On to Monte Carlo!

As we were driving to our next destination, Firenze, I saw this view from the road. I had to stop and take a picture. But no parking spots. What to do? Park on the sidewalk and take the photo...
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   After breakfast and checking out of our Menaggio hotel, we drove next door to the ferry boat and caught the next boat for Varenna. We drove the car on to the ferry and rode to the other side of Lake Como. Once we arrived there we did some exploring on foot. The nicest views and gardens were at Villa Monastero where the walkway on the lake was beautiful. I sat for a while to enjoy the scenery while Gary went off to take some more pictures..... We are going to have some spectacular screensavers on our computers when we return home.

A fountain outside our hotel. This is a famous Grand Prix hairpin turn around the fountain
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We then drove south through Lecco and on to Milan and then on to Genoa. From Genoa to the French border I lost track of the tunnels we drove through. I'm guessing that there must have been close to one hundred or so. I'm planning to check it on Google or Ask Jeeves on the internet.

Well, he won 100 euros on the "007" machine...

We were passed by a high end Porche with a license plate that read Monaco 3A- we were wondering who it might belong to-- I guess I'll be checking that online also.... We needed to stop for some espresso at the autostrade Autogrill. We had pasta for lunch and needed a pick-me-up. We crossed the border into France without having to stop. I had hoped that I would get a France stamp in my passport... no luck.  Shortly after that we were in Monaco and we took the first exit.

A view of the Yacht Harbor, more boats than I can get in the viewfinder!
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Spectacular views abound because everything is built on the mountain. Gary did a fantastic job driving through the winding and sometimes one-way streets towards the sea and where our hotel, Mirabeau Hotel is located. The Mirabeau Hotel is in the first five stories of a 30 story building- the rest being luxury apartments. We ended up with a room on the fifth floor (#511) with a sea view and a nice sized private balcony. We will spend more time out there tomorrow.

We found out that they have wireless internet in the lobby and it's free so we uploaded some of my journal -- then around 8:30p.m., we asked the receptionist for a recommendation for a casual restaurant that we could walk to easily. He recommended an Italian street cafe, Pulcinella (located at 17, Rue du Portier). Even though it was 9 p.m. when we arrived for dinner and the restaurant was very busy, they found a spot for us. I guess they eat just as late here as they do in Italy-- it must be a European thing....  The food was really very good and I highly recommend it if you are in Monte Carlo. We returned to the hotel around 11:30p.m.

the baddest yacht we saw was this one with a helicopter. There were others a little bit bigger, but none with a their own helicopter. Dock fees can go to $150k per day during the Grand Prix.
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27 June  I slept in this morning until about eight and then went out on our patio to enjoy the view. Our patio has an awning that can be lowered to block the sun and I used it this morning.  After finishing breakfast, we walked down to where all the yachts are tied up. My goodness, I've never seen so many really big ones before. There even was one that had it's own helicopter!!! Wow!     We walked over to the building that houses the Prince of Monaco's collection of cars-- amazing. There are about one hundred, many being very old. My favorite was the 1921 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost. Not only is this an interesting way to spend about an hour or so but it is also air-conditioned, really good for a humid day like today.

A car from the Prince's car collection
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Our next adventure was to try to get to Le Jardin Exotique de Monaco (the Exotic Garden). We did, so I won't bore you with the details but I will recommend that if you are ever here, don't try to walk it, take the public bus as they are cheap and go almost everywhere. The garden is located very high along the cliffs above Monte Carlo. It has a thousand different cactus species from all over the world-- many of which are in bloom right now. There are also wonderful panoramic views of Monaco and the French/Italian Riviera. We stopped for a soda before going into the cave. We descended forty meters to get to the cave entrance and then another 60 meters (about 375 ft total) to get to the main cavern of the cave which was first opened to the public back in 1950. It has a huge variety of stalactites, stalagmites, columns, and curtains, really very cool!!!

A Grand Prix race car in the Prince's collection
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After we climbed back out again and up to the level where we had entered, we decided it might be a good idea to catch the local bus (after the advise of some nice people we met) which would get us near the Grand Casino which is where we were headed. We walked from where the bus dropped us down to the casino past some beautiful fountains and gardens. As we were thirsty again we stopped for a drink at Le Cafe de Paris, just outside the doors to the casino. Wow, very expensive! Two 1/4 liters Evian water ( 9 euros), one beer (13 euros), and one Coca-cola Light (5 euros) for a total of 27 euros which is about $35.00!!!

The Prince's Palace is in this area, high on a protected bluff. The main yacht harbor is on the left. The one on the right has smaller boats. This view is from the Le Jardin Exotique de Monaco
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As our hotel gave us a Gold Card (there are only five hotels in Monte Carlo that do this) for free entrance to the Grand Casino (entrance charge= 10 euros), we decided to check it out  now before they had the strict dress code that is enforced in the evening. Before they would allow us in, they asked for our passports-- tight security here. The inside of the building is gorgeous and there are some beautiful paintings. Gary decided that we would blow 20 euros on the slot machines.... good entertainment!! Well, he won 100 euros on the "007" machine... :-). Then he won another 40 euros and other smaller amounts. I only won 15 euros and a few 4s. With other small winnings and then losses, we actually walked away with about 150 euros. Maybe we had better not return now, as we only played about 20-30 minutes and our luck would surely change!  One thing that was really fun is that they actually allow you to be paid in coins at the machine (unlike how they have changed it in the states) so every time we won something we would cash out (& make the money noise). We were really amused by the number of people that gathered around trying to use the same group of machines we were using.... funny....

Some of the cactus in Le Jardin Exotique de Monaco enjoys the best views of Monte Carlo
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Our next decision is what to do for dinner. I really didn't want to dress up so we decided to go down to the area where we ate last night. This time we ate at Restaurant Ciao. The prices were very reasonable for Monte Carlo (a very expensive city, by the way!) and we decided to have a pizza and salad.

While we were there this evening there would be occasional cheers erupting from inside all the places along the way whenever France did something good in their World Cup game tonight versus Spain. When  we left the restaurant, the game was tied 1-1.

Deep in the cave
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When we returned to the hotel, Gary took off for about 30 minutes to walk over to the casino because he wanted to try to get a nice night shot of the fountains. While he was gone, I started to hear cars honking and people cheering almost constantly. I looked over our balcony down on to Princess Grace Parkway and saw the parade of cars waving French flags. They really get excited about their futball here!!!