FLIGHT TO NICE...BUS TO MONACO

Monday, March 9th, 1992 Nice & Monaco for the Day...sleep in Paris

Yep…after a nice breakfast of bread and coffee we moved to American/French Holiday Inn about two blocks away. Inside the hotel you could be in America. Even American news in English. “CNN” on the TV. Jim negotiated a rate of 570f (about $95.) per night. Worth every franc! (Today that same hotel rents for 225 euros and up...that's $300.+ per night! Wow...and we try to keep our hotels under 100 euros (under $150.) a night when we travel now...retirement does make a difference!)

Left our bags in the room…used the toilet IN OUR ROOM! Then left for Orly to return the car. Filled the tank, we’d used about ¾ tank (126 f ) total for the week. Two trips around the block and we found the return area. Got it done and then found the departure line for Air Inter for our day trip to Nice.

Left at 10 am and arrived at 11:20…found the bus to Monaco and we were on our way after only a short wait. Huge bus…direct route and we were the only passengers for the 45 minute trip. Helicopter would have been 350f; taxi about 700f and the bus was only 75f each. Such a bargain. We went high into the mountains for an exciting ride to Monaco. We returned on the same bus several hours later with only one additional passenger. A nice gentlemen in his 50s who spoke excellent English. He was a German who had worked and lived abroad for years and is now consulting only. Said he didn’t speak French too well??? He has lived in Monaco since 1987 with an apartment in Rome. He told us all about the history of the area: talked about the route of the Grand Prix and that it starts on Ascension Thursday every year and runs through Sunday. All racing is set on that calendar. Also about the Roman Ruins, the golf course high in the mountains and the new tunnel that will eliminate much of the scenic road we were traveling between Nice and Monaco. Also, that the bus we were riding was a new route (the only direct one that they have) and that it will probably be eliminated if more people don’t start to ride the bus.

While in Monaco we walked to and around and in the casino. I lost about $5 in a slot machine. We looked at all the shops. Armund Thiery was a very expensive men’s shop. Suits were $1000 plus. The Tourist info station was very helpful to determine where and when to catch the return bus. It was different from where they left us off. We had time to sit at an outside café for fromage (cheese) omelets and cokes. They gave us bread also. It made a very nice early dinner for only 86f. Even used the public toilette which was very, very clean. Arrived back at Nice airport and spent an hour there doing postcards, etc. Jim splurged on two milky ways…$1.00 each!

The plane was a 747 and packed compared to the morning run. Home by 7:30 PM and back to the Holiday Inn. A nice shower and repacked the cases and listened to the TV news in English! Also, called home.

American Companies that we’ve seen in France to date: Kaufman Broad, Disneyland, Coco Cola, Canon, Citi bank, Berkley Bank, MacDonalds and Holiday Inn, Hilton and Ibis Hotels.