Monaco

Our second stop and main reason for our European tour was a conference Brent was attending in Monaco.  My first impression of Monaco is that it's expensive and that I was glad IBM was paying for our accomodations.  The short cab ride from the Nice airport to our hotel was $140.  I guess we could have taken the helicopter instead; for reals, there is helicopter service from the airport into Monaco!

This was the view from our hotel room.   I have a thing for boats, although I would call these vessels yachts, not boats!   My grandparents had one growing up that they kept on the inter-coastal waterway along the East coast.  Some of my most favorite memories are the times I spent with them on their boat. 

 I spent one morning at the hotel pool reading my book and magazine.  I wish I had done more relaxing!

 But a girl must see the sights!  While Brent worked I decided to take the train from Monaco into Antibes, France and explore.  The topography is amazing -- ocean and mountains in the background.  

I stopped at the beach and noticed the topless sunbathers.  I realized the people who choose to go topless are not the people who should be flaunting it.   Brent said it is a generational thing, the younger people don't do it as often.  How does he know these things? 

 
Another day I went on a tour of the French Riveria.  I met a sweet, older couple from Iraq.  It was interesting to hear their true stories about their life in Iraq during and after Saddam Hussein's reign.  Sadly they felt forced to move to Jordan because it had become too unsafe in Iraq.  We visited Cannes and the site of the film festival, Grasse, a perfume factory, medieval towns, and drove our little bus down the route of the Monte Carlo car race. 

I had read about a private, quiet beach within walking distance of our hotel.  Swimming in the Med was on our bucket list and we accomplished that dream on the private little beach.  I think there were maybe five other people there!  We decided to try to walk home along the ocean and I was so glad we did it.  There were some parts of the walk that could be barricaded if the surf was too strong.  I got a little panicky at those parts. 

IBM hosted a James Bond themed party for its customers and we were invited to attend.  They gave away diamonds in a few of the drinks but I heard from the other ladies that the diamonds were pretty small.  Brent and I were wiped from my long travel day and his long work day.  We decided to hit the casino and have a romantic dinner instead.   The casino was pretty but not as large as I would have imagined.   I enjoyed watching roulette and wanted to try it, mostly because only men were playing, and I thought it would be cool to be the only girl. The cars outside were amazing.  My personal favorite was the Honda CRV next to the Bentley! That had to be an ooops on the part of the valet. 

One of my favorite parts of Monaco was a dinner we shared with some of Brent's British colleagues. We happened to be at the same outdoor restaurant but dining separately and they asked us to  join them.  Just interesting, intelligent conversationalists.  I personally love the manners and language of the British.  They rarely say "um" or "like".  I remember thinking to myself, "Remember this moment, the way the air feels and smells, the stars, moon, and mountains".  It was one of those nights I never wanted to end!

Even Monaco has McDonald's.  I was happy about that too as I was on my own for all lunches and sometimes dinner too.  Having the Happy Meal as an option was pretty nice!