A Weekend in Monaco

This was the view from our hotel room! We felt very lucky to have gotten a room with a bacloney, and a great view of the harbor and ocean. Monaco was a good "first trip" for us because we could drive there (5 hours) and it was small enough that we could explore without getting ourselves too lost.






The Cathedrale du Monaco was a surprising highlight of the trip. It was my first peek inside a European church.

While walking around the city, we came across this Bugatti. Of course I didn't know what it was but Max made no hesitation in getting this shot (bottom) with his Blackberry. Apparently there are only about 133 of them and they list at $1.5 million. Looking out for these types of cars made our walks that much more interesting.

Getting around the city wasn't always easy (especially in heels). There were so many steep hills that often, to get from one street to the other, we would have to walk up (or down) several flights of stairs or take one of the public elevators. There were even elevators to take cars to the private garages. Space is definitely a commodity here.


Here is the Palais du Prince (Prince's Palace). We read somewhere that each prince leaves their own addition on the palace, which doesn't make it one of the prettiest palaces but the view from it's cliff makes up for any short comings.








Here is the Oceanographi
que de Monaco. I think marine life is fascinating, so does Max to some degree. When we read that this aquarium was one of the best in Europe, it gave us another reason to want to visit Monaco.


The aquarium has over 90 tanks, all of which has a unique or exotic display. We went early, but not early enough to miss to the bus of teens who arrived at the same time. I don't think "personal space" is understood by all cultures! (You know who you are). It was an awesome way to spend the morning.

Here we are in front of the Monte-Carlo Casino with the Hotel de Paris to the right. Some nice guy, obviously seeing we were tourist and being American himself, took this (botton) picture for us. We got dressed up the next day (jacket and tie required), paid to get in the casino, and then proceeded to lose money. We had a lot of fun though and the place was so beautiful inside.

This is the Monte-Carlo Casino at night. We sat at the Cafe de Paris, had an overpriced drink, and watched all the cars and people passing by. I have never seen so many Lamborghini's, Ferrari's, Rolls-Royce's, and Bentley's in one place! It was impressive, even to someone who doesn't know a lot about cars.