Livin it Up in Côte D'Azur

Mercedes..Mercedes..Ferrari...Porsche..Bentley..Mercedes..Mercedes..Aston Martin..Rolls Royce...Mercedes. After car watching for 10 minutes in Monte Carlo you get the idea. Even the taxi's are all Mercedes. The 2nd smallest country in the world (next to the Vatican), Monaco is less than 2.2 sq km and let me tell you, it's pretty freakin awesome. When you walk out of the train station (it's literally a 20 minute train ride from Nice and will cost you a cool 3 euros and change to get there) you see the spectacular port, filled with nothing but the largest yachts you have ever seen. The station is on top of the mountain and there are various levels of streets (they know how to capitalize on limited space) that wind around the mountainside. Known for the Formula One Grand Prix, the entire race track runs through the city. Imagine narrow, winding roads, with sharp curves, perfectly paved asphalt, running through houses and buildings - newly built in old world French architechure - it's wild. Walking through the country, I first thought..wow is there nobody here!? But I suppose that the 33,000 residents, some of the most wealthly in the world probably wouldn't be walking around. Eventually reaching the Monte Carlo Casino, I had to pay 10 Euros just to go throw away more of my money. I ended up playing roulette, and losing all my money..as usual..but at least I didn't blow all of it in 10 minutes that is the norm. You can't take pictures inside but it looks like a French Palace designed for very very very..high rollers. I can't imagine what the table minimums would be in the evening. FYI..residents of Monaco can't gamble in the casino, suppose the gov't wants to make sure they keep the wealth.

I've spent the last few days in Côte D'Azur aka the French Riviera - in Nice, Monaco, and Cannes. My friend Jay met me again this weekend, since he lives in London, it was a quick flight over. BTW, no thanks to him I am now hooked on Cuban cigars - between last weekend in Barcelona and this weekend in France, we must have smoked around 10 cigars. I'm going to start shaking next Friday when my body goes through withdrawal of not having a cigar..not good. So the French Riviera, it's really simple - the beach, shopping, eating, drinking, and partying. Friday night, a couple of us from the hostel went to Wayne's Bar, a joint frequented by mainly tourists in Vieux Nice (old Nice). The drinks were good, but I must say it was too crowded for my taste. Luckily I was warned before about the beaches here, there are large rocks and no sand at all. I really don't know how folks lay out on the rocks all day long, but hey to each..their own. The water here though is just gorgeous, light green, transparent, and deep blue. Saturday night we had dinner in a beachfront restaurant and smoked some Cuban's on the beach. Myself, Jay, and another hostel-mate Alanna sat there for hours..smoking..people watching..flinging rocks into the ocean, probably one of the best evenings I've had on this trip.

My last day here, I walked around the old Nice and stumbled upon a vintage-antique market. I must have spent at least an hour or two browsing through old French books..looking for who knows what. 200 Euro for a second edition of Camus' L'Etranger, yeh maybe next time. I did pick up a compilation of plays by Stendhal (loved his book the Red and the Black) and another small book called "Trois Souvenirs" (3 memories) - don't know much about it but I'm pretty obsessed with any french books having to do with memories, childhood of authors etc. I also caught a train over to Cannes, the fabulous city famed for it's annual film festival in May. Another gorgeous beach town, the ritzy side is defined by La Croisette (a posh promenade on the water lined with palm trees and loads of flowers) and La Rue d'Antibes (like 5th Avenue in NYC, it's filled with the crème de la crème of designers). The Carlton Hotel on La Croisette is one of the most famous and all the suites are named after actors and actresses. The Carlton and the Martinez hotels are frequented by all the celebs during the film festival. Heck, I even walked up the red carpet leading to the Palais de Festivals, where the film festival is held.

Sorry to say I didn't get a chance to check out St. Tropez (bc it takes at least 2 -3 hours to get there on a bus and boat from Nice) and I don't think P. Diddy was there this weekend anyway..so what's the point. =)

Another interesting note, I've been travelling for over 2 months..I'm not homesick, getting depressed at the thought of having to come back to reality in about 3 weeks, and quite surprised that I haven't had more time to myself. The past two weeks in Spain and France have been filled with meeting tons of people and I haven't even had one night to myself. Thus, I am happy to finally spend this entire day and evening by myself.

Au Revoir Nice..headed to the village of Lourmarin tomorrow morning, it will be a huge contrast to the glitz and glam on the French Riviera..but looking forward to it very much.