San Remo to Senas, Provence July 17.

The usual crappy Italian hotel breakfast awaited us – a bit of bread, cordial and some biscuits. But OK coffee.

We backed the car into the driveway of some apartments to load it up and incurred the wrath of some old Italian bloke. He did not want to use the driveway, he just did not want us to be there. So he abused us in Italian, and we said a few choice words to him in English. It was quite comical.

From San Remo the freeway goes up into the hills. A series of viaducts and tunnels takes you around the side of the hills high above the Mediterranean. Some of the views were spectacular. Brian had to believe us – it was not a good idea for the driver to take his eyes off the road.

Our first stop was Monaca. What a contrast from grubby San Remo. Everything is sparkling clean, with beautiful gardens leading down to the Monte Carlo Casino, magnificent yachts in the harbour and several enormous cruise ships. It took us about 2 minutes to see our first Ferrari. I think final count for the day was 5, but your Bentley sports car seemed to be the automobile of choice. I neglected to mention earlier, but several Maeserati’s had flashed past us on the Autostrade in Italy.

We walked down the hill through the gardens towards the casino, then walked around the Monte Carlo harbour, and up towards the Palace, before taking Tourist train ride around the city, along the Grand Prix route, and up to the Palace. Albert was home, but he didn’t come out to greet us. His guards have very fancy uniforms.

Unfortunately our budget did not allow an extended stay in Monaco – it is not cheap!

We drove into France on the Motorway for several hundred km’s, and looked for a place to stay in a province village. Eventually settling on a small place called Senas, and the Hotel terminus. They had a lovely outdoor restaurant, set up under some big oak trees. The only negative aspect was the two large dogs sitting with the people on the table next to us. The French love their dogs!

The meal was lovely – fixed menu’s are the preferred dining method of French chefs, and they offer 3-4 courses from about Euro 18 on average – less for children. These are really good value, especially as a main course A-la-carte is usually about 12 euro.

They also had Eurosport on the TV, so we were able to catch up on a bit of Tour de France action in English! Up until now we had only been able to get French or Italian coverage, and have had to figure out what is going on by looking at the pictures, and translating the few words we know. We found out about Stuart O’Gradys crash by opening an Italian newspaper last night and seeing a picture of him lying on the side of the road in a neck brace. It was a bit of a shock. We now also know that Stage 8 was a disaster for Australia, with Michael Rogers also crashing, and Robbie McEwan pulling out. I guess it will be up to Cadel to fly the Aussie flag.