June 3rd and 4th - Nice and Monaco

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I’m currently aboard a train to Marseille with my final destination being Arles. Since I have a few hours I’ll catch you up on the last few days. Instead of going back to Monaco on Sunday I stayed in Nice and poked around; I had made arrangements to Skype with my mom at 6pm my time and didn’t want to miss it. I decided to wonder through old town where I was told they have a flower market on Sundays. I walked through the main tourist area to get there taking my time to look in shop windows and occasionally sit and people watch. When I arrived in old town there were flower stands filling the lane. At this point it was early afternoon and many of the stands only had empty buckets that I’m sure were brimming with beautiful floral earlier in the day. I was amazed to see so many sold out stalls. I wondered to myself if this was normal, do the French love having fresh flowers in their home or just because tourist season had begun. Besides flowers fruits, vegetables, and spices were also being sold. I went ahead and picked up some cherries to munch on while I ate. The cherries had good taste, but there were a number of bad ones in the bunch I got which was disappointing. Having made my way to the end of the market I was unsure where to go from there. I wasn’t really interested in visiting any of the museums in Nice, although all but one are free, I visited so many in Italy I wanted to take a break before going to Paris where there at least two I want to visit and I’m guessing I will want multiple days for the Louvre. So I turned to the beach.



I was walking slowly along looking out at the rocky beach with light blue water slowly changing to a darker blue when I came across a small metal bike jump. There was a boy about 10 doing jumps off of this jump on his razor; I think that is what the skateboard with handle thing is called. I decided to sit and watch him do his tricks for a bit. I found a bench, pulled out my book and cherries and enjoyed my surroundings. I sat here for a couple hours and watch multiple children of different age groups try their hand on this jump. The youngest was about three and kept pushing his small bike with training wheels up it while is father or mother helped. He never did get on the bike and ride it down the ramp.



After this I grabbed some lunch and went back to the hostel and took a nap until it was time to Skype with my mom. When we finished talking I went out to dinner and returned to the hostel and Skyped with Liz and Greysen, I guess Eric did put in his two cents as well. After that I showered and went to bed.



On Monday June 4^th, I returned to Monaco; a place I would gladly go back again. My goal for this trip to Monaco was to visit the gardens, or at least the three of them that had caught my attention on the pamphlet I had received from the tourist information counter. This being my second day in Monaco I had a good understanding of the bus system and had no problem finding the bus to the Princess Grace Rose Garden. I found there are two parts to this area, the rose garden and an attached park. The garden had a huge variety of roses, many of which I had never seen before. All the different varieties were well marked with their name so I was able to get pictures of the rose, if it was in bloom, and the name of it in case I wanted to locate it for my own garden. The park attached to the rose garden had a small play area for children including topiaries for decoration as well as what I believe to be a circus tent, there was a sign with a clown on the outside. There was also a pond with ducks swimming around and a father and small son feeding them. There were different plants in this area as well, and multiple kinds of palm trees, these also had plaques informing the public of the name of the plant.



Next I decided to visit the palace, Napoleon museum, and aquarium since there was a combined ticket available. The palace didn’t take very long to walk through the small portion that was open to the public, but the entrance fee included an audio guide that made the tour very interesting. There was some amazing artwork, furniture, and architecture to see. The Napoleon museum was even smaller than the palace portion I walked through but it was full of not only things relating to Napoleon but also just war uniforms from previous centuries, the various honors and titles that have been awarded to the princes of Monaco throughout the years, and various other historical pieces. However 20 minutes was enough to see everything. Upon exiting the Napoleon museum I went across the square to a grouping of small shops where you can purchase knick-knacks, I stopped in to grab a postcard or two and while I was in there a sudden thunder storm began. Everyone who had been out in the square was now pilling into this very small covered area to get out of the rain. I waited a few minutes but knowing my next stop was indoors I didn’t want to spend a bunch of time waiting out the rain, so I walked boldly into the pouring rain that was coming down. I’m sure I was getting strange looks from those I was leaving dryly behind under shelter. Keep in mind this was not Seattle rain, it was tropical rain with huge drops that will soak you through in under a minute.



It took me about five minutes to get to the aquarium so I was pretty wet by the time arrived; it didn’t help that I stopped twice to take pictures. As I was racing up the steps into the aquarium I as stopped by the ticket taker so before I had a chance to dry my hands or anything I had to dig in my bag for my ticket. That done I entered into the aquarium which has three floors, the lowest one being the actual aquarium portion. I wondered through here looking at a lot of the same things we have at Point Defiance and a few areas that had species unique to the Mediterranean. The information here was mostly in French with some English splashed around. As I walked through the lower level I identified many aquatic creatures that play a role in Finding Nemo which made me smile. The ground floor had an exhibit about evolution and showed what I’m guessing was the early stages of what infant development is thought to have looked like through the human evolution process, I didn’t linger her. The first floor, so floor two for us westerners, was a particular treat. Before entering the main room there is a warning in both French and English, clearly this must be important, it warned parents that content found in this portion of the museum may be disturbing for young children. Well now I have to go in! After walking in and taking a survey of the room, I found it slightly disturbing. The room was full of skeletons, okay I can handle that part, and sculptures. The sculptures were rather dark in nature, most of them were skeletons in strange positions but some were of menacing looking males. The males looked like a witness of a crime had described the attacker/robber/etc. to a sculpture instead of a police artist. One in particular reminded of what I would describe for a stereotypical imagine of a guy robbing a 7-11, baggy pants, hooded sweatshirt with the hood up, and something covering his face so only his eyes are visible. When I glanced down at the plaque of the sculpture to find out what it was called I noticed this “criminal” was wearing shell top Adidas; I owned a pair of those! The skeletons were in various odd positions; basically the only normal thing in the room was the animal bones. The final room I had to go in I made a quick shot straight through to the gift shop, this one was filled with bottled sea animals. At least I think they were all sea animals, I didn’t stop to inspect. It was the type of thing you would expect to find in a mad scientists secret lab.



After leaving the secret science lab I wanted to get food so on the bus towards my next destination I browsed through the restaurant guide I received at the tourist info desk. When my stop arrived and I was fully discouraged on finding any food at a reasonable price I exited the bus I saw a sign for McDonalds not an ideal choice but something more in line with my budget I thought. Up until this point I had managed to avoid McDonalds but I went in. Upon entering I found kiosks that allow you to order by touch screen in multiple languages, this was indeed an international location. I placed my order using the kiosk and paid my total €11 for a value meal, so it also had international prices to pay for that fancy ordering system.



Having quieted my rumbling tummy I crossed the street and entered the Japanese Garden. Having spent the day in gardens and museums my battery light was blinking and I had to use my camera sparingly. It was a nice garden with a pond for koi, a tea house, picturesque bridge, and the Zen sand area.



From here I was on to my final destination in Monaco, the exotic garden on the top of the hill. I arrived and found this garden had an admission price which I paid and walked it. It was hot now that the storm was over and the sun was back out. I also believe it was hotter because garden is dedicated to cacti and other succulent plants and these only grow in hot climates so my mind just raises the temperature. The entrance to the garden is almost at the peak of the hilltop and as you walk the paths you make your way down the side of the hill. Great, that means I’m going to have to walk back up the hill in this heat. I continue on my way not able to take pictures because I have very little battery left and I want to at least have enough juice for the cave that is supposed to be included in the admission to the garden. The plants that are along the path are interesting to look at and there is a great view of the city and the sea from this height. I find the cave and am told the next tour isn’t for 20 min so I poke around and enjoy my surroundings while I wait.



The guide for the cave tour gathers us together when it is time with an announcement over a speaker system. She asks the group which languages are needed, and informs us her English isn’t very good. During the tour I noticed she searched for words, but we always figured out what she was trying to say to the information came across the same. Where we are going is down 362 steps under the garden and this particular cave is the hottest in the world with an average temp of 18 Celsius, which I think is about 65. Down we go, after discover when they decided to open the cave to the public stairs were built into the stone and in other places metal ones were put in. It was interesting inside the cave because the walls looked like they were covered in melted wax that had a slime on it. The tour lasted about half an hour and we went into three different areas of the cave, given a history, and a geology lesson. Upon exiting we were informed it was 6:45 and the garden closes at 7 so would we please make our way to the exit. So basically I just climbed up a bunch of stairs and now I’m expected to climb to the top of the hill within the next 15min?! I took a small break after all the stairs; I had to, than made my way slowly to the exit, and directly onto a bus that would take me to the train station. I was wiped after all the walking and the heat of the day, I needed dinner, a shower, and bed; which is what happened.

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