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A day trip to Monaco, Monte Carlo.

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In advance, we are sorry (but not really that sorry) that we are running a bit behind on updating our posts!! We have been exploring and enjoying ourselves away from the Internet and haven't really had much time to keep on top of this. Also when we do have time we are dog tired and would rather nap ;) and rightly so, no apologies there. Anyway (mostly to all parents) we are still doing ok and are now in Switzerland and finally back-blogging for the last few days. 

We have treated our stay in Nice as a relaxing time to catch our breaths a little. We've been pretty non stop with only two or three days (maximum) in each city. Lausanne in Switzerland marks our 13th city that we've visited and explored. As nice as it has been to dive in and explore these cities , walking tours, museums, art galleries, studying maps, catching metros and busses and trams, Nice has been a by nice city to just switch off in. Our hostel was quite central within walking distance between the train station and the beach, and the city itself has been VERY easy to navigate our way around with the main padestrian walkways and avenues obvious and easy to find. Therefore as you can tell from our last couple of posts we have done very little here but walk, eat, beach, swim and one wee walking tour. So today we decided to go to Monaco Monte Carlo for a wee bit of something different (specially since it was so close and easy to get to by train!).

We had a quick breakfast on the terrace. Before we headed off to Monaco though we wanted to see the Matisse Museum here in Nice. Very much well worth a visit! Beautiful gardens, and a fantastic and wide collection of the artists works from throughout his life. We were particularly taken by his paper cut out collections.

Finally, after a wee delay at the ticket desk and a wee missed train we were off to Monaco, Monte Carlo. Even the train station was cool here!! With a massive semi-cylindrical shape, lined with wood and concrete and glass it was very elegant and pleasant to be in. One blogger reviewed it was "arriving in a modern take of an Egyptian crypt" which seems apt. 

Arriving st the top of one of the several big hills surrounding the city we chose a direction and walk down towards the beach. Tourist info was a bit hard to find but eventually after wandering past the big famous casino (as seen in James Bond) we found a map and headed towards the harbour and the old town where the palace and the aquarium were. 

On the way we picked out which yachts we'd have if we could.  (The one with th helicopter pad of course!! 😉)

Walked up a lovely wee street where we decided to go back to later that evening for dinner. 

Next stop, again upon my parents recommendation was the aquarium, La Museo Oceanographice. What a fab place! By far one of the best aquariums I've visited! Informative (in more than just French) and a great experience for all the family. We spent a couple of hours exploring there before meandering back along the cliff tops towards the harbour again in search of somewhere to have dinner. 

We are dinner at a new burger place before getting the train back to Nice about 9pm. 
A lovely slow day, and a taster or Monte Carlo, and Claire and I have already decided that we'll come back here one day when we have started earning more money! We'll be back Monte Carlo, for now we head in to Switzerland to see Zoey tomorrow! 

F x

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