Monaco!

The next stop in our itinerary was Monaco, which is one of the wealthiest countries in the world (although technically it's a principality, and is part of France). It was a nice change from Italy, which was a bit run-down. The weather was nice and sunny, and the area was beautiful. It's right along the coast and has many hills and mountains.

We did a lot of exploring of the city on our second day there, and since it's built on many hills, there are a lot of stairs, and even some escalators and elevators. It definitely is quite the workout getting around town! Everywhere you go in the city there are expensive cars - Bentleys, Ferraris, etc. There are also so many people that have yachts,and the rent in any apartment is a fortune!

It was definitely a good call having our initial change in itinerary at the beginning of May, because when we arrived in Monaco on the 19th, we found out that the annual Formula 1 race around the streets of the city had just taken place from the 13th-16th, which is when we would have been there originally. We definitely would not have been able to get a hotel, if that were the case!

We went to the Monte Carlo casino during the day to check out the lobby area, without going into the gaming area, which has a dress code and cover charge. We also ended up running into an ex-Schulicher inside! We returned later that night to go to the nearby casino, though we took a picture in front of the Monte-Carlo since we had gotten all dressed up for the evening :)

We played a bunch of different slot machines and video poker, and even did quite well at an electronic betting version of roulette. I also went up to a random Monopoly penny slot which a lady had just left, to move to the machine next to it... I spun with 25 cents and won over 6 Euros :) I think the lady was pretty upset that she switched machines!

Overall, we had an amazing time in Monaco, and it was probably one of my favourite cities so far!