Day 4 - On my Own!

Today Hillary had to go to work and I was going to set forth on my solo adventure to Monaco. Last year when Brian and I watched the Tour de France, we thought Monaco looked really cool. I was a bit nervous about the thought of traveling by myself and navigating through an unfamiliar foreign city. Up until now, I was somewhat attempting to "fit in" and try to not look so much like a tourist. Why? I have no clue. But, today I decided to not be ashamed of carrying my Rick Steve's guidebook and owned the fact that I am a tourist in a foreign country.

Here are a couple of shots of Monaco:

Hotels and boats

Oceanographic Museum. I didn't visit it given my previous track record with museums.

Big cathedral where famous people get married.

Princess Grace theater

Monte Carlo

More Monte Carlo

Monaco is quite lovely. After touring the city for a bit, I realized that in order to stay here and visit, you'd have to be very wealthy.  The city is so clean and pretty and bright. Even the public restrooms were beautiful. They had attendants whose job it was to keep them clean. Unlike other public restrooms where you had to pay .50 Euro to use them, Monaco's were free and there was just a donation tray for when you were done.  It is funny, I quickly realized that access to bathrooms (or w/c's) is really important when you are walking all day and touring a city.

I made it through Monaco, stopped in the Louis Vuitton store and found a handbag that I loved but could not afford and made my way back to the train station. I took a train that didn't have a direct connection back to Cannes. I had a brief moment of panic when I didn't understand why the train was not moving and everyone else was getting off and we were clearly not back in Cannes. Then, I eventually figured out (by asking a train station employee) that I had a 45 minute break between trains.

Here are shots from our dinner. Yum!

Salmon with red peppercorns and dijon mustard. A taste explosion.

Chocolate cake