Japanese Garden, Monaco

We started off the day on a hunt for a Nexus 7 (which seems to be out of stock everywhere, so I've now preordered one from FNAC. I hope it turns up.) and ended up in a Monegasque shopping centre. It's a bit of a surreal experience; sort of like they've heard of shopping centres, but haven't quite grasped the concept - Cartier is not a shopping centre type shop. I think these chandeliers might illustrate the problems:

We then went on to the Japanese Garden. Did you know there's a Japanese Garden in Monaco? I didn't. It's right near the beach, a couple of minutes away from Le Meridien hotel, in case you're looking for it, and it's rather lovely.

Near the gardens is this awesome statue that I may well adopt as my online face if I can get a better picture of it:

And there is also this gorgeous fountain, which is echoed by a similar (though short and round) fountain at Fontveille port, where we ended the afternoon in a nice Italian bar overlooking the sea. The pictured fountain is just above the beach near the Meridien.

Read more...

A night out in Monte Carlo

So, last night was a fabulous taste of luxury. When I win the lottery, I want to live like that all the time!

Paul's work decided to take them all out to see Sir Tim Rice in Monte Carlo last night, to which I was very kindly invited (thank you Paul's work!) and we decided to stay the night at the hotel that the function was at, because how often do you get to go to one of the poshest hotels in Monte Carlo, after all? The evening was wonderful - all credit to the organisers - and Sir Tim was entertaining, amusing, and accompanied by amazing singers. It was a brilliant night.

The hotel room was bigger than our flat - the bathroom alone may have been bigger than our flat, in fact. The bed was enormous - I could lie widthways across it with my arms stretched out over my head and still not reach the edges. Granted, I have quite little arms, but that's still a big bed!

Photos, because I can...

Back part of the lobby:


Hotel room:




This is how much it would have cost if we'd just walked in and asked for a room:


(Also, did you know rich people have bath tea bags? Green tea tea bags, at that?)


View from our window:



View from outside the hotel - ours was the one with the open window:


We also got to use the spa facilities, which were included in the price - the sauna and swimming pool were fabulous.

And these are the views of the terrace and from it this morning after breakfast:

Read more...

Fireworks

Monaco apparently hosts an International Fireworks Championship (learn something new every day) - yesterday was the last entry in the final, and because it was the French entry, it got some press coverage and we discovered it was taking place. It was awesome - must have cost a fortune, half an hour of fireworks set to music, it was just stunning.

I only remembered towards the end that my camera also takes video - the sound quality is rubbish, so if there even is sound, I wouldn't bother trying to listen to it, but hopefully you'll see a tiny part of the spectacle. Next year, if we're still here, I'm going to make sure I go and see all the entries...



Dissertation, well, fail. I got up to 10k on Friday, went to the beach in the evening, didn't feel much like writing when we got back after dinner. Slept all Saturday morning then went to a picnic where much wine was consumed over the course of the rest of the day. Yesterday was a write-off (though the fireworks were very nice...) But, I haven't run out of things to write about, so all is not yet lost! Though time is definitely beginning to run out now... Still, couple of thousand today - if I at least finish Chapter 4 - then unpacking all my stuff tomorrow, then a conclusion on Wednesday; easy!

If anyone feels like proofreading all or part of this, do give me a shout. It's not fascinating, obviously, and I may well run out of time and therefore not be able to send it out for comments, but if you've got spare time this week, let me know...

Read more...

Scenery photos of Monaco

Just because I liked them, and so you can see them too. Plus I haven't posted any photos just of summeriness for a while. (Yes, it's a word. I said so. It's my blog.)





Face of one of the Grimaldi, immortalised in iron just outside their palace...


The most energetic pedestrian symbol I've ever seen. He's not just walking, he's striding. Practically running:

Read more...

Monaco's medieval festival

Not much commentary to add to this, it was awesome! Fabulous costumes, friendly people (though they must have been dying in the heat!), pretty old town and I was pleased we climbed up to the top to have a look around!








Ye Olde Cashpointe:

Read more...