Keeping it Classy

I took 22,005 steps today, and almost as many pictures.

My plan for today had been to go to breakfast in the morning, and then spend the afternoon at the beach. However, I took a look at the forecast, and saw that Thursday (tomorrow) was looking like the better beach day, as this afternoon called for some rain. So I decided to save the beach for tomorrow, and go to Monaco today instead. It would mean kind of a packed schedule today, but I felt like I was up for it.

I had a 9am reservation for breakfast at La Rotonde Brasserie, in the Hotel Le Negresco. The Le Negresco is the fanciest hotel in Nice, maybe the fanciest on the French Riviera*, and was waaaaaay out of my price range for a stay. And the hotel is only open to guests, so riff-raff like me can't sashay in off the street just to look around. But (thanks to the suggestion in my guidebook) I out-smarted them by making the breakfast reservation, as restaurants patrons are considered guests as well. 

Front entrance to the Le Negresco.

Dining on the terrace. Check out the cute little Nutella** in a glass jar!

The inside of the La Rotonde.

Breakfast was a buffet and probably will come in as the most expensive meal on this trip. But it was worth it. There was lots of variety and all of the food was very tasty.

I also felt very posh, dining outside on white linen, looking out onto the Promenade and to the sea beyond it. I'd been offered a New York Times when I sat down which only added to the classiness. And then this foursome of Southern tourists sat down at the table behind me, and they were loud and tacky and the ambiance...well, it was nice while it lasted.

I finished breakfast around 10am, and then hustled to the train station, just barely catching the 10:34am train to Monaco. In Monaco, the classiness continued.

Thanks to all that casino money, even their train station is classy in Monaco.

Upon arrival in Monaco, I followed La Caminade (which seemed to be some sort of pre-set walking path that hit all the major tourist destinations) towards La Palais du Prince, the Royal Palace. The changing of the guard ceremony is performed daily at 11:55am, and that seemed like exactly the sort of tourist schmaltz I didn't want to miss.

Luckily the palace was relatively close to the train station***, since it was at the top of a pretty steep hill. 

Almost to the top of the hill, with the main harbor in the background. (Selfie assessment: ugh. Hopefully the awesomeness of the harbor and water and buildings and mountains beyond makes up for whatever that face is I'm making.)

Looking out over the Fontvieille neighborhood of Monaco, seen from the other side of the palace.

The changing of the guard. Really kind of a lot of pomp for, essentially, 2 guys switching spots. But it was pretty cool.

Next I went to check out the Princess Grace Roseraie, a very impressive rose garden in the Fontvieille neighborhood. There were probably hundreds of varieties of roses on display, all in full bloom. 

Big

surprise,

I

took

too

many

 flower

 pictures.

After the rose garden, I continued**** on toward the other end of Monaco, to the Monte Carlo neighborhood. So I guess this is the casino in one of the James Bond movies? I'll make an educated guess and say Casino Royale, but I can't be bothered to look that up for sure.

Facade of the world famous Monte Carlo casino.

I noticed as I was walking up to the front doors that a number of people were being turned away. As I got closer, I could hear the door guards saying "no sport shoes" and shooing people back. Uh oh. I had planned for a possible dress code by wearing a dress and a cardigan, but I hadn't considered my footwear. Thankfully, my mint green sneakers passed muster, and I was allowed in.

In the lobby. (Selfie assessment: was distracted by casino guards admonishing me- I think? they were speaking French- for taking a picture of the casino tables, even though I was not taking a picture of the casino tables, I was vainly taking this terrible selfie)

The last thing I needed to do before leaving Monaco was visit the tourist office, so I could get my passport stamped. Very exciting. And just in time too. As I walked back to the train station, the sky opened up and really rained on me for the first time this trip. 

I got back to the apartment a short time later, rested for a little while, and snacked on the leftover pizza. Once the storm had passed, I grabbed a book and walked back to the beach toward Castle Hill. I'd already hiked to the top of one hill today to see the Prince's palace, so I was thrilled that the Castle Hill elevator was in working order.

View of Nice from atop Castle Hill.

There is a lovely park on top of the hill, and I stayed there and read for about an hour, until the park was about to close. Then I walked back down and along the beach, stopping to take a few more photographs along the way.

Sunset over the Baie des Anges, the Bay of Angels.

Pastels in the sky and the water as the sun went down.

My last steps of the day took me to a familiar location- Fenocchio, and ice cream for dinner. Have sneaking suspicion I will be back there tomorrow night too.

*Though, that can't be right because probably Cannes has the fanciest hotels of them all, what with their film festival and everything. But the Le Negresco was indeed very nice.

**Because I am a skilled buffeterian, I managed to include a Nutella item on each of my 3 plates- first Nutella on bread, then Nutella in crepe, then a Nutella donut.

***To be clear, it is a very small country so everything is relatively close to the train station.

****Monaco has a Hop On, Hop Off tour too! It never even occurred to me to look into that as a possibility. I guess I could have bought a ticket right then and there, but I'd already done quite a bit of walking and seen many of the sights, so instead I opted for the poor man's version and rode the city bus. Which, though lacking in informative narration, was extremely easy to navigate and got me exactly where I needed to go, and at about 1/6 of the price, was probably a smart move.