An Aussie running across France

Think i'm slowly going native, get to bed late, get up early (always last in for breakfast that finishes at 9:30). Finally Air France has tracked down where my luggage is: Hong Kong - hope it had a good holiday !, they said it will be back the 10th however as i'm in Paris then i said i'll get it then rather than them probably missing me in Nice. Downside is it meant i couldn't get any pictures from the Stones gig and all the marvellous places i've seen, everywhere i go there is a new beautiful view worthy of photos.

Monday night was the fan get together at the Kings Pub (hoping to receive some pics from there at least), where i really did discover that the Stones are a universal language, fans from everywhere, Finland, England, USA, Italy and of course France and probably other places, can't remember everything :-), great coverband and typically on the dancefloor i was pretty much part of the entertainment, came through uninjured at least but was a great workout (had hit 34 degrees during the day and wasn't much cooler that night).

Thought i had better do some real running yesterday so did Nice to Monte Carlo, incredible views with mountains towering above me on the left and glorious blue sea on the right, was probably quicker than cars the last 5 K's anyway, certainly if you want to see the latest model Rolls Royces and Bentleys etc, Monte Carlo is the place to be, strange compared to the streets of Nice where it's all motor scooters and little cars (Seat's, VW's, Citreons, Renault's Peugots & Fiats). At 1:44 Euros per litre wouldn't want to be filling those big cars. Of course i was hoping to see Mick and the boys strolling around before the nights gig. Bus back to Nice is only every 2 hours so i ran an hour back to a bus stop giving me a total of approx 32K's, meant i had to have a little nap before heading off to the gig. Bus from the train station (tickets said "Bigger Band Tour" they didn't quite get it !) and probably about twice the normal load of a double bus got us there at 8, saw a number of scalpers but they didn't seem to be going too well, although i was happy to buy a scalped bottle of water.

The support act finished around 9:15 and then a hour wait till the Stones (Front of stage tickets meaning no seats so just stand as close as possible so no room to sit down and relax), and although about 20 people back was probably only 10 rows back if we were seated absolute sardines. 10:10 the people with "On Stage seats" get into place so we know the concert will begin, beautiful full moon as a backdrop and then the Bigger Bang Video show and the band comes out the darkness for Jumping Jack Flash from then on it's 100 percent performance from not only the band but from us in the audience (as paper shows 53,000 there who knows how many on the FOS field section felt like way more than that). Hit after hit as well as 3 from the new Album including Streets of Love which they hadn't played in Australia. Superlatives fail me at this point, just lost for adjectives, loved the 10 minute version of Midnight Rambler and Sympathy for the devil straight after the bstage were my standouts and an encore of You Can't always get what you want and Satisfaction only made you want them to never stop (actually technically it was a 2 day gig : started 8/8 finished 12:15AM 9/8).

Organised chaos getting out the the stadium, i think we were all just on a high (only complaint guarantee %90 of the audience smoked ! not good), and eventually back to the convoy of buses finally back to the motel at 2, totally exhausted i'd used every once of adrenalin.

Am taking it easy today and will likely meet up with David (CR Undercover Brother) tomorrow before it's off to Paris in the evening, well acclimatised and all read for the more serious stage of my journey.

Not sure when i will post next, hopefully before we begin the race