Monaco
Nicole and I then headed to Monaco on a Saturday. Many things were closed for the season, most notably the Palace, but the aquarium was still open and I had not been there yet. The "Exotic Gardens" also had a cave under it, go figure...
| A rough stitched view from the Exotic Gradens... that is pretty much all of Moanco minus the soccer stadium. | |
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Monaco has two "cities". Monaco proper is the "Rock" which contains the royal palace. The rest of the country is Monte Carlo. Monaco is technically a principality. I need to look up the difference between a country and a principality. |
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The Exotic Gardens primarily contained a wide variety of rare and large cacti. The path wound down from the ridge, offering stunning views of Monaco... very surreal. |
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The other interesting part of the gardens was a small, but interesting cave. Again, very surreal, as this is almost in downtown, and from what I can figure must have an automobile tunnel right below it. |
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Vouging on the Riviera |
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The Oceanagraphic Institute and aquarium are on the rock, a couple hundred yards form the palace. The aqaurium was very neat (and busy even for this time of year) but I could have skipped the museum. Don't bother buying the English text guide, instead look for the English audio guide (which we missed) |
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| Inside out Jellyfish... never seen that before. |  |
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This little fish has two eye like dots on his fins... |
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Two Nautili, never seen these either. |
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As I mentioned, you can probably skip the museum, everything is in French and everything is dead, quiet a change from the aquarium. |
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Looking down on the port from the rock, a carnival in progress. |
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The old casino again, we forgot our passports so we could not get in. Citizens on Monaco are not allowed to gamble here so you need to prove your nationality to enter. We went to the otehr casino, which had a surprisingly good restaurant, lost our money quickly and left. It is hard to get excited about $25 a hand blackjack tables (and those were the cheapest). |
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If you have not seen it yet... this the the Smart Car roadster. |