Monte Carlo, Monaco

Jeff's favorite port of the cruise! Monaco is its own country surrounded by France on the French Riviera. He liked that the whole country was walkable and that there were no "boring outskirts". There is no income tax, the Grand Prixe is raced on its streets, fast/flashy cars abound. I found it to be quite nice..but the beach doesn't have sand..only small pebbles, not really lay-out material. Getting a vacation home there may be out of the question though...we found out that real estate costs approximately $30,000 per square meter. Running some quick numbers reveals that a 2,000 sqft property would cost about $20 million!

This is the only port we "tendered" in- meaning we had to take the lifeboats to the pier since there wasn't enough room for the ship to dock.

Jeff really liked this Batman-esque tricycle. He took the photo (happy Bryan?) to research it online later.

Jeff told me he had this Japanese Garden made just for me...I'm not sure if I believe him. Regardless, Jeff needed to get in touch with his inner-spirit after the Batmobile so we spent some tranquil moments by the coy pond.

Wait Jeff, don't sit down....yeouch! Looks like Lamborghini of Monte Carlo doesn't take kindly to loiterers.

Many of the public streets were set up for racing.

Monte Carlo's famous casino

We also took a day trip to Nice and Eze (in France). Above is one of Nice's libraries (better photo here), and below is a typical Eze street. Eze was built up in the hills in response to pirate attacks on the shores- the town is made of stone and the streets are small enough that only 3 people can pass through side by side.