A Beautiful Trip to Monaco

Written by Dave:  We were so close to Monaco, we decided we had to go.  The Monte Carlo Grand Prix was in session, so we waited for this to finish before our visit.  We bought a train ticket to Monaco, with the plan to see Eze on the way.  Our first stop was Eze, then on to Monaco.

It started to thunder and rain lightly in Eze as we were preparing to move on to Monaco.  As we had already purchased our train ticket, I decided we needed to make a try for Monaco anyway.

Monaco, the first attempt

Arriving in Monaco, we were in an underground terminal.  Following the signs out of the station, we emerged in the city.  A look at the sky revealed that clearly we were in for some rain.  Earlier that morning, it was cloudless, sunny, and warm.  We dressed in shorts and light shirts and left on our trip.  We didn’t understand how quickly the weather could change in this area.  We were not prepared for the rainy cold weather to come.

We attempted to wait out the rain, running from shelter to shelter.  The rain only increased.  With everyone shivering and dripping wet, I finally conceded that we should go home.

The return trip, and a beautiful day

Our return to Monaco was under vastly improved conditions.  I brought my backpack loaded with rain gear and some warmer clothes, but it was not necessary on this trip.

This is at the entry to the palace.  We decided to view the outside and move on to see more of the city, rather than enter for the tour.  We just missed the changing of the guard by 15 minutes.

The view from up by the palace was beautiful, and there were some great panoramic views. The harbor was filled with boats, most of them very large.  There was an insane amount of money floating out there.

The photo below is a view of the Jacques Cousteau Oceanographic Museum.  We considered going in there, but still had much more to see wandering around Monaco.

Luie had a great time posing in the race car.  They had models of different race cars through time scattered around Monaco.

Here are some pictures near the casino zone.  There were beautiful parks, including a Japanese garden that we spent some time in.  We were so grateful for the sunny day we had.

There was a nice elevated walkway, “The Champion’s Promenade” along the Mediterranean that led to a beautiful sandy beach.

Leaving the beach, we made our way to the heart of the casino district.  We passed by the Fairmont Hairpin, and could still see all the tire marks from the F1 cars from a couple days before.  Hard to imagine them racing at any speed around this turn.

This Rolls Royce Excalibur was easing its way slowly through the turn as I was taking my picture.

We arrived at the Monte Carlo Casino, and it was quite a site.  As we had the kids, we didn’t go in, but there was still plenty to see outside.  Like in the harbor, there was a ridiculous amount of money represented in the parking lot there.  Bentley’s, Ferrari’s, Lamborghini’s, Austin Martin, Rolls Royce, they all were present.

Nancy snapped this interesting photo outside the casino.  They were still taking down the stands from the Grand Prix in the background.

Monaco was a great trip, and we all ended up enjoying the area more than we expected.  I’m glad we decided to give it another visit.  It was well worth it.  Here is a bit of video shot during the day trip of some various sites.