Saturday, 1 July, 2006 Sumi and I were greeted at the train station in Menton by Julio. Were we delighted to see him. This was such an adventure for us. When we disembarked at Nice the train schedule flashed track nine for connecting train to Menton. Wrong. We made it down a lot of stairs with all of our luggage and onto the train. Well after five minutes we noticed we were the only ones on board. Lucky for us the station master came by and got us on the right train that was just leaving. Julio drove us through the town of Menton, and up, up, up winding roads (room for one vehicle at a time) to the wonderful villa. Mimi and Phillipe had invited us to this breath-taking retreat. Unfortunately, they were both away on business, but Julio and his lovely wife Maria made us welcome and comfortable. We both loved just walking in the garden. The three dogs, Texas, Carmel and Pouflipou, and five donkeys entertained us. The views from the corniche down to the Mediterranean were spectacular as well as the view of the highway leading to Italy. A string of mountain villages peer down, and just south of the the top of the pass, we could see Castillon (population 280). Castillon is considered a model of modern rural planning. The village was destroyed by an earthquake in 1887, then bombed in 1944. It was built anew in 1951, perched on the mountain slopes in true Provencial fashion.