There are three roads between Nice and Monaco - the High, Middle and Low Corniches. The High Corniche runs as you might expect along the top of the seaside cliffs, the Low Corniche mainly along shore, and like Goldilocks, we decided that the Middle Corniche was just right. Actually the Middle is billed as the most scenic, and it did not disappoint, as it wound about the seaside villages overlooking the beautiful blue of the Mediterreanean
Trish and Sophie's initial impressions of Monaco were less than they expected - there were no golden statues on every corner or polished silver streetlights. It was however, a very upscale sea town. The yachts were larger and more numerous than any I had ever seen - dozens of three story luxury ships. We overlooked the main town below from the Palace, it was exciting to see the streets that I had seen watching the Monaco Grand Prix (the most elite auto race in the world) over the years.
Trish and Sophie took a detour to visit the Palace. There were a number of rooms open for viewing, although they noticed that although many of the displays of royal gifts were behind glass, the cases were readily removed for state functions that used these rooms. Pete, Marie, and Noelle went to the Monaco Aquarium, started by King Albert I in the early 1900s, and continued by Jacque Cousteau later on. It's a nice aquarium - not huge - but good displays and a very cool place to escape the afternoon heat of the Riviera. Upstairs they still have many specimens that Albert I brought back from his trips, a hundred years old in their original glass jars.
Later that afternoon I got see my primary goal in visiting Monaco, to see city streets that make up the race course, up close. Much more elevation change than I had expected, and how these drivers go that fast on the narrow streets is beyond me. Given the glitz of the front of the Casino, I can see why watching cars blast through the famous "Casino Square" part of the track has been called something that every Formula 1 fan must see before they die. As I finished my 2 mile walk around the track streets, I met the girls for a relaxing supper in a seaside restaurant, where we watched the comings and goings on the yachts. Although we didn't get back to the hotel until almost 10 that night, Monaco was worth the long day.
Today we are off to Arles, the Provencal city where Van Gogh spent his time in the south of France.
Sophie on the Promenade des le anglais
Nice, miles of stony beachers, umbrellas and people
Sophie and Trish have found just about every Cavalier dog/puppy in France, and Nice was no exception - this was a 3 month old puppy they met in a park
Monaco - yachts and beautiful people - a very nice place to hang out
Trish in front of the Monaco Palace
Marie and Noelle in the Monaco Aquarium
Sophie and Marie in front of the Ascari statue near the start/finish line of the Monaco street race course
Pete take advantage of a Ferrari ride around the Monaco race course - I wish I could say I just struck up a conversation with this guy and got a ride, but actually there was a business there selling rides
The Casino in Monaco, truly one of the most glamorous places in the world, especially at night
One of the tight streets in Monaco - the red and white curbs are there from the race about a month ago - this corner is so tight that they have to specially engineer the front of a Formula One car just to make this particular corner
So much for the spaciousness of the villa - it's back to hotel rooms again this week
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