Jenn's Doings: Monaco Photo Stroll

Monaco was an interesting stop. My only previous memory of Monaco was stopping briefly on a train while we were on our way to Nice for our Senior Skip Day. I know, very few people can say they went to Nice for their Senior Skip Day. I do realize how fortunate I was. Lifetime of memories and lifetime of friends. It's a win win.

Now back to Monaco. In case you want to revisit what we actually did there, check out this posting. In fact, hold on a minute while I go check out what I did.

Okay, I'm back.

On our way to the Palace we walked by the cathedral in which Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier were married and subsequently buried in. We didn't know when I shot this photo below that we were coming up on the cathedral. I just through the combination of circular shapes and straight shapes were interesting.

Turns out the front of that cathedral is just as interesting. By the end of the cruise all the cathedrals will mush together, but this one and the one in Barcelona seemed the most dramatic to me.

Cathedral of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception), also known as Saint Nicholas Cathedral, Monaco Cathedral isn't in the middle of town like most cathedrals. In fact, we found out that "Monaco" is the country (I know, dah) and there are three municipalities: Monaco-Ville, Monte Carlo and La Condamine. Another little tidbit about Monaco, it's the second smallest country. The Vatican being the first - but not by much.

Right, back to the cathedral. Beside Grace Kelly and the Prince, many of the Grimaldi family is buried here as well. Behind the altar you can walk and see many of the tombs.

The inside was huge, as is the standard I think when it comes to cathedrals. I'm sure it's in Cathedral Making 101 - make it big. There were several "off shoot" rooms off to the sides of this cathedral too. Some beautiful art work that would impress a king.

As you approach the altar you notice there's a walk way that goes around back. There was a line forming and we eventually figured out it was to pass by Princess Grace's tomb.

Once we finished with the cathedral, we walked up the well maintained little street to the Palace square.

The Palace is the official residence of the Prince of Monaco. The palace was built in 1191 as a Genoese fortress. It's been around for a while it seems. It has experienced quite the history too be it bombarded and besieged by foreign powers. Since the end of the 13th century, it has been the stronghold and home of the Grimaldi family who first captured it in 1297.

There were a ton of people standing around and we eventually figured out, again, that the changing of the guard was about to take place. We shoved our way as close as we could to the front - not easy at all - to get a view. I shot a few quick snapshots over my head. Turned out the changing of the guard wasn't all that interesting. It wasn't full of the pomp and circumstance the changing of the guard in London is.

There was some discussion at a dinner table about how often the guard changes. I checked out Wikipedia and according to them, "The colourful changing of the guard occurs every day outside the Palais at 11:55 am." Though I'd argue the "colourful" part of it.

After watching the "colourful" changing of the guard we all decided it was time to find a place for lunch. Monaco didn't really have a food category we felt we "had" to try. We stumbled onto this outdoor café that was filling up fast. We found ourselves a table, ordered some pizzas and drinks and we were good to go.

The most interesting thing about these pizzas, besides how large they are, where the knifes. Mom wanted to steal one but we stopped her. I didn't want to spend the rest of the afternoon bailing Mom out of a Monaco jail.

Ham - prociutto - for me. Brother M had a pizza with Vienna sausage on it, aka hot dogs. It looked tasty and he ate the whole thing...

Except the crust.

With our tummies full, pee deposited in their restroom (I used the men's room at the restaurant because a man and his daughter went into the woman's restroom right in front of me. Now why wouldn't the man take his maybe 3 yo daughter into the Men's? Anyhow, with all that done we set off to find Monte Carlo and the casino.

We hopped on the bus again and took ourselves there. We had no idea where we were going so a nice man in the bus told me where we needed to get off the bus. We missed the stop by one and had to WALK up the hill to the casino. Mom was thrilled about that.

Mom was smart enough to take a photo of the hill once at the top. You might see the red/white strips along the road in the middle of the photo...this road is used as part of the Grand Prix that happens here every year.

We really had no idea where we were going, I was "guessing" since the map wasn't very helpful. It did take us past the Opera house that was just beautiful.

Then we kept walking and as we walked along a road that was full of Versace, Luis Vitton, Gucci, etc this drove by us. The French cousin of Sparky...in Monaco!!!

From there we realized we missed a turn, backtracked a bit then found the Monte Carlo Casino. Famous for so many reasons, but for me it was because of James Bond. The Casino was built by the Grimaldi family in a show of their wealth. The original building was erected in 1854 and has gone through several iterations and expansions.

To the right of the casino - if you're facing it - is the Hotel de Paris. Not a place I'll ever stay because - well I can't afford it.

I did a little Internet sleuthing to find out how much staying there would cost. For a Junior suite with a city view it would be 3,744 EU ($5,192) a night. The TWO bedroom suite is 13,089EU ($18,152) a night. So no, I won't be staying there...EVER.

After some gambling by some of our group, we were ready to say bye to Monaco. Mom, Suzi, Jack, Mike and I all hopped onto a shuttle boat that took us across the marina and back to our boat.