Mom, Suzi, Mike and I got off the ship at about 10am. We
tendered to the dock and then walked to find a bus stop from there. There isn’t
a lot of signage, and what was there we couldn’t understand. It was all in
French…We found one bus stop, asked a bus driver, who pointed us up the hill to
another bus stop. We asked that driver, who pointed us up the hill to yet
another. By this time I’m thinking we should just climb the hill. But alas we
found the right stop and the right bus. For 5EU we bought a 24 hour pass and
off we went. First stop, the Palace.
Monaco, in general, is a beautiful country. The soft colors
of the buildings are a perfect complement to the blue sea below. Stunning and clean are the two things that
came to mind. Monaco, they say, is extremely safe. The saying is you can win a
million at the casino and walk to the bus station without a problem. It’s
separated into a few “sections” Monaco-Ville (Old Town), Monte Carlo, and La
Condamine. Old town and Monte Carlo are the two areas we spent most the day in.
Monaco is, of course, most famous to us for James Bond and
Grace Kelly. Both would have fit in well
here. The rich would feel very at home. Just looking at the size of the yachts
in the harbor would tell you this is a playground for the wealthy.
So we got off the bus in Old Town and walked to the Palace
from there. On the way to the palace strolling through the little alley streets
of old town we found the main cathedral – aptly named The Cathedral of Monaco,
and it’s where Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier were married and buried.
The cathedral, like so many we’ve seen, is just beautiful.
This one was somber and elegant at the same time. The dome above the altar had
a beautiful gold mosaic that brightened up the place.
Further down the alley street we found the palace. We got
there just in time to see the changing of the guard. Not nearly as grandiose as
England’s, but interesting all the same.
We walked around the Palace Square a bit just taking in the beauty. Did I
mention how clean this city is?
By the time we finished in the Palace Square, we were
getting hungry. We’d seen many restaurants and bars on our way up the hill, so
we figured we’d stop and have lunch. Oddly enough the ONE we picked had more of
an Italian flare to it and so we all had pizzas. I was really hoping for a ham
and cheese sandwich, but not so lucky today.
From the palace we needed to get back to the bus station to
take the bus to the Casino. I really had no idea where it was, but Mike and I
figured out on the map about where we thought we should have gotten off the
bus. We took the hard way to get there though. Up a HUGE hill, then up about 5
flights of stairs to find ourselves on the backside of the Opera House. Again,
we walked the wrong way and went too far PAST the casino before I finally
asked. We turned around and walked back the way we came. Zigged instead of
zagged and found the casino. I didn’t go
in because they wouldn’t let me bring in the camera and I didn’t want to check
it in, though hind sight being what it is, I probably could have and it would
have been just fine.
Outside the casino were a bunch of very fancy cars. From Ferrari's to Aston Martin's to a mustang! Yes I saw a convertible mustang here. I knew Sparky was all class.
Tomorrow we’re in Toulon France and will be vising Marseille
and Aix en Provence. We’re pooped, our
feet hurt, but by God we’re having a blast.
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