heading to the coast dahling

Looking for a night away? At home that might be Toronto but here it is the Cote d'Azur, bien sur.  We wanted some new scenery and thought what better way to do it than head to Monaco.  This was primarily to take the kids to the Monaco Aquarium, which we'd heard so much about, but also to check out the coast towns.  After a 2 1/2 hour drive down (not bad at all), we arrived in the small, very rich and picturesque town of Monaco.  Neither of us have driven into this town before.  Take my advice in this area and take the train if you can.  It wasn't SO bad, but in the summer must be crazy.  We navigated the marina full of P-Diddy type yachts (although no sightings) and found an underground parking lot underneath the aquarium.  The museum itself was great.  Lots of tanks with really cool fish-a favourite was the dynamic duo of the goby fish and the blind shrimp.  The little goby fish stands guard while the hardworking blind shrimp digs a shelter for them both.  A beautiful relationship.  Hazel and Liam had a good time trying to figure out who might be the goby fish in our family.  We never figured it out as all of us fancied ourselves the little shrimp that could....this outcome to be reported later.  There was life size models of sperm whales and giant squids which were really cool and the museum is in the most beautiful locale.  There was a soccer field at the foot of it overlooking the ocean with kids having a game in their lunch hour.  A little different than playing beside the Avon, but, hey...every spot has its own beauty.
Then we left Monaco for the coastal drive to Nice-not very nice (ha) as it was so congested.  We got to our hotel (the kids think it was awesome to stay at a 4 star-but in Europe this is waaay different than home) which was fine, but the selling point was an indoor pool.  Great for blowing off steam at the end of the day.  After a swim and clean up, we headed into Old Nice for dinner.  We read on trip advisor about a restaurant called Oliviera where you taste olive oils during dinner.  It was FAB.  The wife cooked dinner-as it turned out for about 20- while the great host (husband) served and poured little dishes of oil from all over Provence.  It was amazing!!! The tastes were so different and unique. He gave us one and challenged us to tell him what fruit it tasted like. I like to think its my sommelier training at work (or the fact that I'm not that evolved) but I got it as an unripe banana.  We all had a great time.  Liam had fresh linguine with pesto and Hazel had ravioli with tomatoes.  Aaron ate braised rabbit with pappardelle noodles and light broth and I had a housemade lasagna.  All outstanding.
The real treat was the next day.  The weather has changed! This is what Provence is supposed to be like-the Provence of movies and books.  It is sunny, warm and the masses are flocking to be seen.  We drove a different way home to check out Bandol and Cassis.  Bandol was first and we drank a glass of rose looking at the ocean and the kids found a charming seaside 'clown' who twirled plates on sticks with them for ages.  We tried to get him to come home with us, but he was busy, so he said.
Onwards to Cassis. Ok...if anyone EVER has the opportunity to go to Cassis, run-or swim.  It is so great, its hard to say.  We walked the port full of the beautiful types (funnily more guys than girls) and settled in to enjoy some of the season's best-fresh sea urchins.  You get them on a platter, split in half.  Use a little spoon, scrape away the gritty stuff and underneath lies these beautiful little orange strips of heaven.  It tastes like the sea but a bit sweet.  Both the kids tried them.  Hazel was a bit more enamored than Liam, but  the effort was there!
What an awesome day. I talked before about getting a place in Lourmarin, but it might be closer to Cassis-not right on the shore, but close.  We'll just have to liquidate. Everything.   Including our clothes.  But I hear its warm in the summer.
The big news once we got home was that British Airways is on strike for the 3 days prior to us coming home.  We are flying Nice to London and then London to Toronto.  The long haul flight to Toronto is safe but the one from Nice to London is in jeopardy.  At this point we're not too worried as there are plenty of ways to get to London from here and we'll get a refund if they cancel, so we'll wait it out.  Worse comes to worse, we'll just have to stay here.  I'm pretty sure there are worse things.  When I looked at the web site, it said that flights might just be running with less service on board.  When I was relaying this story to Aaron and the kids, I said "they might need to run with less..." and before I could answer, Hazel said "fuel??"
Funny thing is, she didn't seem concerned even though the answer was "less chicken".  Oh to be 7.

Back at the house and scarily starting to feel like home.  We ended the night with an amazing round of 'who can lick the oreo cream out of the cookie the fastest'. Liam won. We still have no class, even in France.