Day 7

I can't believe it's already been a week! Today was a long day, but so much fun. We're in Monaco! We left early and we had two layovers: one in Marsailles, and one in Nice. We drove through Provence, which was so beautiful. Really, the train ride was indescribable. I wish I had a six hour video of the views. It would go from olive groves and villas, to mountains with tiny towns, to the Mediterranean beaches, back to mountains and cliffs...literally, it was breathtaking. I seriously forgot to breathe at some moments. It really hit me on the train that I am actually fulfilling some of my life's dreams. It was really incredible.

I took a few pictures during our layover in Marsailles. We had a good 2 hours there. The surrounding areas were pretty sketchy looking, but the station was nice. And the views from the back of the station were great!

This one's for Ross. It really is a Royal with Cheese instead of a Quarter-Pounder!

Those were the views from the back of the Marsailles train station.

After having 9 minutes to switch trains in Nice, we made it to Monaco. Getting to the hotel was a little confusing (as usual) but it really wasn't hard. It was just really, really hot waiting for the bus to take us there.

The Port of Monaco

Mountains in the distance...

Our hotel! Hotel Capitole. Newly renovated and very clean. We even have a little balcony!

We checked in and relaxed for a while, (something we rarely get to do) and then we went to dinner. We just walked around until we found something reasonably priced. We both wanted Mediterranean, but ended up with Italian again. Can't complain!

I know it looks really gross, like carrots or something, but it was probably the best thing I've eaten so far in Europe. It was a penne pasta (obviously) with a marinara and pepper sauce that was the perfect amount of spicy. So delicious.

We came back to the room to freshen up and then we headed out for the Casino Monte-Carlo! It was incredibly beautiful and all lit up. The Paris Hotel (to the right of the casino) is also beautiful. Most of the buildings here are. And the big shopping center is next to the Paris Hotel...Cartier, Celine, Dior, Bvlgari...we're going first thing in the morning! And the whole circle around the gardens, fountains, casino, etc. is filled with luxury vehicles. I mean, completely filled with Porches, Bentleys, Mercedes, Maseratis, antique cars, anything you could think of. It must be stressful for those poor vallet boys. The cars were all inches from each other! It was crazy! Actually, I saw on our map guide that Monaco has an antique car collection museum of Prince Rainier. For some reason All my pictures of the cars came out blurry and I must have deleted all of them without paying attention. But I know it won't be hard to take more tomorrow. We saw 6 Bentlys in about 20 minutes this afternoon.

First fountain out in front of the "jardins."

The "jardins"

There it is!

Close up...

The Paris Hotel

They wouldn't let us take our cameras into the actual casino! Bummer, I know. But you can take my word for it, it was gorgeous. It even had a huge Rolex clock that looked exactly like a blown-up Rolex watch face. In yellow gold. Made me think of Mom!

So after our little visit to Monaco, we are going to head over to Nice tomorrow afternoon. The hostel we're staying at was voted best in France for the past couple years, so I'm really excited! You can check it out here www.vsaint.com. Looks like a monastery on the outside, and a spaceship on the inside! Talk to you soon!

Miss and Love y'all!
Allie



P.S. You know what's cool? My first time (and Alyson's too) in a casino just happened to be in the Casino Monte-Carlo in Monaco. That's pretty cool...even if we were too scared to actually gamble.