Unfortunately I woke still feeling rubbish, so after a slow start we caught a train into Monaco. The station was very flash looking and it was quite clear walking around the town there was a lot of wealth. We even played a game of “spot the Ferrari” there were so many! We initially walked around the wharf, which had a carnival going on before finding Monte Carlo casino and taking a few snaps of it, and the flash cars parked outside. We stopped for lunch at a carnival stand and shared a ‘Big American Sandwich’ that was like a hamburger, but in a loaf of bread and topped with fries. It was pretty huge but inexpensive-which was hard to come by. Honestly you can pay 14 euro for a hot dog here! We then walked around the old town and saw the Royal Palace. We learnt that Monaco has its national day in two days time (19th November), which explained all the flags and pictures of royalty around. Unfortunately because it was the off season we were unable to go inside the State Rooms of the Palace so we made a beeline to the casino instead. We wandered around the Pokie lounge and had a flutter, loosing 35 euro. Ah well, it had to be done. By this time I was starting to feel a bit rubbish, so we headed back to the campground and settled in for the evening, preparing for our trip to Nice the next day.
Feeling slightly better, we caught a bus to Nice for the day. We were lucky to be blessed with yet another sunny autumn day so we took advantage by strolling the promenade, admiring Nice’s pebbled beach. There was even a couple of brave people sunbathing on the beach, it would have been around 16 degrees! After a quick lunch we visited the modern art Museum, where we read in the Lonely Planet guide that Andy Warhol’s Campbell Soup Can painting is. We walked the whole museum to discover that it was in fact not there at all-considering we have the last two editions of the Lonely Planet with the same information we were pretty annoyed! We may have to write to them to complain. In saying that, their Pop Art collection was pretty cool and we did manage to see a couple of Warhol’s pieces. From the rooftop gallery we also got a nice view of Nice so we took a few photos before heading home for the day.
The next two days were huge drive days, as we headed in the direction of Luxemborg. The first day James drove a huge 450km to Lyon. The scenery was stunning, as we drove around the western side of the French Alps. Snow was on the top of the ranges and all. The roads were so windy that it took us 9 hours to get there. A massive drive for James but the highlight had to be breaking our ‘highest elevation record’ from 1200m (just outside Lyon at the start of the trip) to 1444m. We checked into the same campground we stayed at in July (another record) and had a more enjoyable stay this time around. The facilities were all heated and we even arranged some croissants and a baguette for the next day.
After a discussion that it would be another huge 9 hour drive the next day, we decided to break up the journey over two days so we drove 350km the next day to a small place called Vagney. Or so we thought we were staying here. We pulled up at a campground we had read in our AA campground book was open all year to find the gates open, facilities open but no reception, people or campers. Strange. I called the telephone number and through very broken French learnt that the campground was actually closed. I was quite pleased in some ways as it was a freaky little abandoned campground on the edge of some woods (the stuff horror stories are made of!). But it also posed a huge problem, having no internet to search for another ‘open’ campground nearby, which are like hens teeth now we are so close to Winter. Faced with the prospect we may have to keep driving onto Luxemborg, we searched on the Garmin for campgrounds nearby and after one telephone call, we managed to get a hold of a campground that was only 8km away. We checked in (I could have kissed the lady on reception we were so happy) and we settled in for the evening, parked beside the beautiful lake on site. It also gave us the opportunity to use wifi and we booked our ferry crossing home for this Saturday. Hard to believe it is all coming to an end, a life we have become accustomed to!
Things we will miss:
-Dusty, Campground cats, Sunsets, Reflections on the water, Water fountains, trying new food, exploring a country, driving on dodgy roads, beaches, Great people we have met along the way, local beers and wine, castles and fortifications, city tours, history lessons, stunning scenery, movie nights in the van, Theme parks, swimming pools
Things we won’t be missing:
-Cold showers and public toilets (especially squatter toilets), folding our beds out each night, trying to communicate in foreign languages, European touts, wild dogs, driving on dodgy roads, following the Garmin’s (dodgy) instructions, November coldness, snakes and giant bugs, bad wifi
We had a sleep in and got some bread for the journey, arriving in Luxemburg around 2.30pm to what was more of a trailer park than a campground! We spent the afternoon chilling out in the van watching movies with the intention of hitting the city the next day.
We managed to catch a bus into Luxemburg city, walking around the sights before booking onto a walking tour which was interesting but not overly great. Afterwards we celebrated our last lunch in Europe by dining at a nice restaurant. I was desperate to try some local fare, called Judd mat Gaardebounen, or Smoked Collar of Pork with Broad Beans. It was so aweful that I couldn’t even finish the beans! Such a shame and another bad Lonely Planet recommendation. We headed back to Dusty and had a quiet night in, dining on soup with bread and yummy strawberry custard tarts to celebrate our last night in the van.
We took our time rising the next day, knowing we had until 8pm to get to Dunkirk to catch the ferry. As we started our 350km journey toward the coast of France we soon realised that the roads were all motorways and we were going to be able to make the 4pm sailing. We arrived at Dunkirk at 3pm and were able to change our ticket to the earlier sailing which was great. We pulled up in front of the ferry in the crap weather and soon found out there was heavy rain and flooding expected in England and there were gail force winds making their way through the English channel. Lucky we make the earlier crossing as we crossed no problems at all. On reaching Dover the news wasn’t wrong and we were welcomed back to England with pouring rain.
Time to get back to reality by finding a flat and starting back at work.
