Travel another way

From Joan D. diary, one of our guests who traveled with us to Provence before heading towards the Cote d’Azur.

Still in Monaco. It only takes 30 minutes to drive by and point out many landmarks. It also helps you understand the lay of the land. We knew after taking this tour that it’d be cool to head back to M-C after we toured the area around the Palace. We went to the Cathedral of Monaco where Grace Kelly married her Prince. (They are now buried there side-by-side)  We found this entire area – the hilltop overlooking the city- very beautiful and clean and wall-to-wall history.

We then took advantage of Monaco’s FREE city bus service and rode over to Monte-Carlo. By the way, there is 1 police officer per every 60 people in Monaco and thousands of surveillance cameras throughout the Principality, so as they told us on the tour train, “smile, you’re having your picture taken”. Sure enough, we didn’t see any gang types, beggars, gypsies, tramps or thieves. In Monte-Carlo I had to try my hand in the glamorous Casino, (as in Casino Royale). I played slots because you have to pay and get a line of credit just to walk into the ‘betting parlors’. I put my 20€ in the poker machine and doubled it when I got 4 kings. I cashed out and STRUTTED out a winner!

Eppie and I then walked next door to do a little (very little) shopping and then dined at Cafe du Paris, where I splurged and used my winnings to enjoy a glass of pink champagne. My overall impression of Monaco; it was more urban than I had thought it would be. Still, many parts were beautiful, scenic. I could live there. Apparently I am not alone in this thought as only a very small % of residents are native to Monaco. The weather is nice, the economy is strong, the streets are safe and clean and there’s lots of dogs. Oh, and there’s gambling and public transportation is free. What’s not to like?!  One more observation about France in general: we noticed on numerous occasions that VERY young kids (3,4,5,6) are just walking around without obvious adult supervision. Out of concern we’d watch the child to see if it was lost or wandering and sure enough, eventually an adult would come over and claim them. You never see a dog off a leash or without supervision, but kids we’d see running a block ahead of their parents. Funny in a peculiar way.
So back to Nice for the night and then we’re off to Italy on Monday.

Still from Joan’s diary, one of our guests on the Provence trip in October.

“It was with an enormous amount of anticipation on my part that we headed off to Monaco. While I woke up early, (giddy with excitement no doubt) mon ami Epifania slept until 10:30! By the time we were out of the room it was 11:30.

We walked a couple of blocks down the street alongside the water to the well known Hotel Negresco. We had thought about doing brunch until the 54€ price tag made us think again. We decided to save the € and the calories and went into a brasserie for tapas and cafe au lait. Then we made the 20 min walk to the Nice Ville train station and caught the local to Monaco.

Upon arriving, one could be impressed that the train station is new, sleek and built into the rock of the hillside overlooking downtown Monaco and its harbor. We walked from there to the Oceanographic Museum, no small feat. About 2.5 miles, the last 1/3 of which was up the hill on which the Princes Palace is located. But what a view! At the Oceanographic Museum you can get on the little tour trains that take you all around Monaco and Monte-Carlo. More tomorrow….”

Joan D. San Jose, California