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Published: March 12th 2007
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On Friday Alberto drove us to his house in Monte Carlo. The drive there was beautiful as we drove along the cliffs down to the ocean. Alberto's apartment is on the side of the mountain overlooking most of Monte Carlo (and most of Monaco for that matter). On Friday we stayed in the apartment most of the day while some work was done on the apartment, and while that was being done I hung my two paintings that Alberto bought for the apartment. One painting is in the living room and one is in a bedroom. Saturday we drove 15 minutes where we crossed into Mentone which is the only town in France that lies between Italy and Monaco. Also Alberto’s boat is docked in Mentone. We went to see the boat and meet with Alberto’s captain, Giovanni. We (Alberto, Alberto’s son Nelson, Giovanni, Giovanni’s girlfriend Gabriella, Tatiana, and I) went to dinner in Mentone and all but Giovanni and Gabriella drove back that night. Sunday I escaped from the security gates of Alberto’s apartment complex to walk down to the ocean from up the hill. I walked around for about an hour and took pictures of basically everything I could
see. When I came back we drove down for lunch to meet up with Giovanni and Gabriella again, but not before my earning the name of lazy boy from Alberto (I guess my multiple attempts to leave the apartment all weekend plus my one successful escape were not enough to make it seem like I did not want to be cooped up in the apartment). It was beautiful in Monte Carlo all weekend and Sunday during the day it was hot enough to make my walk back up the mountain to the apartment uncomfortably warm. We ended up leaving on Monday morning instead of Sunday as was planned because Alberto could not drive the 3 plus hours back without falling asleep and I had no idea how to get back so I couldn’t drive without someone telling me where to go (again I think the “lazy boy” nickname was unearned and unfair as proved by this case). All in all, the trip was nice and I never knew how absolutely beautiful Monte Carlo is until now.
In Monte Carlo we watched the festival di Sanremo which is a four day music festival held in the town of Sanremo. It
Monte Carlo near the apartment
The next few are the view from the patio of Alberto's apartment is basically like four days of American Idol plus the Oscars rolled into one. It was interesting and since it is a huge deal in Italy I am glad I saw it so I could attempt to understand what the fuss was about. Also, there were a couple of songs that were on the show that I thought were good and will try and download at some point.
On Tuesday I went with the girls I met in Venice to the Absolut Vodka Ice Bar. Although it is a definite tourist trap and is very expensive, it was fun and was something I had wanted to do in Milan. You are only allowed to stay inside for a half hour because it is so cold, and even with the clothes they give you more than a half hour would be too much.
On Wednesday Mark and I went to the AC Milan soccer game against Celtic. When we got there we were immediately confronted by a bleeding Irish guy who wanted to beat us up for wearing Milan colors, luckily he was in no state to continue fighting so nothing happened. The end of regulation ended in a
0-0 draw. At that point Mark wanted to get out as fast as possible to avoid the crowds. Little did we know that in the quarterfinals of the Champions League there aren’t tie break matches unless certain circumstances happen. So basically we left the stadium to hear the crowd scream for the ONLY goal of the game which was scored by Milan and which I also saw on a TV in the parking lot. Soccer fans are so much more spirited than any type of American sports fan, so it was good to be able to be in the stadium with all of them screaming, waving their flags, whistling in unison and being crazy in general.
I started my next session of Italian lessons this week. This session will last for the month of March, and hopefully I will be doing much better with Italian by the end of this session.
Sorry for the delay for this entry, but there will be another coming soon. Also I have added a trip map to this entry, just click on the "trip map" link and when you get to the actually map zoom out to see the whole thing.
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Lora
non-member comment
Amazing
I agree with Sarah in that we have to live vicariously through you because there is no way I will ever have an experience like the one you are having there. I also want to add what a great idea this blog is so I can keep in touch with you. I feel like I know more about your life than I did in your entire college life. Even though we aren't actually communicating, it still feels like a conversation with you. And I love the pictures. The ones of the beach and the ice bar ones are awesome. Take care!