Monaco: Ritzier than Scottsdale

This week, we made the long train journey all the way to Monaco. All ten minutes of it.

Now, Monaco is an interesting place. It's not quite France and it's not quite its own country. The principality houses the richest of the rich, but there's no income tax. The people that work there can't even afford to live there. It feels like an entirely different planet that exists exclusively for billionaires (and maybe the occasional  millionaires). I don't think I've seen so many Ferraris and $1M yachts in my life! I didn't get any fancy car pictures, but some yachts do appear later...

Me, taking a picture of Magali taking a picture of me. What else do you do with only two people??

We may have popped into Mango for a bit on the way : ) 

Most of Monaco looks like this, except for Monte Carlo which is newer (but just as ostentatious). 

On our way up to see where the Prince of Monaco dwells...

A lovely garden on the way to the cathedral

Yachts! We looked for George Clooney, but we didn't see him. Zut! Maybe next time.

Magali enjoyed a glass of wine while I enjoyed my first beer of the entire trip!

And we definitely saw this photograph (framed) of the Prince of Monaco and his wife everywhere! Like the Brits, they must love their royals.











Besides Monaco, we've been enjoying Roquebrune and Menton. Since jobs are no where to be found yet, it's been quite the leisurely stay. Since we live so close to Italy, and since we don't speak any Italian, this area is pretty much off limits to us as far as jobs go. Everyone we've spoken with so far has said that Monaco is our best bet since we speak both English and French. We haven't seen much online, but eventually we'll gather up some courage and just go ask around the hotels and restaurants there (once we get our resumes printed...a surprisingly tricky task without a printer on hand).

This weekend we're heading off to Nice for 2 nights/3 days! Katrina, who is back in Bourg-St-Andeol, will meet us there. Roquebrune and Menton are wonderful, but it will be nice to have a change of scenery, and hopefully a younger crowd (this is definitely where people come to retire). We also lacked hot water for several days (we finally have it back, though, but it's more lukewarm than hot), so we're especially looking forward to real hot showers at the hostel. I don't think our expectations for Nice are set too high ; )