Monte Carlo

Thursday April 14, 2011 Day 288

We took the train to Monaco this morning. Monte Carlo is a vertical city - there ar several public elevators in the city, and one gets around primarily by bus. We chose to ride the hop-on, hop-off bus again and got a good view of the city. We hopped off first at the Japanese Gardens, and had lunch before we entered the gardens. They are small, but quite lovely.

Later we hopped off at the Princess Grace rose garden, in part because I misread the description and thought there would be a lot of sculpture there. We were a week or two early for most of the roses.

Sculpture in front of Princess Grace Rose Garden

Our next hop-off was at the Oceanographic aquarium. It was pretty mediocre after some of the really nice ones we have seen in the States.

Around 5:00, we decided to return to the hotel, as we were exhausted. All that hopping wore us out! The 5:00 train was running late; otherwise we would never have caught it. It was packed with daily workers headed home from their jobs in Monaco. We were like sardines - barely able to move, and when someone wanted off, we had to squash together to make room. Fortunately, no one wanted on at any of the stops. We stood for the entire 20-minute trip.
 
I have a cold setting in. I dropped into a pharmacie and bought some Listerine in the morning while waiting for a bus in Monaco. I gargled at lunch, leaving the bathroom smelling like mouthwash!