Monaco

The reason I chose to come and study in Aix-en-Provence was because although I am a self-confessed "francophile", I had never actually been to the south of France before.
All of our family holidays were in the north, particularly in the regions of Bretagne, Normandie, Picardie and Pays de la Loire.

As a result of being here in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, I've been fortunate enough to visit places I've never had the chance to before such Nice, St.Paul de Vence, Cassis, Marseille, St. Raphael etc.

Last weekend was no different when I had the chance to visit Monaco; the famous principality on the Franco-Italian border and the city of Monte Carlo.

Sunday morning came and it was another early start, something I should be getting used to with all my travelling, but I can safely say I'm not.

We had to meet at La rotande and be ready to leave at 8:30am.
Although I was extremely tired, I was also rather excited about the day ahead.

As we all boarded the bus, for some bizarre reason we made a jolt for the seats at the very back...I could already tell we weren't going to sleep en route as we had intended.

Sat in prime seats, and what I can only describe as old school "bus banter", we seemed to arrive at Monaco in no time at all.

I guess this was most definitely helped by everyone (including the tour guide, George) laughing hysterically at my passport and driving licence photos.

We arrived around 11:30am, when George once again rattled off his now infamous catchphrase of "Allo, allo...allo" to tell us we'd arrived in time to walk up to the Princes' palace and see the changing of the guard.

At 12:00pm the bells tolled (a rather eerie tune), and the soldiers in their white uniforms marched to their positions at the palace gates.

After the parade, we walked around a while to take in the incredible views of Monaco. 

On one side looking up toward the mountains, apartments 

stretched as far as the eye could see, then on the other, the yachts of the über-rich were moored up side by side in the port like sardines.

After grabbing a quick bite to eat, we visited la cathédrale du Saint Nicolas which was more impressive than I initially thought it would be.
It is the burial place of many princes of Monaco, as well as the famous American actress, Grace Kelly.
We then sauntered over to la Palais de la Justice where we had a whistle stop tour and brief overview of the history of the building with other eager tourists.

After everyone clambered back on to the coach, we made our way down to Monte Carlo, most famous because of it's Formula 1 race and the casino.
(For anybody in the know, the casino was used as a set in the James Bond film "Casino Royale").

Monte Carlo is definitely for the rich and famous, there is no doubt about it. As we meandered through the streets, the designer shops such as Lanvin, Luis Vuitton and Chanel were just as abundant as super cars parked outside them.

As it was a sunday, and like all over France, the shops were closed. A lucky or an unlucky thing? I can't decide.
What we did decide on was to have a walk in the Jardin du Monaco, it wasn't very big, but there were some very nice fountains and it was a good opportunity for a group shot.

As we still had some time to kill, there was only one thing left to do : go to the casino!

However, after paying a rather steep 10€ entry fee we were rather low on cash. Once inside we also discovered that nobody really knew how to gamble.

We weren't off to the best start.
So not really knowing what we were doing, we all chipped in 1€ (big spenders I know), took our chances and hoped for the best.

The best was moving around the casino from slot machine to slot machine and not really getting anywhere.
Time was up, we "cashed out" and made our way back to the bus.

On the way back to Aix-en-Provence, the sun was setting and a good day was had by all. I was asleep for the majority of the journey, only to be awoken by the occasional "allo, allo...allo" ...