6/9/06

Trip: Final (Monaco)

**Let's just say when you have shitty internet, its much harder to blog. Here is an entry I wrote a few days ago**
Right now, as I am typing this entry, I have a beautiful view of the country of Monaco: more specifically the Grand Casino. The ship pulls right into the city here...if I jumped into the water from my room it would literally take me 3 minutes to swim to shore and about another 5 to walk to the Casino! Today me and my parents explored the city...it rained in the morning so we went to the old section of the town and took a tour of the Prince's Palace. Its a very nice place complete with lots of art (that isn't very good) and very fancy furniture (that isn't really used). Nonetheless, I wouldn't say no to living there. Monaca is the same type of tiny little Euro-town (with mini-streets many of which are pedestrian only) but it has been much more built up like an American city. There are tall, modern buildings all up along the hills here, and it looks really cool! They are starting to get set up for the Gran Prix, an auto race that takes place in the streets of the City (the entire country is the city, and only the area directly around the Casino is called Monte Carlo). There are bleachers everywhere! The sun came out in the afternoon so we went up to the Casino, which is beautiful. This really is a city of the rich and famous: designers stores on every corner (and in between every corner!). Everyone looks fabulous all the time. They worship Grace Kelly like a god!! Huge yachts are constantly pulling in and out of the harbor. We went into the casino, put you need to buy chips to get into the actual betting area, and you need a passport with you to buy chips, so we just saw the lobby. Tomorrow we fly back to Chicago via Nice and Paris. It should be long and uncomfortable. But much fun awaits me at home, so I am looking forward to it! I will enjoy my final evening aboard the Crystal Symphony, and will hopefully reboard in the future with CCE!

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