So I got to the train station bought some breakfast for everyone and waited for Dave and Christiane... I think it's time to tell you guys a little story from my point of view (I hope Dave tells it from his point of view too):
*--------------------*
So I waited.... and waited.... and waited.... The train was leaving at exactly 6:29, no exceptions.... 6:10.... 6:20... 6:25... I decide to call Dave.... No answer.... 6:27... I start panicking (The next train is in 6 hours)... 6:28 I call Dave ,and Christiane picks up:
*Ring... Ring
- Where are you guys?
- **Hughfff.... Pant.....*** Wer'e in the stairs ** Pant**
- Well you have 1 minute to get us ass up here
*Beep
By now I'm about to have a serious heart attack and throw myself in the middle of the tracks in order to delay the train, even if it gets me arrested...
Who might be to blame for this lateness?? Christiane?... of course not.
Dave? probably took 30 minutes to fix his hair...
HAHA sorry Dave it's Cliche..
The train marshal blows his whistle (meaning the conductor can start going) I see the 2 lovers walking in an exhausted fashion from the corner of my eye...
At the top of my lungs (Although I've been trying hard not to use expressions from Quebec here in France... my true colors came out....Attracting all the French stares):
- DAVE AWAIYE ESTI!!! - GROUILLE TABARNAC!!!!!!!!!!
I think we hopped on the train as it started moving.... Talk about cutting it close.
*------/End of Story /---------*
And so we're off to Monaco! Along the way the country-side was breathtaking, I WANT TO LIVE HERE... It took 3 hours to get to Monaco as we stopped in Nice to transfer trains.
First thing we did when we arrived in Monaco was find our Hotel... Turns out it was at the other end of the Country... haha don't worry it was only 1 km or so away. We dropped our things at the hotel and made our way down to the shore. Today was another magnificent day from mother nature... 20 Degrees and Sunny.
As we were walking down the streets, I recognized part of the F1 circuit and had no other choice than to drag Dave and Christiane to the famous turn right before the cars go into the tunnel. It was like walking into my TV... whether it was watching the F1 Monaco race on RDS or playing F1 on Playstation 2 HAHA... I never set foot in the city before , however, I knew exactly where I was...Notice the Red and White Shutters along the turn... permanently set into the road...
Anyways, we walked through the tunnel which gives right onto the old port. By then we were pretty hungry so we sat down on the old port and ordered lunch, with some pretty bizarre drink in evenly bizarre glasses.
As we ate, we admired the boats along the port.... Can anyone say MILLIONS & MILLIONS of $$$$$? These boats are GIGANTIC and probably go faster than any of our military boats in Canada... haha.
As I'm writing this blog I'm trying desperately to find the words to describe this city... but it truly is indescribable. The views that this city has to offer are so charming, so delicate, so..... perfect. The city is like a half bowl containing apartments and villas flowing down to the old port. Behind the buildings are Huge Mountains adding to the experience and eye candy...
(By the way, the pictures posted in NO WAY do justice to the beauty of Monaco)
So we walked around the old port and made our way up to the Prince's Palace on top of the hill. The palace didn't really impress me although the view is quite stunning. We stayed for half and hour and went on our next journey :"The Exotic Gardens"
The walk was long and demanding but we eventually made it to the top of the city. (Now that I think of it, we probably should have taken a bus).. The Garden was beautiful, and was home to a wide variety of cactus like plants... Now if you thought I was in heaven with the views the Palace had to offer, multiply that by 10... The gardens offer views worthy of some sort of IMAX documentry haha.
At the bottom of the gardens was a cave that was discovered about 50 years ago and goes 300 stairs and 40 meters down into the mountain. We took the tour which lasted about 30 minutes and then made our way back to the hotel... by then it was around 5pm so we took a little nap until 7...
at 730 we did l'apero in a bar not to far from the hotel... Good times... 8:30 we decided to eat in a restaurent called Stars & Bars.... AN AMERICAN RESTAURENT... at first I was slightly against the idea of eating american food in France but I figured after eating a strict french regime for the past month it would be a delicacy haha!! So I went all out AMERICAN: Bacon Cheeseburger with fries and Patatoe Salad...... Delicious.... I can honestly say that I ate really well this Trip, even in Marseille...
On our way back up we passed by the Monte-Carlo Casino... We never thought we would be able to get in... since we were in running shoes, jeans and t-shirt... but in a spur of the moment action... I asked the valet if we were dressed well enough to get it... He said Yes!!!!
So we paid the 10 Euros to get in and I witnessed the surprise of the day.... First of all, the casino is tiny... By tiny, I mean 3 rooms maybe 30 tables and 150 slot machines. However, just because it's tiny doesn't mean it's bad... The rooms were sooo rich, 1 is probably worth more than the Montreal Casino entirely.... So we walked around and we quickly noticed how the ambiance differs from Montreal Casino... TOTAL OPPOSITE ... It's quiet, it's serious, it's grand. I wouldn't dare raise my voice in such a place.. I watched one Blackjack table with a minimum of 1000 Euro bet for a little while, at some points there was easily 20 000 Euros on the table. Now lets keep in mind that these are the rooms open to the public, we're not talking about the private rooms here...
We eventually decided to play some slot machines, so we all chiped in for a total of 20 Euros and had a great 5 minutes... haha ... I wish I could've said we won... but no such luck.
After our experience in the Casino we made our way back to the hotel for a good night's rest. Tomorow i'm going back to Lyon.
OOOOOOOO I forgot to mention one of the most important aspects of Monaco.... THE CARS... -Sorry Raymond, you're white Mustang is a "shit box on wheels" down here
-Sorry Uncle Michael, your Z3 is considered a little cheap too...
Today I saw 2 Ferraris, a dozen Porcshes, 1 Bugatti, 1 Maseratti, 3 or 4 Bentleys, and countless high end jaguars & mercedes... Not bad eh?
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