Well, this was the day we had been waiting for - Monaco. As it was a bit of a haul by our standards, three and half hours or so, we decided to cut along the main roads across to Aix-en-Provence, then turned off onto the A50 to head down to Toulon for lunch. We found a parking station in the old part of Toulon near the waterfront and explored the streets and found a little place for lunch. After a rest, we headed back up towards the main roads on the A57 and onto the freeway.
Before we headed off on our trip, I had done some research on driving in France, road rules, tolls etc. Apparently some toll booths use coins, others credit card. But the one thing I didn't see was how to tell which booths were which, by either location or signage - so we had a pile of coins, besides the credit cards. On our drive from Toulouse to St Antonin, we had come across one toll station, where all I had to do was insert the credit card. Easy, what could go wrong?
On the main freeway, the A8, we came across several toll booths. Some you paid in coins in advance, others you swiped the credit card. One thing I worked out was, that as you approached the booths, on the gantry before the booths the signs showed either etags or cash - with the cash being on the right hand side. When you get to the booths, the signs on top are all the same - so if you want to use cash/notes, go to the booths on the right hand end - look for the slot for "billet". Or, you could be like us, with our pile of coins we went for the booth in the middle without a queue. I tipped in the coins into the bucket, they rattled through and one got stuck, so it didn't record the proper amount and the boom didn't lift. I threw in another coin, still nothing. Ok.... I pressed the Help button with the plea "parlez vous anglais", and "non" was the response. I figured that as they could see us on the cameras, they would take pity on us and lift the boom. It took a while, with a ever growing queue behind us, beeping horns, and STBMrsK getting more antsy.... "I think you're over-reacting dear...", said I, "... no I'm not!", says she. After what seems hours, but probably only a few minutes, the boom lifted and off we went. I'm sure the cctv footage has ended up on the French version of "Dumb things tourists do" show.
We then edged closer to Monaco. Our phone/GPS kept chattering away and keeping us on track. As we got closer to Monaco we discovered one short coming in the system. When we headed towards a roundabout, it would start saying, "
... take the third exit onto Avenue des Castelans in 150m" - but then as we arrived to the roundabout quickly, it didn't get the chance to say the whole street name, "
... take Avenue des... take 3rd exit,,,, now...". Some of the so called exits were more like a driveway than a road, and there was more than a few times I had to do another lap to work out which street I was supposed to be on. 20+ years ago I drove into Monaco, descending down the hill. This time, following the GPS and the signs, we suddenly entered a tunnel - and we seemed to spiral down and down. What to do - wait until we popped out the bottom and go from there - although I wasn't sure whether we would end up in Monaco, back in France, Italy or Switzerland, based on the time we spent in the tunnel. But we popped out at the bottom of the hill and into Monaco. Following the now relatively docile GPS we got to our destination, the
Monte-Carlo Bay Hotel & Resort.
Now, this was the fun bit. We pulled up in the mighty Renault Captur (now named Renee) into the arrival area of the hotel, where there were a number of high end Porsches, Mercedes and BMW's parked - I resisted the temptation to do a hand brake turn. We got out of the car and I looked across to the Valet desk, to hand over the keys - they refused to make eye contact. After a couple of minutes of me jangling the keys in their direction and pointing at the car, one person - I think he was the new guy pushed out by the others - came across and took the car off to be hidden from view.
The hotel was fantastic, friendly service, magnificent room and a view across the Mediterranean - a must for STBMrsK.
After unloading our gear into the room, spreading out, soaking in the enormous bath and taking in the view from our room, we got ready for our night out, with the aim being to have coughtails at the Le Bar Américain in the Hotel de Paris, and visit the Casino. We got into our special outfits that had been carried across Europe, and started with classic martinis at our hotel, and then caught a taxi up to the American Bar. It was Friday night, there was a jazz singer and combo, Bono and Edge on the next table (meh) - it was picture perfect. A major item off our bucket list. We probably looked like country hicks given everyone else was in their really expensive but casual looking t-shirts and jeans, but we didn't care.
After a couple of really nice classic martinis we headed across the square to the Casino - but as STBMrsK didn't have photo id they wouldn't let her in. So, we decided to head back to the hotel, get some id and return - after all we (and our outfits) had come this far. When we walked out the front of the casino I couldn't see any taxis and asked the doorman if he could call one. He walked over to some cars that were parked by the front, and one of the drivers came over and said he could take us to our hotel. So we climbed into the back of a black Maserati Quattroporte, and off he went. Swinging around the hairpin on the F1 track, with the sound of the V8 engine and he drove it as it should be driven, was something I won't forget in a hurry. So after retrieving STBMrsK photo id we caught a taxi back to the Casino and went in. As we weren't in the VIPs area, there was only six people there. We had another martini at the bar, but it wasn't anything special. We then headed back to the hotel, using the same routine as before - except this time it was a brand new black Maserati Quattroporte. The best bit about the whole thing, was it was so cheap. When the first driver took us back to the hotel, as it was a limo I asked how much it was, and his reply was "whatever you think it is worth". As the taxi cost 15 euro, I asked 20 euro? He said that was fine, shook my hand and said for us to have a great night. 20 euro to sit in the back of one of my favourite cars, on the Monaco F1 track - bargain.
After getting back to the room, we ordered a bottle of champagne and sat on the balcony looking at the lights. In the morning, we did the whole room service breakfast, which was delivered in the big trolley and we sat in our bathrobes, again, taking in the view. Reluctantly we packed up our gear and went down and checked out, and then asked for the car to be brought around. It took ages - I suspect they had hidden it away, next door, behind a rock etc, where no one would see it. We then loaded up Renee the Renault and started on our trek to Avignon.