Monaco

We were up and at it early today because our driver, Andreas, was picking us up at 8:45. We quickly picked up the six other people on our tour and we were off to Monaco. Two of our group were German so Andreas did the tour in both English and German. Some facts of Monaco: the entire country takes up just 1.4 sq. miles; only Vatican City is smaller; there are 400 surveillance cameras, so it’s 99.9% crime free; there is no income tax here but to become a citizen, you must open a bank account with no less than 500,000 Euro – that leaves us out! Back to our day… we took the “middle Cornish” (there are three – upper (must be WAY high), middle (very curvy and steep) and lower (along the coast)). Our first stop was a photo op of Villefranche, and the peninsula of Cap Ferrat, where the Richie rich people live (see pic). We continued on to Eze, a medieval eagle-nest village built on an outcropping along the sea. We walked the stone paths for half an hour – very picturesque. Our next stop was the Fragonard Parfumeur. We got a quick lesson on how essential oils are distilled and perfume is made. We then had a “smell test” of various perfumes they make and yes, we made some purchases! We decided we should go home with some “good smelling” memories and no regrets! Besides, they promised these perfumes would be good for up to five years. Heehee! After another five minute drive, we were in Monaco. Who knew it was so close to Nice? While we had learned that it was a small country we found out that the whole country consisted of the one city, Monaco – Monte Carlo is just an area within that city. Our first stop was in Old Monaco (by the way, they stress the second syllable not the third one). After being dropped off in front of the church where Grace Kelly married her prince in the fifties we hurried to the palace to see the changing of the guard. Although we were back in the crowd we still managed to get a few good pictures. We took a few shots overlooking Monaco and then headed back to the cathedral to see Prince Rainier and Princess Grace’s graves. Then off to lunch – which Cindy said was her best in France. With our final 45 minutes at this stop we went to tour the royal apartments. Not to impressive next to Versailles, but that’s just us. When we got back to our air-conditioned coach, two of our group said they saw Prince Albert driving in with his body guards. On our way to Monte Carlo, Andreas took us down part of the Formula One route for the Grand Prix. Cindy had no idea it was on city streets and Sharon didn’t know it was only two lanes wide and that they do the pit-stops on the sidewalk. It’s amazing to us that they allow racecars at top speeds of 140 mph on their city streets. He dropped us off outside the Grand Casino. We took a look around in the Grand Casino, but since there was a 10 Euro fee just to get in, we decided to go to the other new casino. We played some slots, and Sharon went home with the money Cindy lost. We had some very good banana and strawberry glace (that’s ice cream) while we waited for our final pick-up. We finished the Formula One route and headed back to Nice via the lower Cornish. After a short siesta at our hotel, we walked back to the Promenade des Anglais where we spent some time people-watching, reading and journaling. We ventured down to the pebble-covered beach, rocks really, to wade in the Mediterranean Sea. We didn’t stay in the waves for too long because the stones were killing us. Note about the stones: this area of the French Riviera is called the Cote d’Azur (the Blue Coast) and supposedly nowhere else in the world will you find such blue water, owing to the stones reflecting the sunlight back to the surface. After a quick dinner of pizza quatre fromage (that’s a four cheese pizza), we headed back to our hotel. Tomorrow, more Nice until 15:30 (that’s 3:30), then our six hour train ride to Paris for our last night in France. C’est la vie!