It was an early morning for breakfast and then getting back on the bus. The first stop for the day would be one of the most iconic places of Italy and one you are just expected to go to when visiting the country... Pisa. There is this tower everyone talk about because it has one major problem... it leans!
I have to say that the tower is smaller than I expected but it is really is fascinating how it leans! Apparently the construction design was flawed from the beginning and it began sinking shortly after construction began on the 2nd floor.
Of course, we HAD to do the tourist thing and take pictures of us holding up the leaning tower...
Always wanting to be different, Brad wanted to take pictures of him pushing over the tower!
After snapping tons of pictures, we walked around a bit and decided we wanted a snack. Lo and behold, right outside the gates of the Cathedral Square was a McDonald's!!! And it was jam packed and very smart marketing in their part. They also had something else us tourists loved- free bathrooms!!
After our free time, we loaded back on the bus and began a very pretty drive. Sadly, we would be leaving Italy but we would be heading into France and seeing some amazing things. Our drive to our hotel in Grasse, France was really pretty. We went through Genova and Nice.
After getting checked into our hotel, we joined part of our group for that night's outing in the French Riviera. I have to say that our destination is somewhere I NEVER thought I would go to in my lifetime. We would be having dinner and checking out one of the most glamorous cities in the world... Monte Carlo, Monaco.
Our dinner was at a restaurant that overlooked the city of Monte Carlo and it was amazing. We enjoyed a nice dinner and some pictures. It is really a fascinating place. The Principality of Monaco is the 2nd smallest country in the world (we visited the 1st earlier in our trip- The Vatican). The official citizenship is only 3,000 and you are only considered a citizen if your bloodline comes from there. So, unlike the US where you can be born into citizenship... in Monaco, you can't just live there and be born there to be a citizen. They have the longest life expectancy, the lowest unemployment rate and practically everything is oceanfront property! Life isn't bad in Monaco!
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| Since the are limited by borders to France and the ocean, the only way they can grow is up! |
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| The Palace of Monaco |
Then we drove to the Palace of Monaco and walked around. It was after hours and dark so there weren't any people around. It was a strange feeling to be walking through this area that is home to the royalty of Monaco. We walked by the church that would soon host the wedding of their Prince, Albert Grimaldi. Albert's mother was the beloved American actress Grace Kelly and she was married in the same place.
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| Towards the bottom of the photo, you can see the blue stands set up for the Grand Prix. |
After toured the grounds of the palace, we rode the bus over to the main attraction in Monte Carlo, the Grand Casino. We enjoyed a drink outside and just watched all the pretty people go by. I can't even imagine the amount of money that walked and drove by. It was unreal. There were valets outside of the casino and it was funny to see the cars that were parked just outside the entrance of the casino and those that... weren't.
We laughed because of the cars that turned the most heads was an American classic- a Corvette!
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| In front of a Ferrari trying not to look TOO touristy! |
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| Classic Corvette on the left. |
We walked into the lobby of the Grand Casino but we weren't allowed to take pictures. And since we weren't dressed the part, we couldn't actually go into the casino. Neither of us are gamblers so we didn't care about that part. It was an amazing place just to see.
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| The Grand Casino |
It was fun to live the life of the filthy rich for one night but it was really late so we were exhausted and happy when our bus arrived to take us back the hotel.
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