Wollombi II: Time for a break..

I had to return to Toronto for Sabrina and Colin's wedding, catch up with some friends and do take care of some admin.

I got taken out of the water on the 2nd June, and Mike and Michelle put me up for the night. On the Wednesday, I took a bus from St Tropez to St Raphael and finally to Nice airport. I had booked into Hotel de Baou, supposedly near Nice. The information desk at the airport had never heard of the hotel and after a google they informed me of two things -
a) the hotel wasn't in Nice
b) all the buses that could get me there were on strike.
It was suggested I take a taxi at 40OORO one way, I tried to find alternate buses and failed miserably. An hour an a half later, I was back on Expedia looking for a hotel close to he airport and I found one. The following day, on the plane and left for England, to spend some days with Derek and then head back to Torono.

I was welcomed by Derek and Taz at the Queen's Head, once I got Wokingham. Derek has rescaped his fyshetank and all the critters therein seem happy and thriving.. We had good Sunday lunch at a pub Derek suggested..

Sunday lunch - highly rated!

Derek's amemomee

Very photogenic fyshe

I flew back to Toronto on the Monday and was picked up at the airport by Laura, which was nice of her. I went into work on Tuesday as I had to do some admin for IIROC as they needed some info on an Individual we had the misfortune of entering into business with - may the road rise up to meet him and may he get everything he deserves!

Wednesday, I managed to get a storage unit to pack my belongings, as I decided I was putting my place up for rent. On the Thursday, I managed to get my car washed and take some pictures of the Bike and Car and I posted those. I got a couple of hits on the car, by individuals offering to pay the full price and pay me via paypal - having had a *BAD* previous experience I politely declined and am waiting for offers of *CASH* or any other means of currency so long as the bank clears it *AFTER* ensuring that the funds are good..

On the Saturday, I did my best man bit and was plagued by a photographer who insisted I be in as many pictures as possible.. After 40 minutes of photos I took my tie off and went on to hang out with the other guests. The wedding was nice and very much Colin and Sabrina. I took a couple of pictures of them as I had a front row seat for the shindig while the photographer was doing her thing..

Doing the admin bit

The first dance - Congratulations Mr & Mrs Small

The remainder of the last week, I spent packing up my belongings, with help from Laura. On the Friday, before I left Carl bought my scooter, my she bring him as many awesome trips and many KM's as she brought me..

Bye bye, beast!

Bye bye Condo - view from my balcony on the Friday night

On the Saturday, Laura kindly gave me a lift to the airport and I was on my way back to the boat. Being conscious of luggage wight restrictions, I weighed my bag so it was 23kg and put my books in my carry on backpack. Upon checking in I was asked to put my bag on the scale - WTF? Turns out that it is unsafe for the bag to be over 6kg, so I had to put the books in my back an cough up.. Welcome to Cond-or what airlines! After paying for the extra weight my bag was safe again and I could continue on my merry way.

Bag is approved - it is now safe!

Leaving Toronto..

I had a 7 hour stop over at Frankfurt airport - I had to take this picture..

Inter terminal trains - down to the second

Then I flew on to Nice, which turned out to be a pleasant surprise. After checking into my hotel, I decided to do a bit of exploring as my initial impression of Nice was that it was incorrectly named (I suppose grotty would not be much of a tourist trap.. :-/). The area around the train station, isn't the prettiest part of town, however, the old part is full of restaurants and little alleyways to explore.