FROM TODI TO PISA, ITALY AND GOODBYE TO LIZZY AND ANTHONY

We left our Villa in Todi, Umbria, and drove a few hundred km's north to the coast and stayed a few days in Pisa. It was very hot and the day we visited the Leaning Tower, the temperature was 44oC in the carpark. We were melting like the tarseal.

The leaning tower seemed smaller than how Jenny and I remember it in 1985! The Duomo was beautiful and the artwork incredible.

We decided to spend a day at the beach and drove 30km north of Pisa to Viareggio along with about 20,000 other people. There were traffic jambs caused by people like us trying to get off the motorway through the toll booths to the beaches along the coast. We finally found a carpark and the public beach, which as you can see was crowded.

We decided not to got swimming at the beach, but return to the pool at our accomodation, where there were only 6 other people!!

We drove north along the Italian Riviera towards France. The coast line was very rocky, but the beach settlements were beautiful. Eventually we arrived in Nice where we stayed for 5 nights. It was full of tourists like us and the weather was great but not as hot as Italy thank goodness.

Here we are standing on the headland at the eastern end of Promenade les Anglais, with kms of beach extending around the bay.

We visited Monte Carlo in Monaco. Amazing!

The Casino in the background of this photo was as beautiful as we remembered it and it was great to wander around the flash cars and sit at the cafe having a drink and watching the ' cool people' drive by in their Ferrari's. Anthony thought he was in heaven looking at all the cars.

While we were in Nice, we celebrated Lizzy's birthday at a swanky restaurant. Lizzy looked stunning and she and Anthony enjoyed a few cocktails.

We had two bottles of Bollinger Champagne- boy the French know how to make a good Champagne!

We had a fabulous night with Lizzy and Anthony, before they left for their own trip to Paris.

We say goodbye to Lizzy and Anthony at the Railway Station in Nice, as they catch the TGV fast train to Paris for a few nights and then on to London.

It was hard to say goodbye after so many months together, visiting great countries and having fabulous (and not so fabulous) experiences together.