On One Hell of a Great Weekend, part 2

Saturday morn we alighted early for Monaco; the official country of the Rich and Famous. In Monaco we made our way up the hill to the old city center, just in time for the changing of the guard at the palace. Then we walked along a coastal parkway on the edge of a cliff high above the sea. At the Royal Aquarium, I checked out the over 90 tanks of fish and bought some gifts for the folks back home (keeping the tradition of gifts of fish-related crap for dad alive! You know how much you secretly love fish-souveners dad! Haha!) and for the record, I guess I got somethig for john that had something to do with race cars, since I think he likes f-1 racing. (darn you john, why couldn’t you have a cheaper hobby, ferrari and race memorabilia is super expensive, I have already spent like 70 or 80 bucks on gifts for you alone). After a lunch of hamburgers (yay!) we walked down the mountain to the worlds richest harbor. There were literally hundreds of millions of dollars in private super-yachts sitting in the harbor. One boat alone, the lady mora, was longer than 2 football fields, had at least 6 levels we could count above the water, and a helicopter landing pad on the back! I love going to the RV and boat show back home, but this was like that but on crack. While walking around the harbour, we saw a yellow lamborghini come around the corner at about 20 miles an hour, and punch it to slide out of the turn and hit the harbor straight away going about 70mph in about 4 seconds or so. The roar of that engine, and the way the back end slide out on the turn, all 30 feet away! So Awesome! Continueing our walk we ended up at the highlight of the day, The world famous Monte-Carlo Casino! (take that ross!) We had already preplanned that each of the 3 of us were going to spend 30 euro. The casino is definitly high class, they have a strick dress code and coat and ties available. It was really cool walking around with guys who were holding a stack of chips in their hands that ranged from 10,000 to about the most we saw, 150,000. (that’s in euro, so about 200,000 dollars.) we even saw a bunch of cliché 60 70 80 year old guys with the 20 something models, funny stuff. It was lots of fun watching all these guys throwing out all this money at the roulette, crap, and black jack tables. And I swear everyone except the rich old chinese ladies were puffing on giant cigars (we had forgot ours at home, darn) We of course, were the poorest hick scum in the room so we went to hang out with the rich wives and german tourists in the slot room, where my friend Huy made 30 euro at 50 cent a play, last an hour and a half! It was halarious watching how into it he was, all the faces and sound effects and punching of the air! Those silly asians! After he finally stopped winning and ran out, we walked around and watched a guy playing 3 hands of black jack at a time, with a 250 euro minimum buyin! That guy had been playing for hours! Taking in one last look of the rich people, the rich interior, and the rich architecture, the guys bought a 15 dollar martini and we headed out the door, were out front the streets were lined with mostly bentlys, some porche’s, lamborghinis, ferraris, audis, jaguars, mercedes, one rolls royce, and funniest of all, a ford escort! The street was basically, for us, one giant car show! Taking in one last deep breath of greenbacks and Ferrari Exhaust, we strolled back throught the marble lined passage way to the train station. What a city, not one dog turd on the side walk all day! (belive me, a huge huge problem in europe)

Back in Nice, with a soccer match acting the part of the background orchestra, we fired up the grille for a dinner that prooved to last 3 hours. Shrimp kabobs with 3 different kinds of peppers and onions, Lamb kabobs, Tolouse Sausage, Leg of Lamb, hamburger (huy, the tiny asian, eats a lot and insisted), fillet mignon, bacon wrapped goat cheese, basil-gouda cheese, french bread, beer, and a couple bottles of wine. And, of course, topped off with good conversation, more wine, and a Romeo and Julieta “churchill” Cuban Cigar (it was as big around as my thumb, and a foot long, and took 2 hours to smoke! Mmmmm!) That night, we slept with the windows open, the sound of the waves breaking on the beach in the distance, the fading frenzy of the soccer game, and the fresh air blowing off the water into our room. So great were those two days, that the 10 hours train ride home the next day, was no big deal. No matter how long and cramped. Again, what a great weekend, my first time to two new countries, france and monaco, my first european ocean, rolls royce, bently, leg of lamb, casino, lamborghini engine roar, turdless european town, cuban cigar, and night train, all for 250 euro! (in case your wondering, half that’s train ticket, another 50 for hostel, and the two day feast only coast us 20 euro per person total! You could never eat that good for that price in the states. The rest was buses, a few lunches, and gifts!). Either way, I am happy to be alive and in europe, Ciao Bella France!