Day 6, July 4th - Cote d'Azur (Blue Coast)

Claudio was back today with a new bus...with air conditioning...while the other one was in the garage being fixed...supposedly. We started off in Cannes with our guide, Mark. He took us on a walking tour of this beautiful city. He told us Picasso lived there in 1946 with one of his seven women! He said this was a happy time in Picasso's life. Um? OK.
Bougainvillea grows everywhere and it is gorgeous! The city is hilly, so we had our share of walking uphill...which gave us some great views. We had a little free time in Cannes before we met back at the bus and headed through Nice and on to Monaco.By now, some were beginning to run out of money. One thing I learned is to always bring some local currency with you...at least when you're on a tour. It was difficult to make the time to look for ATM machines when you're maneuvering 50 people around!

From Cannes, we drove through Nice. We stopped at a cute little restaurant called Le Ligure. This was a cultural experience for either most or all of us as we tried ESCARGOT for the first time. I think everyone tried it...even Josh! The restaurant had murals all over the walls...It was adorable!From Le Ligure, we headed towards Monaco. We stopped along the way at a place called Cape Ferrat. Mark, our guide, got us all together for a group photo.We continued on to Monaco. Monaco was founded in 1215 and has been ruled by the Grimaldi family since 1927. For Americans, many of us who are older remember Princess Grace. She died in 1982 when she lost control of her car on the streets of Monaco. She is buried there in the Cathedrale de Monaco. The first thing we saw in Monaco was a Yellow Submarine...and I loved the license plates, they were different that others in Europe.Back in the bus, we drove to a section of Monaco called Monte Carlo. This is famous for two things...at least that I know of. One is the casino and the 2nd is the Grand Prix. The Grand Prix started in 1929 and still runs right through the streets of the port and around the casino. We drove part of the track. You can see the starting line in the first picture, and the second photo is the tunnel where the cars usually reach their highest speeds. Claudio didn't go too fast!We were off schedule by the time we left Monaco which made us really late for our last stop of the day - Confiserie Florian, a candy factory! We got the lightning quick tour and then we made it worth their while to wait for us as we tasted and then bought LOTS of delicious candy.After all that candy, I'm not sure if 'visions of sugar plums danced in our heads', but it was the end of Day 6.