Monaco

Hello! This weekend I traveled to Monaco! We left Saturday morning by train and arrived back Sunday night. It was a great time!

The train we took is the TGV, which goes all through France. Our first train was going to Nice and it was delayed for about an hour. However, for our deep deep troubles, we got a free pack of food and drinks! It contained some biscuits, apple sauce, and a fruit juice. Pretty good considering most places do nothing for delays...

From Nice we got onto another train that went to Monaco. It was only a 20 minute train ride but it was great. Both trains had such beautiful views and pretty much the entire time we were parallel with the Mediterranean. The south of France is gorgeous. 

picture from the train window

Monaco was gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous. Unbelievable at times. The main part of the city/country is C shaped around the main port (which has yachts on yachts on yachts....). On each side around (other than the sea), the land slopes up and there's mountains all around. It is so gorgeous. But that also means there's a lot of stairs and steep hills, everywhere. 

looking down towards the port

On Saturday, we went up to where the royal family lives, called Le Rocher. From there, you can see ALL of monaco. Like literally the entire country. We went up there a little before sunset which is the best time. We got to take pictures in the daytime and later when it got dark. 

After it got dark, we decided we'd go back to our hotel to get dressed before dinner and our plans for the night. On our way there, we saw a huge crowd of people so we decided to check it out. Turns out it was the day of the patron saint of Monaco and the way in which they celebrate is they have Prince burn a boat. It's kinda weird but it was really cool! So, we got to see the Prince and I got a picture of him from about 5 feet away! so cool. 

After all that died down, we went back to the hotel and got dressed. Then we went to dinner at an Italian place where i had pesto gnocchi  it was soo good. we decided on an Italian place since we were so close to the Italian border and it did not disappoint. Afterwards, we headed towards the Casino. I hadn't really remembered seeing pictures of the casino ever so I didn't really know what to expect. I was definitely surprised because the exterior was beautiful! It definitely felt like we were in Monaco, one of the richest countries in the world. The inside of the casino was even prettier than the outside. However, you weren't allowed to take pictures (i guess its like that in all casinos?) so unfortunately i don't have any pictures of that.

The next day we walked around some more and ate at a restaurant for brunch. All in all, Monaco was great and I loved it! Interestingly enough, today in my French press and media class my professor was talking about Monaco and how the Prince is very connected with the mafia and that everything you do there is on surveillance camera and stuff. I didn't really see any of that but it's interesting to hear. 

Til next time!!