Thursday, September 17, Glamorous Monte Carlo

Yesterday, we traveled west of Nice, today we will travel east, to Monte Carlo in Monaco (are there other towns in Monaco, or would Monte Carlo and Monaco be pretty much the same thing?).  We walked to the main train station in Nice.  Our path took us along the wide shopping boulevard called Jean Medecin.  This street has all the nice shopping, and we had not been here before, so we were happy to find ourselves here -- Nice is really nice!  The train station is a zoo!  We stood in line for information, which was not too long.  The attendant directs us to a blue kiosk to buy a ticket, but warned us that it was only in French -- I got the idea that he thought we should really go stand in the very long line to buy a ticket from a person.  Well, I decide to give the French a try, and he passed me a  little cheat sheet.  It was very helpful.  Two groups of tourists ahead of me attempted the kiosk but ended up throwing up their hands in defeat.  Not me!  With the help of the cheat sheet, I was able to buy the tickets!  Hooray!  

The train was packed, which was not surprising, but we were able to secure seats.  The train ride was very short, probably just under one half an hour, we hadn't realized Nice and Monte Carlo were so close together.  The Monte Carlo train station is super-modern and seems to be brand new.  We exited the train and rode elevators and escalators up to the street level.  After picking up a map, we were able to identify where we were and proceeded down towards the sea to try to find the Monte Carlo Casino.  The scenery is not so special on this walk, since a lot of this area is a gigantic construction site.  Apparently, the are building a huge luxury shopping mall near the casino.  As we approach the casino we also admire the gorgeous Hotel de Paris across the street.  Finally, the casino -- and it did not disappoint!  The style is called Belle Epoque, and we were able to tour the inside.  The casino does not open for gambing until 2pm, but until 12 noon, tourists can pay 10 euros and walk where ever you want.  It was amazing to us how few people were doing this.  So many people came to look at the casino, but were too cheap to pay to go in -- not us!  Here is my photo of the entrance:

Inside, the gambling rooms are breath-takingly beautiful.  A brochure tells us that everything was renovated in 2011, and it looks like it!  There are several rooms for gambling and each one is special in its own way.  Here are a few of my pictures:

What a special piece of architecture, so meticulously maintained (must be profitable -- ha!).

The other main site to see in Monte Carlo is the Palais des Princes (check name), so that is where we headed next.  Our path took us along the harbor (also undergoing some type of construction), but we stopped along to the way to buy chicken wrap sandwiches for another glamorous lunch on the French Riviera!  We next walked to the Place des Armes to climb the ramp which takes the tourists up to the top of the hill overlooking the harbor where the palace is located.  We stop to take a few pictures.  Here is one I took:

Monaco is very modern looking, but also has many charming older buildings as well.  Needless to say, there is a lot of money here!

The palace offers a self guided tour with an audio guide, through several rooms in the palace.  Photograph is not permitted, so we have no photos to share.  The tour is not terribly long, but it was interesting and offered some information on the Grimaldi family, rulers of Monaco.  The palace is still the official residence of the royal family, but my guess would be that it is not the primary residence.  Many of the rooms have painted portraits of royals through history, and the final room has a portrait of the family of the late Prince Rainier and his wife Princess Grace (Kelly).  The audio guide provided some information ... "On the lower right is Princess Caroline, who is dedicated to the arts and sits on many boards related to the arts in Monaco; in the upper right, next to his father is son Albert, who is the current monarch, Albert II; below him is his sister, Princess Stephanie, who is an internationally recognized whore."  Wow, they don't sugarcoat the truth on this tour!

Leaving the palace, we continued on to the cathedral here in Monte Carlo.  It is very nice and features some really nice lighting.  I don't know how old it is -- it is obviously not medieval, but it could be a couple of hundred of years old.  The most interesting thing about the cathedral is the fact that the royals are buried here, including Princess Grace, whose grave has a lot of flowers!

Here is a portrait of her that sits above her grave marker:

After this, it was about 2:30pm, and we decided to get a head start back to Nice.  We followed the map to the train station, but noticed a sign for the station before we started climbing the hill:  it was an entrance to a moving walkway under the ground to connect to the station!  Cool -- what a great shortcut!  When we got to the station, we had to wait a long time for the train, until 3:30pm.  I think maybe one train was cancelled.  By the time the 3:30pm train showed up, the station (which had been empty) was now packed, and it was an un-air conditioned cattle car all the way back to Nice.  So hot!  Obvious, we did not get seats on our return trip, but it didn't last too long.

We walked back to our hotel along the shopping boulevard, sticking our noses into a gigantic shopping mall called Nicetoile.  Time to get back to our hotel to repack our suitcases for tomorrow's departure.  After repacking we enjoyed a final evening on our lovely deck overlooking Nice and the Mediterranean with a nice Rose.  This was one of the nices hotel rooms we have ever stayed in!

One final time to admire the view as the clouds started to break up:

For dinner tonight, we wanted something simple, so we returned to the Cafe de Paris, where we ate beef filets with carrots, zuchini, and potatoes, starting, of course, with a mixed salad.  Then we called it a day.