Buuuuuut still you probably shouldn’t. =) So Monaco is not actually part of France, it is a very small sovereign city-state surrounded by 3 sides by France (the 4th side faces the coastline) with a castle and everything – it is also one of the wealthiest countries in the world! People there mostly speak either French or Italian. I have been there three different times now, and I really love it. =) The first time I went was on a whim back in September- had talked to a girl I had just met that day who was going with a few friends to Monte Carlo to celebrate after finishing an exam, and they were going to get on the train in Antibes around six, so after I got home from school I literally ran around trying to decided if I wanted to go, asked Hazel but she was thinking that she didn’t know if she wanted to pay 20 euros for just the train ticket(it ended up only costing 9) and then whatever it would cost at the casino and for dinner, and she would rather spend the money if she was going for a whole day and not for 5 hours. Very valid point, and I was struggling with this too but in the end I tried to find something to wear and ran out to catch the bus. Luckily I remembered to grab a pair of under-skirt shorts on the way out and some flip flips for when my high-heels started to eat my feet. Basically if you are in the vicinity of the Monte Carlo square, everyone is dressed up – and if you wear shorts after five in the evening you won’t be allowed in anywhere. They really try to keep a certain appearance about the place. (Sidenote: Has anyone ever seen that BBC show – “Keeping up Appearances” with Mrs. Bucket (Bou-que) it was kinda funny, always felt sorry for the poor husband for being married to her). The train ride to Monaco is one of my favorites because the train hugs the coast, giving you a front seat view of the Mediterranean as it zips in and out of tunnels in the mountains, each view more magnificent than the last. Monaco at night was still very illuminated and there was this huge yacht show. However you would have to pay 6o euros just to look at them. Hah, I just took pictures from above stalker-style and foiled them! There was this neat mechanical-looking dragon so I took a picture of it for you, Alex! So we walked up to the square where the Hotel de Paris and the Monte Carlo Casino are. Dinner was nice – we ate outdoors at a restaurant nearby and I decided to try anchovy pizza (I didn’t want to spend too much money that night) because I had never had anchovies. They are saaaaaalty…. reeeeaally salty. Anyways, so we headed over to the Monte Carlo and parked directly in front of the casino was a row of ferraris… very nice. And there were some other pretty awesome cars too, I liked the blue Ferrari California. =) And there was a really neat concept car on display: VERITAS – which I had never heard of, I just know it means “truth” in Latin. The car in question is the Veritas RS III – and although I have pictures of it you can probably see it better if you just google it. So the Monte Carlo is pretty amazing inside as well – you have your rooms for roulette, for blackjack, and private rooms for the high-rollers, which you can get into for a pricey entrance fee. They have a room for slot machines as well, which is where I went! (I didn’t want to put down too much money, I just wanted to see if I was lucky. Lol, I only won 15 euros but it was pretty sweet!) Oh sidenote: There is a story that floats around CERAM because all the teachers know it too, but this one student went to the MCC and won 300 euros – so guess what he did: Paid for a helicopter ride back to Antibes! Sweet. As beautiful as the casino is on the inside with all it’s old world ambiance and detailed decor, the exterior is even more beautiful and intricate, every sculpture, every motif. I was not allowed to take any pictures inside the casino, but I do have several of the outside and in the daylight as well. The second time I went to Monaco was during the day to visit several gardens. There was an “exotic garden (Jardin Exotique)” which had some pretty cool cacti – a lot of what I had seen in Arizona but still very neat. They also had caverns but I just missed the tour. The cool thing about Monaco is that when you are trying to get somewhere and you start from high up you can see where you need to go and follow it all the way down. That’s how I got to the second garden – you just weave in and out through and down the streets. You can also see what people do with the rooftops! They have gardens on them! I would like to imagine having a rooftop tea party there =) So the next place that I went was a rosarie in honor their Princess Grace, and it had some very interesting names for the roses (not their real names, but I suppose the names of people and things she liked) For example, Elvis was one name… hehe. There was a fountain there and I filled up my bottle of water and it even tasted like roses! I have pictures of the roses and the Japanese Zen Garden I went to after that as well, I put them up one post ago. On my way down to the rosarie I came across a cemetery of families of Monaco since long ago. The sculptures are amazing… I am beginning to notice that my favorite form of art would be sculptures… they just capture so much, every curve, every edge… in marble, granite, etc… and their expressions… hmm. The gravestones were gorgeous, and my favorite was an angel watching over the grave of two families with her finger to her lips for silence (tread softly and let them rest in peace is what I take from it). I walked to the harbor after that, and saw a pretty sleek speedboat and it reminded me of something Jonathon might like (color scheme being black and orange and it makes me think of a James Bond sort of feel… not that he’d like it for the second reason, but yeah, pretty sweet). I headed up a crazy huge hill to get to Monaco’s castle which is still very much in use today. Of course when I got to the top I found the elevators. heh. For lunch I found this amazing Asian Tapas place named ZenZen – a chain sort of fast food place, but it being Monaco and all it didn’t seem like a fast food place to me. They have the cutest macot hee hee. Man, I had really been missing buffalo wings…. yum. HAH. Yes, I know, I am in France and I miss buffalo wings – go figure. Oh, and I know I haven’t been putting much of anything up involving food that I have made while I have been here, but a lot of that was me not wanting to spend a lot of money or having the time. But recently I had decided to take the time, eat a bit healthier, sit back and enjoy. The third time I went to Monaco was to meet up with the roomies after I spent my day in Villefrenche Sur Mer (my favorite views are from that city- I will do that post as well) and it’s funny, Monaco is pretty easy to get around, find your way after only the second time. Enjoy the pictures, and enjoy your day! =)
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08/11/2009 at 4:25 am
Rotated8@bbc.co.uk
You’d better believe I grew up watching Keeping Up Appearances! While everyone else was watching Power Rangers, no less. I’m pretty sure Richard worked to just to get out of the house.
Also, this: http://beatonna.livejournal.com/122071.html (and click my name. I DARE YOU)
08/11/2009 at 10:55 am
faiteslalemonade
Question…. the Halloween strip was pretty funny, but I don’t know where your name is……. BUT! GUESS WHAT. So when you click on the Friends page, and scroll down to the one that says “craving,” there is a gif of this animal thing devouring a skiier – I ACTUALLY played that game when I was younger! Basically, in the game you are a skiier, and the objective I guess is to manuver through the trees, jump off the crazy ramps (the multi-colored ones make you go faster) and get to the bottom. BUT if you are too slow (and you are skiing down a mountain, you are going pretty damn fast) those bear-things will come out of NOWHERE and EAT you! They are so fast! I never won a game. Once you see one of them out of the corner of your eye, the next fourth of a second you have been devoured. I was addicted to that game… but I can’t remember what it was called… I thought it was an application on the computer…
Lol, oh that poor Richard.
08/11/2009 at 2:52 pm
Rotated8@bbc.co.uk
Where it says “Rotated8@bbc.co.uk” <– CLICK IT
08/11/2009 at 6:59 pm
faiteslalemonade
Hah. OH god…. I remember them, from Keeping up Appearances…. LOL.
08/11/2009 at 10:26 am
Jon
Woot pictures!
Those are some pretty amazing sculptures and views
I really like the nightlife shots of the city 😛
08/11/2009 at 10:58 am
faiteslalemonade
Why thank you!! Yes I love the sculptures, I can’t wait to go to Florence (the actual name of the city is Firenze in Italy) and see Michelangelo’s David, amongst others… XD So… are you a blackjack, a roulette or a slots man?
08/11/2009 at 12:14 pm
Jon
http://ski.ihoc.net/ SkiFree! I was convinced its impossible to get away from the abominable snow men (yea, if you eluded one for long another would pop up)
oh floppy disk days
I’d love to be a blackjack man…but I’m not that good. I do like watching things spin though! Especially with a shiny ball going round and round and round and…
08/11/2009 at 6:58 pm
faiteslalemonade
Um hmm. So… do you know what you have have done exactly? Let me spell it out for you: You have just given me the LINK to the game I was addicted to when I was 12. And I have already downloaded and played it three times. The bear still eats me in the end, but at least now it takes him longer to get across the screen to gobble me up!! No, but thank you, it made my day!!! XD hahaha oh yeah, floppy disk days… I LOVED this one game called skyroads. You were in this spaceship-car sort of thing, and you were in space and you had to go from road to road, and the different colors of the roads/panels, etc meant different things, like if you were on a certain red one for too long you exploded, etc. =) It was great fun with many many levels. I played a lot of computer games when I was younger…. I don’t think anyone knows that… haha except Alex and Ani. We were all down in the basement taking turns. Lol.
mmmm blackjack does sound fun. hahaha … nice.
08/11/2009 at 12:55 pm
alex kotsch
Aww. thanks for thinking about me. The dragon is cool, where was it? The graveyard looks a little crowded, too many gravestones, not enough creepy trees. are you gambling away all of your tuition money?
08/11/2009 at 6:38 pm
faiteslalemonade
Lol. I am NOT gambling away my tuition money. I only bet 10 euros, and then I only played with whatever I won with that, so I always had the ten that I came with. smart, riiiiiight?? Yeah the cemetery there wasn’t trying to be creepy… haha we’ll leave that for ones in Romania or somewhere. The dragon was on the walk up towards the casino! XD I’m always thinking of you! Love you!
10/11/2009 at 11:42 am
Asmodeus
I looooove the pictures, the graveyard looks romantic! very Phantom of the Opera. Also the one of u in front of the blue ferrari in your black dress like “Why yes, that is my car…” All the pictures really make me want to watch casino royale >.<
10/11/2009 at 5:45 pm
faiteslalemonade
Yes indeed, I had some very interesting revelations in that graveyard. Hahaha I know, I was thinking that too as a caption “Why yes…. this IS my Ferrari…” Yeah, it felt like something out of casino royale there, especially inside the casino.