Day 107 - Friday April 14

Monaco photos
position at 8:00 am: N43 44.38 latitude E7 25.49 longitude
(Monaco)
temperature: 58F, 88% humidity, clear
distance since FLL: 34,318 miles
Clay again had an abbreviated walk on deck since we were docking at 8am in Monaco. It was cool on deck but not too windy. The deck crew must have changed in Rome as there were all new faces on the crew washing down the deck this morning. They were also running about 15-20 minutes later than the previous crew. We arrived here early and were docking by 6:40am and completely tied up by 7am. Our docking time was originally 8am. No announcements were made that we heard, so we don't know if the ship cleared early as well. We docked on the port side today. Capt. Dag had to pull nose in this morning, so no quick drive off this evening for him. Unfortunately, this gave us a view straight down of the pier and straight ahead of nothing but ocean. The people on the starboard side today had the million dollar view of Monte-Carlo, but we had the view of the gangway. Debbie did not want to get out of bed this morning and was slow starting. We had breakfast in LaVeranda about 7:50am. Debbie had cereal and peanut butter toast. Clay had his usual eggs.
Then we went back to the cabin to get our maps and materials in order to decide what to do this morning. Of course, we did not even follow the plan, so there is no point in sharing it. Any one reading this who might be docking here, when you go through the passenger terminal be sure and stop to pick up a little booklet/folder named "Your cruise welcome kit." This little packet contains postcards, a map and a bus map other information and most importantly, discount coupons! We wound up first at the Musee Oceanographic Aquarium because the Azur Express trains were not yet running when we got there. The sign said they would not open for 45 minutes, so we crossed the street and spent that 45 minutes in the Aquarium. It was very impressive, we did not do the museum part on the upper floors, just the aquarium. There was a coupon for 2 Euros off the regular 11 Euro price. There was also a coupon for the Azur Express Monaco Tours trains. It was for 1 Euro off the regular 7 Euro price. Also, the ticket stub becomes a postcard for those interested in postcards. Very clever. This is a little fake tractor-type train engine pulling 3 cars. It makes a loop of Monaco-Ville and over to Monte-Carlo to see the Casino andthen back through Monaco-Ville to the start point again in front of the Aquarium. The ride lasts 30 minutes and there is no getting off and on. It has a headset at every seat and plays a recorded narration describing where you are driving and what you are seeing. You can choose on of about 6 languages for the narration. The last coupon we used was for 1.50 Euros off the 3 Euros regular admission to the Musee de la chapelle de la visitation housing the Baroque Masters religious art collection of Barbara Piasecka Johnson. It was a beautiful little baroque chapel housing 20 paintings and a tapestry. It was really marvelous. The barque artwork hanging in a tiny baroque chapel. Wonderful. There were a bunch of other coupons we did not use; Naval Museum 2.50 off, Zoo 3 off, classic cars 3 off, stamp & coin museum 2.50 off, Louis II Stadium 2 off, panoramic helicopter flight (2 different companies, 2 coupons) 5 off, Exotic Garden 1.60 off, Aquavision 2 off, Prince's Palace 2 off, Napoleonic Memorabilia 1 off, Wax Museum 1.30 off, National Museum 2 off, Sun Casino and Casino of Cafe de Paris 1 complementary drink each for gamers at slots or tables and lastly Monaco the Film 1.50 off. So that covers discount coupons.
We began this morning with the long and not well signed for pedestrians walk out of the port. We wound up walking through a street tunnel dodging traffic, the other option would have been some completely hidden stone stairs that we did not find until we returned to the port. The map we had picked up last night at the Tour Desk had lots of public elevators and escalators shown and did not make much sense on a flat map. We began to suspect then that this was a mostly vertical city. But, it looked compact and we planned to make a tour of the elevators and escalators. We had much enjoyed our Hong Kong walk with escalators so we figured it would be scenic here as well and fun. We walked along with a couple of other groups from the ship, one we followed in the traffic route and the other appeared as we exited our tunnel and had taken the stone stairs we guess. One of the women asked a local which way to go to the Palace and he led us towards a ramp, he said, by leading us on a walking path that skirted the very sea edge of Monaco-Ville (and avoided the next traffic tunnel). We don't know if there was a ramp. We got sidetracked by a little set of stairs leading down to a little rocky beach! Down we went, rocks, ocean, waves, flowers, rocks...Just beautiful! Back up the stairs and the group was gone, of course. Not that we were with them, but we don't know which way they went to the Palace. We did not go to the Palace. We rounded the corner of this cliffside path around a public parking garage and there was the beautiful Musee Oceanographic. This was Jacques Costeau's office for about 32 years. For those interested, there are some wonderful free public WCs in the parking garage on the ground floor. The women's room had dozens of stalls with seats and toilet paper and it was very clean. Thumbs up. There are a plethora of public WCs in Monaco, more than we have seen in other countries were we covered more ground and that is a good thing, but they were not all equal. Some had no seats. Some had no toilet paper. And, many had the woman holding you up for coins after you had already paid to be in the building, though these women were also at some public toilets. Just an observation for those who might have an interest. So, we were headed for the Azur Express Train to start but it was closed so we went to the Aquarium first. That meant that we missed the changing of the guards at 11:55am in front of the Prince's Palace, but there was a crowd building there when the train passed it 30 minutes early so we weren't really sure we wanted to do this after seeing the crowds anyway. We forgot about the Cathedral, but later heard it was closed until after 4:30pm because of Good Friday. Don't know if it would have been open for us this morning, but we just forgot and got diverted again. We went to the Baroque Chapel with the art, into a Chocolatier and wandered scenic little streets uphill in Monaco-Ville. We were vaguely looking for a place for lunch. We got to the Palace and the crowds were still there, so we were glad to have missed the big event for the day there. We saw a sign and followed the Rampe Major downhill to the port area. We were heading to the pedestrian street of Rue Princesse Caroline where Rick Steve's says there are lots of places for lunch. There are. We walked up and down. Sat at one and did not like the menu they finally brought, which was much altered from the one posted outside and left. We went back up to the next choice that had a seafood special that Clay wanted. We waited to be seated because the place was packed inside the smoky dining rooms and outside on the sidewalk seating. We were seated outside in the sun. Got a little sunburned even though we both applied sunscreen this morning before heading out. It was really chilly this morning and stayed comfortably cool all day today. But, the sun was really hot if you lingered and we lingered for about an hour. We ate at Huit & Demi. It was very nice and the food was good and most of it was reasonably priced. We ordered the fish special for Clay and a beer, they had Grolsch draft. Debbie ordered the King pizza which had mozzarella, tomato, basil, chorizo and olives. It was very tasty. The little black olives were delicious but had pits, so had to be careful. Debbie also ordered a glass of white wine. The waiter returned with a carafe of water, a bucket-sized wine glass over half full of white wine and a large beer that turned out to cost 6.50 Euros. Debbie's wine, which was excellent, cost a fraction of that beer and it wasn't even a local beer! While Clay was in the restroom, the headwaiter came back and told Debbie, the fish is finished, out. He tried to get Debbie to substitute mussels on Clay's behalf but she declined. He left the 2 menus on the table. Clay was pretty exasperated by this development. If we had stopped here in first place, he might have gotten his fish special for 13 Euros. The only other fish on the menu that Clay was interested in cost 28 Euros for a mixed fried plate. He figured he got his in Siracusa for 13 Euro and he was done. He ordered another 12 Euro pizza with tomatoes and basil. Both pizzas had crust that was too limp. It took a long time to get them. When they arrived, we realized we had ordered way too much pizza! Oh, well. Debbie's was much better than Clay's and since we couldn't finish both anyway, we mostly Debbie's. Debbie got drunk and didn't care about anything for a couple of hours. (She was sober when she tripped and fell! That was much later in the afternoon.)
So, now refueled we would start our elevators/escalators climb of Monaco. So, we followed the map and found the first one. We continued on to find the longest escalator section on the map at first it appeared to have been, at least temporarily, lost to construction. Monaco has about 3 or 4 places that are called Gare or Station Access. The underground of a huge area of Monaco appears to be taken up by trains and train tunnels and pedestrian tunnels to get to the trains. It was amazing, a whole other, underground country for trains. There weren't that many people under there either, surprisingly. So, anyway, the whole front of the lower entrance to the longest mechanized section was missing. A man saw us studying the map and while he didn't speak any English asked to help. Debbie pointed to the map. He pointed us to the construction entrance and assured us that was it. We went in and travel over a 3 part moving sidewalk for a long way. Then we took an escalator, we popped out above ground for a photo opportunity and then went back in the train station complex for the long elevator. It too was followed by an escalator. We popped out just inside the border with France, so pretty far up the mountain. The views were not as stunning as we had hoped for. The angle was just wrong. We should have chosen the other side and gone up the side closer to Monaco-Ville maybe instead of this one. Oh, well here we sat. We had about 2 hours to get back to the ship from up here. We waited for a bus for about 15 minutes, they are supposed to be on a 10-12 minute interval schedule and decided to start walking downhill. We walked down the Monte-Carlo side. We wanted to get pictures of the enormous tulips we say from the tourist train this morning in front of the Casino. It was a really beautiful garden area. We had never seen such huge tulips. So, we walked down hill and the across on what turned out to be a major designer shopping street. At the corner where you would turn downhill toward the Casino there is a raised tan marble "dais" as part of the public sidewalk that turns out to be part of the corner-facing entrance to Cartier. There is a small step from the uphill side and a couple steps from the downhill side. She probably wouldn't have missed the uphill stairs, but Debbie did not notice the small step turning the corner to form this Cartier raised entrance on their corner. She tripped and landed on her hands and knees. Clay was sure she was hurt as was a man approaching from the downhill side. He was annoyed by the "dais" and waved his arms around pointing it out. Oh. Debbie had hopped up on her own and brushed her hands off and showed everyone she was fine. Here is the thing. It is embarrassing to trip and fall. But, that wasn't the thing. The thing was that the gold bracelet that Debbie finally found just a few days ago in Kusadasi, Turkey for her 20th wedding anniversary and for this trip is probably a little too large and it hangs down some onto her hand. The bracelet was across the fleshy pad of her palm when she landed. She still wasn't hurt. The bracelet made a very temporary imprint that went with the dirt she wiped off on her jeans.The thing was that some of the tiny links were crushed! Debbie's new gold bracelet got a boo-boo in front of Cartier's in Monte-Carlo! What are the odds? Truth is stranger than fiction. We couldn't even make this stuff up! And even if we could, why would we bother when our real experiences are amazing enough? So, that is the thing.
We got some pictures in front of the casino and then headed on across the street. Debbie pointed out the gelateria at the Cafe de Paris across the street from the Hotel de Paris and that is where we headed. Clay got a cone of Praline gelato and Debbie got a cone of Framboise sorbet. (That is raspberry for you non-French speakers.) We went up and took some pictures of the tulips. It was time to start back to the ship in earnest. We walked over a block and waited for a bus. The first bus was too full, the 2nd bus was out of service. The third bus was nearly empty, we got on. 1.50 Euros pp for a single journey. You also can buy (on the bus) an unlimited travel day pass for 3.50 Euros.
We took a slow bus ride because of a motorcyclist, a young woman, had turned her bike over and fallen off in the street on the Monte-Carlo side of the harborfront and she was laying in the road. We guess they did not want to move her, but they had moved her motorcycle and taken her helmut off. She was intact but obviously shaken. Eventually, before the ambulance came, our bus got past. We got off the bus at the edge of the dock area and walked down the pier side to the ship with a few glitches. They are building the fences and grandstands already for the Grand Prix in May. The narration of the tour train said it takes 6 weeks to build all of the fences and grandstands and 2 more weeks to take them all back down. We guess, but what a mess for the people who live here during that 8 weeks. Anyway, we were back on the ship by 4:30pm, a full hour before all aboard.
We came back early because of 2 things. One, today is Margie's (Debbie's Mom) birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MARGIE!!! again. The other was that we had gotten a letter from Gudrun, the onboard Cruise Consultant on the 13th describing our new benefits for being SSS Gold Members. One benefit was 2 free hours of telephone usage. Clay went down and quizzed her about this and she told him to just pick up the phone and follow the instructions in the cabin for making phone calls and that 2 hours worth would not be billed. Anything over 2 hours would be billed at the normal rate $6.50 per minute. Easy enough and we will assume that if billing messes up that we have Gudrun's letter. So rather than use Clay's Blackberry for this we used the phone in our cabin. Margie's present was an hour long conversation with Debbie today.
By 5:40pm or so, they were making announcements for missing passengers. We did not put up the gangway until after our 6pm scheduled sailing time. At 6:07pm, Debbie was standing outside on the balcony as we were wondering how long the Captain would delay sailing for these late people. Debbie stuck her head in to tell Clay that 6 people were running up. The first 2 were Jamie and Dana, the cruise directors. The next 2 were the onboard ballroom dance instructors. We did not recognize the last 2 passengers. But, the couple behind them all Debbie recognized from a couple of earlier segments. This man and woman had been regulars in aerobics classes and had been listed in the Guest Directory as living in Cannes. This couple had apparently invited these people from the ship to their home while here. They thought they had left in time to drive back but were stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic and just got back late.
Tonight was Formal. We dressed up and went to Compass Rose. Clay had soft shelled crabs and spaghetti with meatballs. Debbie had a spaghetti appetizer and a filet mignon. We both had ice cream for dessert and then off to bed after another hard driving day. We hope to sleep in tomorrow since we are not scheduled to arrive in Barcelona until noon. The original schedule was deceptive in that it had us in Barcelona until 1am on Sunday, that was 1 hour after midnight on Saturday or 25 hours after arrival. Now we are scheduled to be all aboard at 10:30pm and sail at 11pm. The dress tomorrow night onboard is Country Club Casual, but we have a World Cruiser's Special Event in Barcelona tomorrow night and it is coat and tie required. It warns of cobblestone street walking, so Debbie will have to figure out how to dress Informal in walking shoes! This Special Event was originally described as cocktails at the Picasso Museum, but it seems to have grown. The letter received a few days ago says that we will meet on the pier at 6pm for a short motorcoach transfer to the beautiful Casa Llotja de Mar for cocktails and dinner. After dinner, at 8pm we will walk the cobblestone streets of the Gothic Quarter to Santa Maria del Mar, one of Barcelona's finest Gothic churches, ablaze in light especially for our visit. At8:45pm, we arrive at the Picasso Musem where we will receive an exclusive guided visit. At 10pm we will enjoy dessert and conversation in the museum. At 11pm we return to Voyager. (They may have to hold the ship again tomorrow!) We'll report back tomorrow.
Monaco photos