What can I say... Vive la France!

Lucky us, because yesterday's rain changed into plenty of sun! Today we started the Tour of the French Riviera on our little Scooters! Did I say little? I mean, they are just the perfect vehicle to explore this amazing part of the world! We left Grasse, the famous city of parfumes, north towards the mountains to get a first feeling for these nimble streaks of lightning. Only to find out that it is so much fun to scoot around in the most scenic nature of Southern France!

Of course we already enjoyed our share of the French cuisine... this will defenitely be continued during the following days...

Look at all the pictures we were collecting!

The view over Grasse from our hotel

Ready to rock 'n' roll!

Keith & Ellen on top of the Col du Castelleras

Two of the four wonderful ladies in our group!

Either direction is amazing!

Meeting with locals...

On top of Col du Vence

Barbara and Ruthie,

Carol and Deryl

Watching the local's favourite game "la boule" in Vence

Our way back to Grasse led us through Gourdon which offers an amazing view over the Côte d'Azur!

Excellent French Cuisine, some nice Vin Rouge and a Crème brulé make a veeery good end of an outstandig first day of our Scooter tour in Southern France!

Hey, come back tomorrow and read more about our adventures along the coastal road from Nice to Monaco and Monte Carlo...

Tuesday, 09/06/2011

Hey everybody out there! Here are the latest news from the

This small country Monaco, which basically consists of the city of Monaco only, has even got its own language!

Before coming into Monaco we were taking our Scooters out on a ride along the coastal road of the French Riviera. We left our base hotel in Grasse and were heading down to Nice.

Riding along this road you find out why so many people want to go there: Plenty of sunshine, beaches, places to sit down and relax while having a look at these unbelievable yachts!

We were desperately trying to trade in our Scooters for one of those "slightly" bigger vehicles...

...didn't work out in the end, so we went for a place with the most comfortable chairs instead and had some cool and refreshing drinks!

Continuing the road eastwards we found that dimensions are just different here...

You really can't go very fast on this road! There are a lot of amazing things to see and you could stop for a picture everywhere!

Even more so in Monaco! Thank god, this shop in the old town on the Rock of Monaco wasn't open at the time...

Everything looks so neat and clean up here where Prince Albert and his wife live!

And every person has got his own place...

Even the tiniest little baby scooter!

The Prince's Palace with the guard and the Cathedral of Monaco

Of course, our trip to Monaco wouldn't have been what it is, hadn't we been scooting around the road where the Formula 1 race takes place!!!  Running along the row of boats...

passing by the famous Casino of Monte Carlo...

...entering and...

...exeting the tunnel after the famous curves down from the casino...

...right into the arms of the police!!!???

No way!!! Of course we stuck to the speed limit!

Wow what an adventurous day! Tomorrow we will have more pictures from the "Grand Canyon of Europe"!

Wednesday, 09/07/2011

A 'chicken and egg' situation almost all day long: What was there first? "Gorge" or "gorgeous"? Well, it didn't really matter to us cause we had both of them! GORGEOUS GORGES!!

At the end of our today's ride into the Gorges du Verdon - also known as the 'Grand Canyon of Europe' - we all agreed that this was our most spectacular day of our tour so far!

Hopped on our scooters - left turn out of the hotel - buzzed out of Grasse, along the 'Route Napoléon' and into the middle of nowhere...

Our first stop at a cute little place in the center of Castellane, the starting point into the Gorges du Verdon.

No roasted bread from this lady, though. Maybe only water out of a rusted can?

Preferred the coffee in the bakery next to it...

Lots of French baguette on offer there!

Castellane is where the scenic ride on winding roads into the gorges starts. The short walk to the 'point sublime' is definitely worth it! Breathtaking views!

Even more so on the 'Routes des Crètes'

Keep your balance!!

We had a lot of fun with our scooters on that amazing ring road...

You come across all sorts of vehicles here... For example this model of the famous French Citroen "duck"

Nice backcountry roads including medival villages along our way brought us back into our hotel!

Outstanding ride today!

Comment from Ruthie: We love our angel tour guide, Angela.  We ask her so many questions she needs a nap after lunch... We caught her napping in La Palud   zzzzzzzzz.....

Comment from Angela: Hey guys, what are you thinking!! It is a continious process of meditating on the most beautiful spots I will take you! And besides...I was just posing for the picture!!

Thursday 09/08/2011

This city of Grasse we are staying in has got a very interesting history! The history of producing perfume and perfumed leather. Even if you're not a socalled 'nose' you could tell you're in Grasse just by taking in all the different scents that you can constantly smell in the air!

We started this day with a most interesting tour of the old town of Grasse. We've learned a lot from Laurent!

This statue carries all the things perfumer need and is supposed to represent the perfume trade.

Old town Grasse is a pleasant place with many beautiful buildings!

France without paintings? Unthinkable!

The former fishmarket in Grasse.

Do you know the book (and/or movie) 'The Perfume' written by Patrick Süßkind, a German author? He has written a story that takes place in Grasse and - naturally - is all about perfumes.

For us, of course, it is a 'must have' to go and visit one of the perfume factories here in Grasse!

No question! Your nose will definitely be exposed to some of the nicest smells you could possibly have! Did you know that you need 700 kg of orange blossoms to produce only 1,5 liters of perfume essence?

One of the machines they used to distill fragrances.

A soap press... mind your fingers!

This is the place where the 'nose' sits and creates all kinds of different fragrances.

As he didn't show up to do his duties, we tried to assist him...

In the afternoon we went out for a nice ride into the country side west of Grasse.

Oh I can tell you, that walk in the river was sooo refreshing...!

A coffee stop in Mons with a marvellous view over the region. From up there you can even spot the Mediterranean in the distance! It is about 40 miles away.

Friday 09/09/2011

Time flies!!! We all couldn't believe it's already the last day of our French Riviera adventure!  Today we were heading to the coast again to make sure that the world is still going round down there in Cannes...

On the way to St Raphael we were passing by some cork oaks. It's an amazing tree - the bark is used for many things such as bottle corks and it takes about 9 years for the bark to grow back again!

Of course there are plenty of possibilities to go for a swim in the Mediterranean Sea...

Impressive those mountains of the Corniche de l'Esterel! You will find them along the coastal road from St Raphael to Cannes.

Being the Scooter Celebrities of the French Riviera it was on our list to take a picture in front of the Cannes Film Festival building!

As everywere around the Mediterranean the Romans have been down here in Antibes. For us Antibes was the last highlight before we went back to the hotel...

Strange doors???  Open Sesame!!

The market place in Antibe. A place where you can find artists selling jewellery and various other things...

Aren't they cool our two boys?

Many thanks to the scooting riders of this group! I enjoyed very much exploring the French Riviera together with you!

I look forward to seeing you again somewhere on the road!