way to Avignon where we stopped for a stroll through the town and a leisurely lunch. It was great to eat “normal food” after all the pasta of Italy. From there we made our way to Lyon where we checked in for the night, ready for our trip up to Paris.

Last night our tour director took us to the old town of Nice, where there are hundreds of restaurants to choose from for a meal. We were both sick of pasta and Jan was desperate for a Hamburger so we went to MacDonalds for a burger. Bumped into a couple from our tour who went for a drive in a Ferrari at 95 Euros, rather pricey when you convert that to Rands. This morning we had our first free morning of the tour, so Jan took advantage and slept in. After a late breakfast, we took a stroll along the promenade where Jan spent some time studying the ladies on the beach. There was an antiques market in the old city so we took a slow stroll through there, and then found ourselves a great streetside cafe where we could sit and have drink and some lunch. There are hundreds of cafes to choose from, some really fancy and some not so fancy. Had a good lunch and then did some shopping before making our way back to the hotel to get ready for our afternoon excursion. Left on the coach for a drive along the Grand Corniche to the hilltop village of Eze. Beautiful views of Nice from the top of the village. From there we went to a perfume factory and then on to our restaurant for dinner at the top of the Grand Corniche. I had snails for the first time, really good. After a great dinner and lots of drinks we made our way back down to Nice just in time to watch a fireworks display from the beach promenade. Awesome ending to a great day.

Pisa, Monaco and Nice – 14 August
We made or way from Sorrento to Pisa first thing in the morning. The square of miracles where the leaning tower of Pisa is situated is really beautiful and the church and the leaning tower are really stunning. All very clean and shining in the bright morning sunlight. From there we drove to Monaco. The roads are amazing, from one bridge then through a tunnel and so on about 120 times, Really incredible. Monaco is amazing when you consider how many people live in such a small place. The fancy yachts and cars were in abundance and drove around the grand prix track on our way out. From there we made our way to Nice we are going to spend 2 nights.

15 August – Nice

Last night our tour director took us to the old town of Nice, where there are hundreds of restaurants to choose from for a meal. We were both sick of pasta and Jan was desperate for a Hamburger so we went to MacDonalds for a burger. Bumped into a couple from our tour who went for a drive in a Ferrari at 95 Euros, rather pricey when you convert that to Rands. This morning we had our first free morning of the tour, so Jan took advantage and slept in. After a late breakfast, we took a stroll along the promenade where Jan spent some time studying the ladies on the beach. There was an antiques market in the old city so we took a slow stroll through there, and then found ourselves a great streetside cafe where we could sit and have drink and some lunch. There are hundreds of cafes to choose from, some really fancy and some not so fancy. Had a good lunch and then did some shopping before making our way back to the hotel to get ready for our afternoon excursion.