Blogs from Monaco, Europe - page 5

Having allocated a decent amount of time to Nice itself, we decided on the third day to head to the tiny Principality of Monaco or "Principatu de Múnegu" in its native dialect of Ligurian, a western Romance language. At 33,000 people Monaco is the world's most densely populated sovereign country and the second smallest country after the Vatican. It would take maybe an hour to traverse the entire 2 km². It has been ruled by the House of Grimaldi since 1297 - the most famous member of the royal family was undoubtedly Grace Kelly who married Rainier III, Prince of Monaco in 1956. The bus ride from Nice was a mere 1€ and hugged the incredible Mediterranean coastline for the entirely of the maybe 45 minute trip. Border control was non-existent, and suddenly we were in ... read more

How quickly summer is fading to fall here in Lyon. I ride to school with a sweater on, but usually in the afternoon it is warm enough for just a T-shirt, but I fear those days are soon to be over. I had the pleasure of watching the US Open over some good cold beer and very good French wine with my host Dad here. The time difference made for some late nights, but my very enthusiastic tennis loving host Dad has tennis club membership, and full access to their TV with the Tennis Channel, and fully stocked bar, so we enjoyed the splendid matches indeed. If you didn't see "The Shot" by Federer, check it out. Marc and I have been up to much mischief these last couple days. Monaco was our excursion last weekend. ... read more

Well we've not been here before. You can smell the money! Took the train in, very quick journey. What can i say about Monte Carlo....well it has excellent ice cream! Worth a visit but not for more than a day (well i suppose if you like formula one you'd make more out of the place!) The Opera de Monte-Carlo is something to look at!... read more

Day 446 Step 15478 Up at at 'em early bound for Monaco! The streets were under preparation for the start of the Tour de France, we were happy to have a look around before the start of the tour. Our first stop was the Royal Palace complete with cannons, guards and magnificent views. Further along the cobblestone streets we checked out the Cathedral and the Place of Justice (very impressive old buildings) making it back to the Palace in time for the daily changing of the guard but were equally amuzed by dodging the umbrella's and elbows of the asian's beside us desperate for 100 'perfect' shots. Next stop was the much anticipated Monaco Casino and it didn't disappoint. We waited outside for the 2pm opening watching the Bentleys, Ferraris, Mercades line the entrance of the ... read more

Monday Lisa and I left Barcelona and headed for Nice, France. It is a beach town on the French Riviera. We didn’t get there until around dinner time on Monday, and all we had time to do was walk around at sunset (which was gorgeous). We walked around along the water and stopped to have dinner on the beach. It was so pretty with the sunset and the waves! Tuesday morning we took a quick train ride to Monaco. Monaco is a very small country within France. It is on the water as well and attracts many wealthy people, especially in its affluent neighborhood Monte-Carlo. There are HUGE yachts in all the ports and mansions along the mountainous shoreline. We visited the Jardin Exotique which is a park that overlooks the city and has tons of ... read more