Afternoon, head out to NICE “Comfort Hotel”. We are here for a week. We got to go to Canadian Consulate for Raymond Passport. It was a long… story. Holidays and all. He needs new passport. The consulate office is closed until the 3rd. So we party instead.
At the Dutch Club in old-Nice, we met up some East-Coast Canadian. We had different kinds of Beers and party. There was a live-band playing rock and heavy meals. My favorites!!!!! Had a lot of fun. DRUNK!
We 3 went down to NICE, Gare SNCF, to see Koko off to Paris. Kind of sad to see him leave though. Visited around the town-library and tech-park. See more statues, landmarks and foot-trips along small alleys. In the evenning, Meet up with Mdm.Hamidu at 9pm. Got back our security deposit 100%. Woohoo…
Cleaning and laundry day. Ready to leave "Vence". Its been a month here, The French Riviera on the Côte d'Azur, and had so much fun. A very interesting X'mas we had. The Town decos, music, food, flowers and carnivals are so different. The countless experiences....
Walked around the village and had a good dinner. Held a small-party at our Vence apartment. Koko (my brother) went out with some of the village-friends. Came back drunk, but he had a good time we can tell. Koko is so European. He doesn’t like to speak English. There was once in the Bus and he complainted “OH.. I speak a lot of English this month”. We laughed. Koko is so Frenchy……
Koko cooked an Arabian dish called “Couscous”. Very nice meal. The meat is “Veal”. I like it. We had another small party again. Fun fun Fun!!! I'm learning how to appreciate French Rock music.
Monaco: Woke up early, shower, breakee, hit the Bus-Station and head to SNCF. Take the train to Monaco (Moneghetti). It was only Euro $6/return per person. Raymond, Koko and I. We met Helen (one of the tourists from Dublin) at the train station. Helen, Monica and James are heading to St.Paul’s and Vence today.
Monaco - Dominating the old town and its characteristic medieval alleyways, the prince palace, with its spectacular changing of guards, is reminiscent of the last 700 years of heroic history. www.monaco-tourisme.com
Monaco-Mote Carol station is beautiful, fill with bright lights, super clean, solid hardwood floors are part of the station-platforms, royal-alike X’mas tree decorations, part of the tunnel and have to take the elevator to go up to the surface.
Casino Du Café De Paris – Fantastic toilet, which equipped with self-clean service, the seat itself rotate and the cleaner, comes out of the back seat. Timer sensitive with 6 different indicator lights at the back. No entrance fees to the Casino.
Cathedrale De Monaco – Roman Byzantine cathedral is the burial place for the deceased princess. Built with white stones from “Laturbie” in 1875. In 1976, a magnificent quadruple organ was inaugurated allowing for the organization of remarkable spiritual concerts.
Koko and Raymond went into Casino De Monte-Carlo (the No.1 Casino in Monaco). www.casino-monte-carlo.com and gamble. An entrance fee is Euro 10/person. Min bet is Euro 25/hand. I didn’t go with them, but instead I went to “Tourism Office” and collect info, walked down the Magnificent MonteCarol Garden, Ponds, Statues, Plants, Fishes, Musical water fountain, Awesome X’mas decos, packaging, window-shopping on branded merchandises, Isabelle Kristinsen evening gowns (I love the golden one, Hmm…), take tons of pictures on every possible things. Chateaux Prives is oh… la la…
La Condamine, Monaco Ville – Place Du Palais www.palais.mc
Didn’t get a chance to go to the Font Vieille – Stade Louis II (Stadium), Heliport, Chemin Des Sculptures (over 100 sculptures by contemporary artists), Prince Grace Rose Garden (over 4,000 rose bushes). I’m not sure at this time of the year there will be any roses in the garden. It’s hard to say because this area “Cote D’Azur”, Mediterranean region, southern France is warm with occasional cool wind. None the less, I plan to stop by there when we go to Italy, next. I for got the purchase the Monaco stamps as well. Even though Monaco is in France, they have their own stamps and local country code for telephone. So if you wanna call Paris from Monaco it’s an international call. Royalist, not Republic.
Reached back to the apartment at 10 AM. Last night was fun, but very tired. So slept the whole day till the evening time, woke up for din-din, checked emails and slept again. Everything is closed on X’mas day in Vence. "Home" sweet home, Grand Jardin & 8 Mai 1945.
Visited the remainder of the town which we didn’t cover last time. Drink on the beach. Met Sergio from my brother’s office, who is also heading out to Italy and visiting NICE. We hit the famous disco, “Guest” in NICE at night. The door opens at 11PM and closed at 5AM. Very posh and grand environment. Rich old men with younger women, Rich women with younger men, etc… We are the only ASIAN (visitors). We party very expensively as Euro9/beer. But it’s an experience. Fun? Just a little bit for me because the music is “House and R&B”, not my type, plus my brother slept the whole night in there. Oooo......the people doesn’t know how to dance! Really sad.
A day in Vence, visited around town, fire-works, took tons of pictures, farmer’s market, carnivals, hot-red-wine for breakfast, drink lots of Beers, wine, cooler and ate German sausages and French pepperoni (dried-sausage) in the evening.
One of my toughest day. I made a major decision re: our family which I never wanted to make before. I never had the courage to plus didn't acknowledge the fact that I have every rights to do so. But today I did!
For the past years.... "I am torn by desire...tortured by hate". Starting tonight, I told myself to try not to be that anymore and to be a "FREE" person. It felt so good in my heart and I felt very light. A mixture of dismay and HAPPY feeling.
Cannes, the Yacht city. Had Plate D’jur. Visited the international Film Festival building, French Gastronomy shows and infamous Hilton hotel. Our knowledge from “METS” in RAI came in handy. Tones of yacht from all over the world. I like the Russian Yachts, very clean on the deck and everything happen underneath the deck. Very fast, clean and styling. It looks very simple yet “aggressive” to me. I love it. May be someday I can own one, hah? Who knows…?
Cagnes sU/Mer, artsy town with Italian taste. With the Alps playing bodyguard against inland winds and the sultry Mediterranean warming the breezes, the Côte d'Azur, or French Riviera, is pampered by a nearly tropical climate. This is where the dreamland of azure waters and indigo sky begins, where balustraded white villas edge the blue horizon, evening air is perfumed with jasmine and mimosa, and parasol pines silhouette against sunsets of ripe apricot and gold. As emblematic as the sheet-music cover for a Jazz Age tune, the Côte d'Azur seems to epitomize happiness, a state of being the world pursues with a vengeance.
A long walking trip, its so nice just to be here! Absolutely different part part of France. I didn't know France has palm trees.
Famous St. Pauls – visited the ancient town, the St.Pauls. It took half-a-day to really cover this small town; the ancient, fortified city of St. Paul de Vence, famous Maeght Foundation, considered one of the finest modern art museums in the world.
Then we headed out to “NICE”, cover the beach (long-walk), went up to the Castle and enjoy a great view. Also visited the “Old Nice”, wet-market and old-churches.
MY brother (Koko) came down from Paris. Join hand and held a small-party. I sugested him to stay with us until we leave France. He is very interesting person. He and I have similar taste in music. He's been livign in France since 1988. He can teach us the Frech language and explain the culture, norms, etc...
Couldn't stand the sickness anymore...
Went to see local MD and he suggested I go to the Hospital in nearby town “Cagnes”. He wrote me a letter to go to Emergency. We took taxi (BMW) ha..ha… funny. I wish people in Canada could see this BMW. They will freak. Its TAXI here. Got the blood test, IV etc…. Tons of medicines (Prescriptions). The doctor said I have an infection in the blood (virus). Virus from PARIS, shit! but Lucky, the Medicare is not expensive at all; compare to Tourist’s Medicare fees in Canada.
Take the train to Vence, France. Euro 110/person. I thoink it's expensive compare to other local train ride. With no hickups, we got the key to our apartment. We secured it for a month (entire December) when we were in Paris via www.localflat.com. Good deal, its only Euro 440/month, fully furnished and utilities inclusive. Very Happy! We goona base in this town, Vence and visit the entire Cote D'Azur area. Can't wait...
