Monaco has the most amazing courthouse...and jail.

After a morning dive, D and I took the bus to Monaco.  It cost 1 Euro for a 45 minute ride.  To get to Geneva it costs ~2 E and it takes 16 minutes.  The bus ride was a beautiful ride up the coast to Monaco, we got to see the Cap Ferrat and the bay from land instead of the water, and saw where Grace Kelly filmed the car chase scene in 'To Catch a Thief.'  We passed by a place called Petite Afrique near Beaulieu-sur-Mer where because the of microclimate they can grow bananas in the Riviera!  

We arrived in Monaco and found out it is .76 square miles!  We basically walked the whole country in an afternoon.  However, it is quite hilly.  Monaco has the highest GDP per capita and is the most densely populated country in the world.  

Welcome to Monaco!

The Monaco Grand Prix starts basically near the pinkish building in the left corner, up to the casino, and then back down the ramp and by the pool.  D and I walked this area and it is tiny!  They build up the roads and such but its still amazing to think they race through the tunnel, and down the ramp near the pool.  Check out the yachts - these yachts made the ones in the harbor at Nice, Cassis, Split, and even Vis (last two in Croatia) look like bathtub toys.*   

We walked up to the old town on Monaco to see the palace.  The Grimaldis have the longest unbroken chain of monarchy in Europe and have been presiding over Monaco for something like 800 years.  The palace was a bit utilitarian (I'm sure its beautiful on the inside) but there were some great cars parked outside.  

Bentley with a Monegasque license plate.  D and I and the castle are reflected in the shinyness.  

We stopped by the post office and picked up some Monaco stamps for postcards which we actually sent from where we were visiting, instead of the post office at CERN (shocking).   We then went to Monaco's Cathedral....

Outside of the Cathedral

Beautiful and stark  

There was an interesting (i.e. really weird) juxtaposition of modern art and really really old tapestries.   

Princess Grace's tomb. 

One of my favorite parts of Monaco: they have the MOST GORGEOUS COURTHOUSE EVER.  Check this out...

Monaco's Palais de Justice - I totally geeked out over seeing this courthouse.  It also gave me flashbacks to Civil Procedure class.    

 Monaco has an amazing aquarium perched on the edge of the sea.  It was curated by Jacques Cousteau.  It is the beautiful tall building on the left.  The small squat building in its shadow?  That is the jail.  According to our friend Steve who lives in Nice, says that some of the rooms have a sea view.  Wow.  

Monaco's aquarium and jail.  I wonder how much seafront property in the rest of Monaco costs...

We had to visit the Monte Carlo.  There are two parts to the Casino - the 'American Games' section and the real casino.  We went into the American Games section:  full of slot machines and a few blackjack tables, where the lowest bid we saw was 50 Euros.  We were unimpressed (it felt like we were in an old school casino...like the place we always go on Fremont street to get chocolate covered bananas - Mermaids).  Then we went into the real Monte Carlo...

The Real Monte Carlo Casino.

This casino is the epitome of luxury.  First, we couldn't bring any cameras into the building, and had to check them in the foyer.  Second, one must pay to enter the casino and after 18:00 no jeans are allowed, men have to be in tie and jacket to go into the private rooms.  D and I just stood slack jawed in the receiving hall.  Las Vegas is opulent but it is just a shade of Monte Carlo.  Everything was real marble, real gold and real paintings.  Gorgeous.  I can't imagine what the minimum bets were inside.  Considering in the year I lived in LV I only gambled $23, D and I didn't really want to gamble.  That plus we were most likely the poorest people in the country.   

The gaming area of the Monte Carlo... from the outside.

Shopping in Monaco

 We also walked around the shopping area...check out the inside of this 'shopping centre.'  This and the 'Golden Square' where Cartier, Channel, Prada, etc. made for a very fun window shopping experience.  Parked all along the roads near the Golden Square - Bentleys, Maseratis, Aston Martins, a few Rolls and the most prolific luxury car in Monaco: the Ferrari.  

A fun experience - if I ever pay back my law school loans maybe we'll come back and gamble 23 Euros and sip martinis...

* D and I saw an advertisement for 3 tier yacht for rent - only 25,000 Euros/week and it can hold 7 people.  This does not include fuel, or crew, or food.  We thought it might be a fun party - who's in?  We probably can't afford fuel + crew + food, but there are supermarkets where we can grab chips and beer.  

Undersea creatures

On our second dive we dove off the bay of Villefranche-sur-Mer* across from Cap Ferrat.  This dive was our first 'autonomous' dive - where we wouldn't have a divemaster leading us for the last part of our dive.  Our divemaster, Richard, was awesome.  He first took us down to a sea cave.  We dove over it and saw air bubbles escaping from the ground.  It took me a bit to realize that the bubbles were from divers who had been in the cave 10 minutes before us.  

I am absolutely terrified of diving and then swimming into something:  wrecks, caves, etc.  I always think they are going to collapse on me.  Luckily, this cave was small, but gorgeous.  The top was covered in beautiful cool water coral.

The spiral is where the organism seen in the top left and bottom right attaches their eggs.  I don't remember what they are called...something like spirale and dalmations...but understanding under sea life in French is a tad difficult.  

After he took us to the cave, our divemaster left and we were free to roam about underwater with another diver.  I let the other diver and Dave take the lead, and followed them around like an underwater puppy for about an hour...our longest dive ever!  One of the first things we saw was a HUGE Grouper fish - maybe 3 feet long!  They used to be a rare sight due to overfishing but government regs were put in place and now they can live to be 20 years old.  

Not a Grouper, but a Katfish...haha.

Swimming through schools of fish

Gorgeous red star fish. 

Moray eel - Dave was near it with the camera and he made chomping motions.   I thought I heard a nom nom but I could be wrong.  

 This is a baby Moray eel that we saw.  We found two of them and when we went to take a closer look the huge one sucked back into his home.  Maybe the little one is braver?


This dive was very cool, as we got to explore by ourselves.  One of the cool things was seeing water crash against the rocks from underwater.  We weren't diving very deep so our air lasted forever.  As I was following Dave and the other diver around I wasn't really paying attention to our surroundings.  When it was time to swim back to the boat we had to go quite far as I didn't realize we had wandered so far from our entry point.  I started to panic a bit as we reached a field of sea grass that I didn't recognize and thoughts of popping to the surface and looking around to realize we had drifted out to sea started to cross my mind.   I'm not sure why I started to freak as I had 70 bar of air left (about 30 mins at that depth).  Being able to communicate underwater makes one feel a bit isolated, I guess.  Luckily Dave spotted bubbles coming up from the ground and realized we were over the sea cave, we got our bearings and got to our boat.  

After our dive, I decided to swim while they were breaking down the equipment.  It was quite pleasant and cool.  I thought "I wonder if there are any sharks in the Med, I haven't seen any yet..." and then at that unfortunate moment got stung by a jellyfish.  It was more shocking than painful and I yelled and flailed to get away from it.  Dave thought something was wrong so he dove in after me but I was already halfway up the ladder by the time he saw me.  It swelled up, and since it was Sunday, and this is France we had to find the one pharmacy open in Nice.**  This happened about a week and a half ago.  It was fine for awhile but just a few days ago it started to flare again.  Apparently this is normal, but it kinda sucks.  Maybe this is an adverse reaction from all the wine I drank last weekend...


*Villefranche-sur-Mer is a 'free port' - Charles II, Duke of Anjou wanted to protect his kingdom from pirates, so he established this town and stated that residents, who were willing to leave their farming life inland to move to the coast would not have to pay taxes.  This established a line of defense, and better tans for the people who moved there.  


** Differences between the US and Switzerfrancerland:  Pharmacies are not open during Sundays, and many are not open during lunch.  Most close at 5 or 6.  Cold meds are only given when a doctor gives you a perscription.  To see a doctor one must make an appointment (I made a dermatologist appointment last week...the next opening is November) or go to walk in hours (which is much like going to the DMV).  Thus, we stock up on cold meds whilst in the US, the cashiers think we are crazy, and when Dave's sister Rachel Morse (original) is coming the day after tomorrow (yay!) she's bringing us various fun pharmacy goods!  

SCUBA diving down a sea wall

This weekend was a busy one!  We went to the Salon des Vins in Thoiry where about 50 different producers from all over France were showcasing their wines.  I think we tried 80 wines over a period of three days.  I will most likely not drink any wine for the next...three to four days.  

Fishes off Cap Ferrat

Another photo from our first dive in Nice.  I love diving off a sea wall because it feels almost like you are sky diving.  You can see the bubbles from one another diver's tank coming up.  


Note:  I have never gone sky diving, but I imagine this is what it is potentially like.  I would love to try it!

SCUBA diving off Cap Ferrat

One of the main reasons Dave and I visited Nice was to get a few last dives in before the summer was over.  Our first dive was off St. Jean on Cap Ferrat.  We dove with Poseidon Diving in Nice, and they were great.  The dive instructors were very knowledgable and the equipment was good.  

Dave's parents bought us an underwater case for our point and shoot camera and it works great.  This is a shot of an octopus one of the divemasters found near the end of our dive.  It was a little guy, and it kept inking everywhere...just like in Finding Nemo.  Its cool to see octopodes in the water, how they change the color and textures of their skin is amazing - especially since they are color blind!  

Côte d'Azur / French Riviera Birthday Trip!

We've been in Nice for the last few days celebrating my Golden Birthday - Dave had never heard of it, so maybe it is a Chicago thing.  A Golden Birthday is the birthday you turn the age of your birth day - in my case, I turned 27 on August 27th.  

One huge advantage to living here is the (very) inexpensive travel on easyjet, which has a hub in Geneva.  We definitely take advantage of this and I believe our tickets to Nice were about 70 USD round trip.  Dave and I spent a long weekend SCUBA diving, eating seafood, drinking rosé and sunning on the beach.  It was wonderful.  The Mediterranean is gorgeous, and much warmer in August than in June, when we went to a different part of the French Riviera (Cassis) for Dave's birthday.   This is the beach in Nice!  It is rocky, not sandy so you have to make sure you lay your towel on non-pointy rocks.  Or, rent a beach chair for the day.  The weather there is fabulous, and the SCUBA diving was beautiful.  Dave is the best husband and gave me the most amazing birthday ever!