Getting about

Both of us have had colds so have been laying low for a few days except for walking to grocery shop to buy food. We did take a walk around the marina on saturday when the sun was out. Health and weather getting better so we made the bus trip to Nice on Monday. They have a carnival on with lots of parades with the theme King of the 5 Continents. We visited the market which is normally a flower market but on Mondays is for antiques, some very interesting things but very expensive. We had a great time walking around the old part of Nice and stopped to eat at little cafe. Catching the bus is a good way to people watch like when the ticket inspectors came on to check. A women in front of me who looked to be from northern Africa. She started crying and when he got to her he tried to calm her down. She had a ticket so I can only assume she was intimidated by their position and what could happen.
Nice is lots of fun with its beautiful beach and old town with narrow lanes and little shops. We will come back to visit museums which most are free to enter.
Today if it stops raining enough we will go to the Picasso museum here in Antibes.

Antibes apartment

Well we had a good flight to Nice and caught the bus to Antibes without to much fuss. The driver of the bus was helpful but when an English guy got up before his stop he was told in French to sit down. We made sure we waited to the bus came to a complete stop before getting up. We then had to navigate our way using the map that the Apartment owner sent us. You won't be surprised to hear I handed over control of the map to Cliff so we could arrive before the sun set. The apartment is lovely (see pictures) and I cooked my first meal in a while that first night. We found the grocery shop pretty easily and brought chicken, bread stick, vegetable and rice. We are in the old part of Antibes which has narrow roads and little shops with fantastic pastry. I will try to get a photo of one of the shop windows selling cakes,pastries etc for you Michelle.
Cliff is still feeling a bit off with a cold that started in London which is sad as its his birthday today 20 Feb and he had to stay in doors to try to get over it. I went for a walk while he slept which took me to the local beach, past Picasso museum and down new streets to explore. The apartment is in a great location as we are close to everything. We will be here for 3 weeks so looking forward to getting around locally and also to Nice, Monaco and Vence to name a few trips.

Brighton our home by the sea

We arrived in Brighton by bus from London and our rooms are right opposite the famous Brighton Pier and wheel and we get to see if lite up at night. Our room again is very small but it includes a full English breakfast so that makes up for any shortcomings. The weather has been very kind to us with partly cloudy and sunny days. Today they held the Brighton mini marathon which went straight past our hotel so we had a good view of the event. The back of the promenade behind our hotel has narrow lanes but the more interesting ones can be seen in the Lane area a short 10min walk away. Some look like ones in the Harry Potter movie and at night when we walk around looking for a restaurant for dinner I am reminded of Jack the Ripper and Sherlock Holmes stories. They are filled with atmosphere, old pubs and quant coffee shops. As well as all this there is the pier itself with its amusement park activities and lots of young people out and about. It's place is famous for bucks and hens nights and has a lively night life of night clubs. The constant sound of the seagulls overhead remind you how close you are to the sea even when shopping. We hope to visit the Royal Pavilion tomorrow which was built in the style of an Indian Temple.

Earls Court adventure

Our 4 days in London was been great. Managed to work out the mobile phone usage with a couple of great guys in a phone company down the road. We felt like they are out personal tech support as we have gone in to see them a few times and now have two working mobiles. BTW you can't get a mobile service that covers England and Europe but we have sims that we will use when we go to Antibes more to speak to each other and for emergencies.
Cliff and I have mastered the underground tube and walked miles across London, yesterday I had to rest up a few times as I am not that use to walking (thank god we found those gym shoes before I left Michelle) for so long.
Finally got to see Wicked the musical which was great but it was a matinee with lots of school children giving a different sort of experience. I have a deepening respect for teachers taking kids on excursions. We brought chaps tickets from one of the stand dotted around the west end.

We visited St Paul's cathedral where the Ash Wednesday service was being held. It's a beautiful church and the one used for the Queens Jubilee last year. The Minister gave a very warm and personal sermon which was surprising and more expected in a small village church. We only went there to see the art work on the ceilings so good to see it being used for more than an attraction.
We had a beautiful meal for Valentines day at a local restaurant called The Little French Restaurant which was offering a 3 course meal for £17 each. They normally do 3 course for £9.95 ea. The floor show consisted of a guy who verbally abused a waitress and stood up and asked for her to say sorry over and over again. The rest of us eating were stunned and one of the waiters stood between them and eventually got him outside with his poor wife where he continued to abuse the staff. It seemed he felt that the waitress thought he was lying about what he ordered for his wife. The guy was nuts and staff visibly upset. I felt for the wife who had to go home with him. Anyway it didn't stop us enjoying ourselves but needed to take a walk afterwards to settle the stomach after so much food (by the way Michelle I had the duck).
We visited Portobello Road which is a market and the setting for the movie Notting Hill. We stumbled across the book shop used in the movie, see picture. No markets on Thursday when we were there but apparently the weekend is very busy. There were a number of shops open though with antiques, vintage clothing and souvenirs.

We are heading off to Brighton for 4 days today via bus from Victoria station. Don't think we will be swimming there as its going to get to 8c.

Seoul and London 12th Feb

Hi all who are reading this post. Well Seoul proved to be a bit of a gem as well as a stop over. We arrived and had to wait some time for a taxi because it was Chinese New Year and there were little number of taxis available. It was about -10 c and snow had come down round all of the area including the city although all roads had been cleared to travel. It was like entering a snowy wonderland and we were taken to the city which was 1 hr away. The hotel was 1st class with heated toilet seat and every other type of mod con you can think of. It also meant we could walk outside and see the people (mostly young adults) shopping. The shops were made up with 90% beauty products and it felt like fairy land with lots of hello kitty type shops. I will post a picture when I can get it from cliffs camera. We were so cold we could only stay out for 15 min at a time. The people are very friendly and helpful so it was a great stop over and more than we expected. The experience was so different than we expected and very enjoyable.
Then we came back to airport for the second leg of the journey to London and the flight was long but watched lots of movies. Had the quickest journey through the airport as it only took 1 hr from the time we came off the plane until we arrived at the hotel. There is a lot to be said about travelling into a country at night as Heathrow was quiet. Once we got settled we had a drink at a local pub and a good nights sleep so no jet lag and we are ready to venue out for more sightseeing today.
Take car all and talk soon. Cheryl