After a couple of days in our apartment outside of Milan, we sort of hated to leave.  The place was old and without A/C, but terribly charming and a beautiful location to just be together as a family.

We decided to begin our long swing back north to the UK by driving through the northern tip of Tuscany, round to Genoa and then on to the West into France. The drive yesterday morning was absolutely perfect.  Not a cloud in the sky, fast roads and scenery that could not be topped. Our drive to Genoa was like an Olive Garden commercial – all of the houses made of brick or stone, with just enough of the plaster removed to look aged, curved tile roofs, crops in the field, burnt sienna hills in the background.  It’s easy to see why folks fall in love with this part of the world.

Brenda experienced more “under the Tuscan sun” than she liked:  since she’s on the left hand side, she was in the sun all morning long (I was much more comfortable, on the right, in the shade) … and so Brenda was relieved once we headed back up into the mountains one more time to cross the border into France.

Our final stop for the day is Monaco.  We got a hotel that is 5 minutes from the famous Monaco Casino.  After we parked (again, got lucky … real lucky) and unpacked, we walked down to the sea side to take in the lifestyles of the rich and well-bred. It is HOT here, and we spent more time sweating and finding water to drink than we would have preferred.

Monaco looks just like you would think it should – exotic cars everywhere, rich folks wandering about trying to look more important and powerful than the others.  The prices here are impossible.

Monaco is the 2nd smallest country in the world and you can pretty much tour the entire thing, front to back, in one day. After seeing the casino (I went in alone to gawk since the kids weren’t allowed through the front door) and seeing the stores, cars, and people along the main drag, we walked over to Monaco’s one beach to let the kids play a bit in the water.

We then walked back, found a place for dinner that wouldn’t kill us, and then back home to bed by 10:00pm.

We’re only staying one night here – the hotel we rented had A/C, but it wasn’t working for us.  Also, the TV wasn’t working right and I was pissed off enough about the A/C that I made a stink at the front desk and pulled out of our 2-day plans here. We’ve decided that we’d have more fun heading a bit north and getting away from the French Riviera.

Don’t get me wrong – it is very nice on the Riviera – but we just didn’t plan our vacation with beaches/sand/swimming in mind.  We don’t have the gear and don’t want to deal with the mess.  Besides, these places are crowded, expensive, and you really can get better quality beaches on the Florida coast.  We want to see more of the countryside and less of topless, fat 50-year old women.

The famous Monte Carlo casino – just like in the movies.

And, just like I’ve seen on TV, they keep all of the elite cars out front for everyone to gawk at and feel small.  I wandered into the Casino alone (can’t bring kids, can’t bring camera); the Belle Epoque architecture is gorgeous.  The main tables are not as fancy as I had hoped and the clientele was not as cool and James Bondish to suit me.  There were private galleries where the fat cats gamble, but they wouldn’t let me in there at all.

Some window shopping along the main drags.. being a Sunday afternoon, everything was closed.

Plenty of yachts out in the bay.

The most expensive dessert we hope to ever buy in our lives (US$18 each)- at the Cafe de Paris next door to the Casino. This is where you can sit and people watch – which is pretty entertaining. The price for food and drinks, however, was at a new level of extremism.

Fun on Monaco’s one and only beach. Lots of skin being shown all around, most of it not the kind you want to see.

… and what do the Muslims do?  Well, the women loosen up by showing almost all of their face.  The men show their sexy backs.  It was HOT HOT – this cannot be pleasant.  Their God sure does care about stupid things, no?  Brenda raised a good point — here they are, the woman all covered up … but the man is looking around eyeing all of the topless French girls.  I guess it’s ok if they are Infidels.

A very pretty city.  The view you get, rounding the last curve of the highway once the entire bay comes into view is absolutely gorgeous.  The country is a fairly tale example of consumerism and privilege.  We just were not born to the right sets of parents is all…