HARDSHIP IN FRANCE

Many of you will now be thinking that we are living the life of Riley as we travel around the world. I refer specifically to our friend Russell who has advised us that he is scouring the papers for items of scandal as the paparazzi follow us incessantly. His claim that he has, as yet not read anything about us in the international press obviously shows that he is clearly reading the wrong papers!

Hmmm! Which one will I drive today!

There is of course an old saying along the lines of ‘....The best laid plans of mice and men’! On our attempt to collect our hire car at Marseille we discovered that the company was “No longer operating out of Marseille”! We had paid for the hire in full more than 4 months ago. Since the purpose of our coming to Marseille was to drive around Southern France and specifically to visit the Millau Bridge we tried to hire another vehicle. Yeah! Right – try booking a car at 11-30am on a Saturday.

 Oh!, stuff it – I’ll take the yellow one.

So a change of plan it was! And this is where the commencement of this entry begins. We poor suffering souls have had to suffer major changes to our plans such as a ferry trip to an island for dinner and a side trip to Monte Carlo to visit the casino, swim off the beach and generally slum it with the rich and famous. Now all we have to do is get the car company to refund our initial payment and if I get my way I’ll even charge ‘em for the side trip return fare to Monaco!

Marseille cathedral – being renovated.

It worked in our favour with us having more time to explore the vicinity and realize how much Marseille itself has to offer. The marina and water front is to die for. There is no shortage of cash here.

Our next crazy notion was to take the ferry to one of the islands for dinner at sunset. Talk about paradise.

Monaco Monte Carlos’ only train station. Monaco evidently only has 1.7 klms of rail track. This station is hewn out of solid rock to save precious land space.

Off to Switzerland in the morning. Will keep you posted and Russell, WATCH THE PRESS!