Nice, France and a walk in Monaco

We stopped in Monaco after leaving Italy and walked around for a couple of hours. Wow. I’ve never been anywhere that felt so rich before. Just walking around the streets - they were setting seeing up for a car event happening that coming weekend - made me feel like I had entered into a different world. The Grand Prix is not until the end of May but they were putting out bleachers for some weekend event. We passed a restaurant advertising 120 euro brunch which is about $180CAD (some seats had a view of the event but still, you’d have to drink a lot of mimosas to justify that!). Did you know citizens of Monaco don’t pay income tax? It’s no wonder all of the wealthy people move there! I read that Monaco's per capita income is estimated at $186,000, although they never publish official data. We also toured the palace and then I did a bit reading about the royals…I’ve always been interested in the 'Grace Kelly turned Princess Grace' story but never realized that it wasn’t quite the fairytale romance after all.

Nice also felt quite wealthy, although much less exclusive. It is a really pretty city with a nice promenade along the water. We had one last rich French meal, went over our yearly quota of croissants and used our French again. And this time, I finally remembered a bit, unlike in Paris, where I accidentally used Spanish words on several occasions and got some strange looks. We also drank the tap water in restaurants (for free and with no hassle), something I gave up asking for by the time we got to Germany when it turned out they just didn’t do that there.

I think it's time to for a change. I only have one pair of pants that still fit comfortably! All we’ve been doing is eating and climbing old towers. ;) We’re ready for a bit of an adventure (Mike misses Imodium) so we’re heading to Turkey. Let’s see if it delivers!

Finally! No banana hammocks allowed. This was posted at the entrance to Monaco's castle. Although I'm not sure why they would have to tell people that. Who walks into a castle wearing only that?

Palace in Monaco

View of Monaco - look at all those yachts!

Bleachers down below

This cafe probably serves croissants since that's all I seem to eat these days.

View of Nice (we walked up to a lookout point)

Mike is getting into the coffee culture and actually ordered an espresso (as some of you know, he hates coffee). He says that he likes espresso since he gets it over with quicker.

A little cool down  

Again, lots of sidewalk restaurants, similar to Paris 

Truffle chicken with cream and pasta...gotta start cutting back soon. Like tomorrow.