Principauté du Monaco

Right now I'm just chilling on a five hour train journey from Monaco to Lyon thinking back over the past 3 days. It has been an extremely rushed trip to the Monaco and the South of France so I've been flat out trying to see as much as I could.

The wealth of Monaco was obvious as soon as I stepped off my train - the immaculate station, marble floors, and women dressed in fur coats. CCTV cameras, tracked my every move, but I have to say that I've never felt safer while travelling in Europe.

Monte-Carlo, Monaco was just stunning. It has been built in the one the most beautiful parts of the southern French coast, and has been well planned in such a small geographic area - so small that I was able to walk the length of the country in about an hour. It is winter so instead of ever second car being a super-car, only about one in five were... I presume all their owners had fled in their super-yachts to the heat of the Caribbean. I managed to see all the essential sights - like the Royal Family's palace (which has nothing on Buckingham Palace), and the casino where part of a recent Bond film was set (I can't remember which one). It was also pretty awesome to walk some of Monte-Carlo Grand Prix.

I spent much of today in Menton, France with a couple that I met at the Christmas market! To be quite honest, we were all a bit let down by the town - it was a tad messy... Mind you, my standards were set pretty high from what I saw in Nice and Monaco.

One and a half hours to go in this train journey... It has been an interesting one for sure. I've been watching a couple of Italian blokes scouring the train for things to steal. Lol they've already been talked to by guards - but since they are innocent as of yet, one of them has decided to sit behind me. It's all good - cos I've got my bags either at my feet or on my lap. It reminds me of Barcelona - if you know what to look for, you can see the thieves coming from a mile away.. And no, I'm not being judgemental.

I'm off for New Years in Bordeaux tomorrow with one of my French friends from university! We're leaving early tomorrow morning, and I think the driving time is about 8 hours - but I'll be in good company so it will be awesome. I'm back in Lyon on the 3rd and straight off to Rome to stay with a friend, so that should also be legit.

Enough from me. Stay safe over the new year xo