We did a half day tour here which was outstanding. The tour guide made all the difference in the world. A woman from England now living in Italy - well basically just across the bay from Monaco. It is just stunning to look at the bay and understandable why the rich and famous want to be here. We went first to the main area of the principality (and I still don't know why Monaco is a principality and not a nation) and explained the history of the Grimaldi family. Apparently they disguised themselves as monks in the 1200s in order to gain entry into the fortress and overthrow the landowners. We saw the grave site of Princess Grace and heard all of the dish abou the entire family. Including the fact that apparently Albert's fiancee tried to bolt like a week before their recent wedding. Turns out with good reason rumor has it. It had been widely known that Albert had fathered two children prior to his marriage (but apparently they can't be heirs to the thrown). Well, he apparently fathered two MORE - one of which had to happen during his engagement. His fiancee apparently found out about it right before the marriage. Also, apparently there is a pre-nup in place that once she bears at least one child, she gets to divorce and move back to South Africa a VERY wealthy woman. There's a 20 year age difference between the two.
The other two children have had almost as bad luck with relationships. Caroline is on her third marriage (though one ended in a very tragic boating accident), and Stephanie has been in relationships with two or three bodyguards as well as two different circus performers - one an elephant trainer and one a trapeeze artist. Currently she is in a relationship with her personal trainer.
We did go to the square where the Casino is located. Hotel de Paris is located there - $8000 per night for some rooms. And no, I didn't get the zeroes wrong. The casino itself was closed - doesn't open until after our tour ended. But what was more impressive was the parking lot. All around the square there were Bently's, Maserati, Ferrari - but LOTS of them. No ordinary cars at all. It looked like the typical mini-van/ SUV line up at Target - only with a major upgrade!
The square and surrounding areas had some really fun outside art - including huge balls made of hand painted eggs. They also have electric car chargers - ok, I'm a geek but I thought that was really cool.
I finally good a good night's sleep that night. We had booked a tour in Barcelona - but we decided to just bag that so we could all rest. We're here in Barcelona until 4:30 AM because there's some big gay party tonight in Barcelona (like the boat isn't one already)! They offer shuttle bus service - so we're going to just go in on our own and explore the city a bit and have a leisurely lunch.
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