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Yes I went to Monaco, the place where the enviable Princess Grace dwelled and reigned. What a lucky woman! It was here that we actually went to the beach. Allow me to relate that tale briefly. We woke up in Nice and ate a 6 euro breakfast (we were tricked) and then hopped on a train to our final destination. One problem...there were no seats. Natalie, Monica and I stood the whole way, which was only about twenty minutes, but still. We had our backpacks with us too which made it even worse. O well. Once we arrived we reserved our tickets back to Lugano and attempted to find a place to put our bags. No luck. In the end we carried them around ALL day. It sucked but what can you do? After that slightly depressing situation we ventured out to explore. There were two things we decided we had to see: 1. Monte Carlo Casino where the latest Bond, James Bond movie was filmed and 2. a beach (of course!). Upon exiting the train station, we descended a flight of steps and saw a map and then a sign that said "CASINO" pointing up left, so uphill we went.
Monte Carlo
semi closeup
We saw a building and went around. Monica and Natalie said it wasn't the casino and were about to ask a doorman when I walked across the street and realized it was the casino. That was entertaining. We then of course took pictures. There was this really cool object in front of the casino called the Sky Mirror. It's a concaved lens looking metal object that you can see the sky in. What made it so pretty was the fact that it was a beautiful day with a bright blue sky and puffy white clouds. After our adventure at the casino - which we didn't enter by the way for lack of appropriate clothing and funds - we began our search for a beach. To accomplish this task we went down a twisty, semi-trafficked road, through a lovely Japanese garden and down to a boardwalk type sidewalk. Monica and I sat on a bench because we didn't see a beach and sort of gave up. Natalie, however, was very zealous and continued on around the bend. She shortly after returned and said in a very authoritative manner, "Get your stuff." I thought something bad had happened and we were going
Up Close and Personal
I wanted y'all to be able to read it so that you knew I was actually there to have to run away, but I hoisted up my pack and followed. I'm glad I did because right around the bend was a beach! Go figure! We booked it down there, all excited because we thought it was a nice, sandy beach, but soon discovered that it was pebbles. They tickled the bottoms of my feet though, hee-hee. Well i was a beach and it is February, so we did the only logical thing and stripped off our clothes and laid out. No worries though, we already had on our suits. We were the only ones though. Everyone else on the beach was nicely wrapped up in the jackets and scarves. NOT US! We're such rebels. It was decently warm anyway. It was as warm as Rodanthe in April, which is when I usually break out the bikini. While sunning ourselves another great idea was passed along, swimming. Now, by swimming I do not mean we'd go out into the water and paddle around leisurely, I mean we'd run and leap in, dunk ourselves and then sprint out before catching hypothermea. We did a count down, 1...2...3...BRRR!!!! The water was FREEZING! It was also very salty. Despite all of
these negative drawbacks it was beautiful. It had a lovely sea green color when you looked out and was clear when you looked down. Once we were over that thrill we decided it was imperative that we change before our train ride. Sadly we could find no decent location so we went into a somewhat hidden corner near these closed up restaurant type areas and wrapped up in my very large scarf and changed. Needless to say it was very awkward, but it got the job done. We were resourceful! Then it was back down the hill for us and onto a train and off to Lugano. END.
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