Next Stop... Monaco

Well, that's not exactly true.  The next stop was Lyon, FR,  but it was fast and furious and just one night.  But Lyon is getting passed up here.  Sorry.  We love Lyon too, there are many great restaurants in that city and we would have liked to have stayed a few days there.  But, this time, it was just an in between stopover and I'm running out of daylight here.

As for Monaco, we have been through this town a number of times by train, and have never stopped.  You can not see it while going through it cause the train station is IN a tunnel!  You can see beautiful sweeping vistas on both sides of the mountainside approaching it but that's about it.  This year we MADE it our stop on the way from France to Italy.  Finally!

We left Lyon, FR and went by train 4 hrs to Monaco.  The great thing that happens on this part of the trip is we start seeing the oceanside.  The Med.  It is so deep blue and beautiful.

                                                     Our timing turned out to be perfect here.   Two days before we arrived the Monaco Yacht Show ended.  It took place in this harbor.  We would not have found a room within 50 miles of here 3 days ago. For the most part its over but a lot of the yachts were still moored here.

This city is a giant series of Condos and apartments and obscenely expensive homes built out from the hillside in a sweeping panarama over the harbor.  It was really beautiful.   We were told the only way you can get residency here is to be born here.  You can't "buy" one like in so many other places.

Monaco was elegant, and spotless.  I did not see trash or even a cigarette butt on the ground anywhere.

Just walking the streets for a couple hours that evening before dinner, I felt severly underdressed for this glitzy place in my tennis shoes and blue jeans.    Oh well, what's an island girl to do?