After what we thought would be an awesome nights sleep, we woke up still a bit groggy. Sleeping with one eye open on creep patrol isn't exactly restful. But that cereal bar got us out of bed and on our way! We walked less than 5 minutes to the famous fruit & flower market that lies on a road of one restaurant after another, parallel to the ocean. It was an awesome market, and we were really tempted to buy the tiny potted orange trees as a souvenir but decided they maaay not make it. Maybe next time. After the market we thought we should give the rocky riviera a try, so we walked down and sat right by the water. It was suprisingly comfortable! There were old Irish people burning to a crisp, studly couples enjoying the day in their banana hammocks, and of course lots of topless leathery-skinned ladies who mothered half of the baby boomers. Ah the French riviera... Where the beautiful people go.
We'd seen (and been scarred) by enough boobs, so on we went to climb le chateau...(flashback: insert pink haze around like saved by the bell episode- Kelly remembers being here at 8 years old and seeing a kid her age smoking a cigarette while her parents laughed and laughed overlooking the beach through the big 1euro binoculars. Mike, Jill, we get it now and it is still just as funny... End of pink-rimmed flashaback). After a billion stairs we were overlooking all of nice in a park sitting high above the coast line. In order to preserve the natural wild life, France decided to not use pesticides here so we walked up and around in silence... One word could have been the end of a thousand bugs life. Yes, we know, how considerate of us. We parked our bums on a bench and ate our peanut butter sandwhiches, avoiding the over priced cafe full of delicious snacks. Go us!
From here we decided we wanted to skim through our lonely planet Italy book (thanks patti and Simon), since it seemed we had done all the must-dos of Nice. We popped in our hostel to pick it up and then headed off to a very classy, popular and French spot for a coffee... McCafe! This is NOT a mcdonalds folks, it is the classy cafe part in front that resembles a starbucks but smells like French fries. The French sure know how to keep it classy. We mapped out a very general route of where we wanted to go and then headed home to get ready for a big night out in Monaco!
Under normal circumstances, these two primpers would have put on our best and done a fair share of pampering to go somewhere like Monte Carlo. But, we are backpackers. So we put on one of our two skirts/dresses and busted heels, applied some makeup and called it quits. While getting ready, a girl came into our all boy dorm! We chatted about her trip and ours to which Kelly asked "you don't have a clutch we could borrow do you?" (it never hurts to ask, right?!) and the girl said yes! To which Kelly exclaimed excitement and then asked her name. Oh the life of a nomad...
Our short train ride took us down the coast where the sun began to set. It was the most picturesque backdrop possible to the Yachts, sailboats and mountains which were covered in houses and some in snow. We jumped off in Monaco and followed winding signs towards what we hoped was the casino of monte carlo. After wandering around in awe of the spectacular hillside, yachts in the harbor and bentley after bentley passing us, there it was... The casino. To say that the building and square is gorgeous would be an understatement. Lights, fountains, every designer store and fancy cars surrounded us... We weren't in Kansas anymore. We talked to a nice Canadian couple who offered some advice and then perused the menus around the area as usual. We made friends with a doorman outside Big Buddha and he guided us around the hot spots on a quiet Tuesday. Then we decided to stay there for sushi. Inside everything was red, gold and dark and couches lined the first floor bar and lounge. We stayed down here, where we could see the Dj spin trippy tunes above in the restaurant. One glass of wine and a sushi roll later we were in glam heaven. A far cry from our day to day lives now (or ever) made for a fun field trip! Now, time to gamble.
We walked into the silent lobby at the casino of Monte Carlo, where Jenny (as usual) snapped illegal pics and then decided we didnt care to spend 10 euros to enter. We know what you're thinking, our potential sugar daddy could have been in there, but what if he wasn't? We can't afford to take bets like that and then be s.o.l. y'all. So we went to the slots! It took us awhile to pick the perfect one, and it didn't help that the security watched us like hawks (probably because once again Jenny was snapping pics). Finally we picked it. 5 euros was the minimum so in it went... More credits than we could count later, we cashed out with 26 euros! That's right blog followers, we finally made some money! (que awesome theme song now). We went to another building and played Russian roulette, well first we tried to be some pipsqueek-know-it-all boys lucky charm and they lost 50 bucks. Woops! We put in 5 and left with 9 :)
At this point we had to catch the last train back to nice; we did not want to leave but it was probably for the best. We made it home winners! Let us know what you think we should do with our fat new stack of cash!
Monaco is stunning, a really beautiful and clean Disney world for wealthy adults. Kelly, whos idol is grace Kelly, really wanted to go see her tomb at the cathedral, but we didn't have time. Bummer... BUT... we have already made and executive decision to come back to monte Carlo as adults, together, with great outfits and money to spend. Mmm... Sweet dreams bloggies :)
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