Monte Carlo Baby!!

The days are all starting to run together a bit.

So Tuesday was a pretty uneventful day driving from Barcelona to Avignon. We stopped in Avignon, which is a pretty cute little town, but I could have lived without seeing it. Those who know me know I don't really do cute.

But Wednesday was awesome. Talk about checking things off a list in one day. Our first stop was Aix-En-Provence, a little town with great markets. I picked up some of the soap the town is famous for, but can't decide whether to be selfish and keep it for myself or give it as a gift. This was one of those areas you could wander around in for hours and hours. But there wasn't time to waste - we wanted to make Cannes by lunch. Cannes was beautiful - it reminded me a bit of Monterrey, CA but warmer and sand beaches.

After Cannes, we drove to Nice about 40 minutes away and checked in and got ready pretty quickly for a night out in Monte Carlo. The drive there was amazing - the hills are filled with beautiful houses overlooking the Cote d'Azur. The road was a bit terrifying as I'm afraid of driving on windy, narrow, mountain roads, but we survived. We had a quick stop at a perfumery and it was better than expected. Did you know that to be a "Nose" (which there are only 150 in the world) you need 7 years of schooling and can't smoke, eat spicy food or drink? Yeah, that sounds like a great job.

Smelling great, we all headed to Monte Carlo. We had a great dinner (I kept hoping someone would run by James Bond like) and then headed to the casino. Take a second and get a picture of what you think the Monte Carlo casino is like. Got it in your mind's eye? Ok.

You're wrong. It is the opposite of Vegas. No music, no ka-ching of slots, and worst of all, no free booze served by scantily clad women. It was very quiet and serious with maybe 20 tables going. Very, very serious. Had I tried hard, I might have left with a rich (but not so cute) husband. So what did I do? I ordered some champagne, bought some chips, and bellied up to a table. I went roulette - it seemed the easiest since all the dealers spoke French. First play - I lost 10 euros. Second - there went 10 more. But three the lucky number and I hit - now I was up 40 euros. I hit once again, but in the end, I sacrificed about 60 to the Museum of Gambling. I like to think of it as a steep admission fee for the chance to say "I've gambled in Monte Carlo." The bad news is I didn't get any pics because they don't allow you take pictures in the casino. Eric will vouch that I was there (and he even said I was good luck charm for the guy I was standing next to - which means I'm happy to be a good luck charm for anyone who wants to take me back to the French Riviera...I'm sweet like that).

All in all - a day that you shop at a provincial French market, lunch in Cannes, have dinner and gambling in Monte Carlo and then head to Nice for the night isn't so bad.

But Friday was the day had been looking forward to for months. A full day in Nice. I'm sure there was some fantastic something or other to see and I missed an amazing opportunity to see it, but I had only one thing on my mind. The beach. I have never gone swimming in clear blue water and it was time change this. So I spent almost the entire day at the beach. The bad news is the beach wasn't all that great because it was a rock beach and it hurt to walk on it, but once you arranged correctly, it was fabulous to lay out on. And I braved the tough sea floor and went for a swim in the Mediterranean - chilly at first and then pretty refreshing. And really, really salty.

Overall, a great day of eating and laying by the beach. Which brings me to the food. Mom - no worries about me being too thin anymore - I am happily eating my way through Europe. Tapas and wine in Spain. Crepes and wine in France. I'm sure everything and wine in Italy.