Monaco is a very interesting country. First of all, it is the 2nd smallest country—right after the Vatican (which isn’t a “real” country in most people’s eyes—it’s like a city that they call a country because the Pope lives there). At some point in its history (I can’t remember now because I’m on my 2nd glass of wine) Monaco lost a lot of its land, and therefore income (it mainly exported fruit). Because of this, it was pretty much going down the drain when Prince someone or another suggested they open a casino and become gambling town.
This saved the country, as it became the rich man’s Vegas. A decade or so later, the King made it tax free for the people living there, which obviously attracted a huge amount of wealthy people. It’s a very small country—they have very little land to work with—so the city has grown up instead of out. A way it did grow out some was when, about 100 years ago, they decided to reclaim land from the sea and build it up. About half of Monaco’s square mileage is there because of what they have built up from the sea. Now Monte Carlo is full of very tall sky-scraper apartments and hotels, amazing yachts, and the nicest cars we have ever seen.
We did a “hop on hop off” tour to see Nice, France, and Monte Carlo, Monaco. The whole day was amazing, we would highly recommend visiting. However, the highlight of our day is probably not something that would happen on your trip. We decided to take a break for a latte outside the infamous Monte Carlo Casino. This is the most well known square in the city, as the 2 most well known casinos, and a very well known hotel—Hotel Paris—are there. These are supposedly what put Monte Carlo on the map. So we decide to have a (quite overpriced) latte at the Café Paris around 2:00pm. When we arrived, there were a bunch of reserved tables spread out in the outdoor patio area. At one point, we noticed someone setting up a camera. My first thought is that maybe someone famous is coming in the café, like Oprah, hahaha. But then, people dressed in jeans and different colored shirts start to walk in and take the reserved tables. All of their shirts are different colors, but are the same style—plain T shirts. More cameras are set up and there are lots of people talking to the colored shirt people—do they need water? Are they nervous? What stands out to me the most is that they are obviously together (with the similar dress) but are not sitting together… they are all spread out. At some point, I turn to Craig and say, “I bet it’s a flash mob.” Craig replies, “No way.” He insists for the next 15 minutes that it is not a flash mob, and I insist that it is.
Suddenly the awnings above us retract and one guy stands up and starts singing. Another guy joins him, and then 2 more and then slowly their whole group does as well. There are about 30 of them and they sing and dance for the next 10 minutes. Everyone laughs and claps and thoroughly enjoys the performance. And then, they just sit down like it never happened. I have wanted to see (well be in, but at the very least see) a flash mob for the past 2 years and seeing this made my day.
After that, we did some walking through an amazing park, bought some souvenirs, and took a “boat bus” back to our ship. All and all it was a fabulous day!
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