Tuesday, April 6th
"We headed out to Monaco after breakfast. The drive was about 2 hours long, during which I completed the post cards from Genoa. The Italian postal system is bad, but we've heard that they may get there in a reasonable amount of time if we mail them from Monaco.
Some time after noon, we arrived at the hotel. we got lucky this time and found it fairly easily without a map. The hotel was actually in France, just outside of Monaco:
Monte Carlo Beach HotelWell, Mike and I decided we had found the place to go if we ever needed to get away. The rooms are ~$200/night, but well worth it. We had a beautiful room on the third floor. Our balcony opened onto the Mediterranean Sea in a secluded area."
Avenua Princess Grace
F-016190 Roquebrune Cap, France
Telephone: 33-4-9328-6666
View from the Hotel
Hotel Room
"We spent some time relaxing before lunch. We first decided to sit out on the balcony to enjoy the view. Since Mike was having a cigarette, he decided to close the sliding glass doors - which was when we discovered there wasn't a handle on both sides. So, we were locked out. Luckily, the girl on the balcony next door spoke English and called the desk for us....and the bellhop was doing his best not to laugh as he let us back in. Mike took a shower, and we spent some more time on the balcony, enjoying the thick white robes provided by the hotel - "like movie stars" he said.
Shortly thereafter, we ventured to the palace with my parents - via bus. Monaco is a wealthy country - with coach buses for public transportation and Mercedes for taxis. It was a pretty day, and we wandered around the palace grounds and gardens."
On the way to the palace
The Palace Wall (with my mom in front)
The Palace Wall: Mike and me
A Church
A Street: I bet you can guess who Mike is waiting for!
The Palace
The Palace Gardens
Mom
Mike
The Port, as seen from the Palace Gardens
"Mike and I wandered off on our own and took the bus back to the hotel - with the intent of changing clothes for dinner. We were soon joined by my parents, who had change their plans for eating by the palace. After some debate, the four of us ate at the hotel's restaurant at about 8:30 pm. We definitely got the privacy I was looking for, since we were the only party in the restuarant.
After dinner, we took a taxi to the Monte Carlo casino. The casino maintains a quiet grace, rarely found among the glitzy American casinos. My parents were soon bored (I'm always bored with casinos, American or otherwise), and Mike was enthralled. He spent 200 francs (5.8 francs per dollar) at the roulette table and could have stayed there all night if I hadn't dragged him away. I was exhausted, I knew he was sick, and we had been running a gruelling schedule."