T+02 Days: Monaco and Monte Carlo

Bonjour from Nice!

Back at the hostel after an enjoyable day in Monaco, taking our siesta before going out to the Place Massena to 'hang out' and go to dinner this evening.  We'll be joined by a couple of Americans, father & son, we met on the train ride back to Nice - Guy and Dan Manning from Ft. Worth, TX - doing kinda what Conor and I are.

Monaco and Monte Carlo

Our 'local' to Monaco

First full day in the French Riviera on the Blue Coast.  Up early - 0630L - to head out to Monaco via the local train station - stop Nice Ville.

We departed the hostel at around 7am to forage for some breakfast... European breakfasts are not like US breakfasts.  You can find eggs and meat but, they're not usually served as we would expect back in the States - much different presentation.  Not really finding any Starbucks around and would prefer not going into the Golden Arches either (besides, they don't open until 0730) so, hit up a local vendor for a couple of buttery croissants and some OJ and that held us over.

Waiting for a later breakfast

Harbor view from Monte Carlo side

At the station, took us a bit to figure out where to get in line for tickets - we're not comfortable using the automated 'billetes' kiosks yet.  Cost us about 13Euros for round trip day passes to Monaco and back to Nice.  We actually boarded the 0753 train from track B for the 5 stop trip to Monaco that took about 30mins to complete.

Monte Carlo Casino

Nice view of Monaco Harbor on the way up to the Palace

The Principality of Monaco - which includes Monte Carlo -, is a sovereign state and quite impressive.  The heart of the nation is nestled in a very large, natural bowl opening up to the Mediteranean Sea via a gorgeous harbor/port that has quite a few large and expensive yachts, not to mention plenty of sailboats and enough space to dock 1 large cruise ship too. The topography is quite noteworthy going from sea level at the harbor to quite a few thousand feet of mountains as a backdrop within only a handful of kilometers.  Kinda reminded me of the topography of Nagasaki, Japan, except on a much smaller scale.

Rainier & Grace Kelly Wedding

Cathedral

Conor and I walked (about 4-5miles today, mostly uphill :-) we guessed) from the train station up to Monte Carlo, where the famous Casino and the Hotel de Paris are, all the way back down into the harbor bowl and then back up to the Rocher (the Rock), which overlooks the port and on which the Prince's Palace stands and is home to a very large Cathedral where Prince Rainier married Princess Grace Kelly way back when.  It was very cool to be walking around the palace and adjoining areas with some quite spectacular views of both the main port flanking 1 side of the Rock and the port of Fontvieille on the other.

A monument on le Rocher

The Monaco Palace

We were getting quite parched around lunchtime on the Rock and decided to sit, have some lunch, and a cold frothy one at the Bar La Pampa Glacier, located right at the top of the steep climb up the Rock on the Palace grounds. Never order a large beer without asking how large it is in Monaco - over 40oz!!!  'Course, we were gamers and each of us with a heated French Ham/Cheese + salad sandwich to soak up some of the alcohol, spent a pleasant 1/2hr there people watching and getting a pretty good buzz going.

Now that's a BIG beer!

A side note:  I'm really starting to enjoy the caffe in espresso, double shot, format - hits the mark, less filling without the milk and is served in tiny cups with a couple of old fashioned sugar cubes for sweetener as garnish... ahhhh, delicious. :-)

Headed back down off the Rock for the 'Gare' or train station as near as I can interpret around 1230 via the back streets down to the harbor - Rosie would love the locale and shopping opportunities here. Lots of extravagance too.  Turns out that the next train back to Nice wasn't until 1408 so, Conor and I sat at a nearby cafe, enjoyed a beer until it was time to go.

Back to Nice after a very nice day in Monaco

I need a nap now... More later, au revoir!

I'm back... I'm tired it's 0100, 7/20, and we just got back from a great night having a seafood dinner with 2 new friends from the States - Guy and Ryan Manning, another father and son roaming around the French Riviera - and hitting up an Irish bar, the 'Ma Nolan', for after dinner drinks... a very English speaking friendly pub. :-)  I'm not doing this evening justice and will try to make up for it tomorrow sometime.

Dinner with new friend's at one of many seafood restaurants in Nice

We have a very long travel day to get to Modena via Milan!

Bon soir, more later.