Wednesday 09
October
Monte Carlo or bust today!
I have been recommended a local guide, Sue, by Robin and
Kathy friends of mine who work for Bakers Dolphin. I would normally take the
group in on my own but they say Sue will be worth every penny of the €170.00
she is costing! She had better be good!
Sue is an English lady who lives close to San Remo and
has been in Italy since marrying Enzo 37 years ago.
We meet at 07:45 at the hotel where Sue goes over our
plan of action for the day before departing at 08:00. An early breakfast today.
To enter Monte Carlo each coach has to buy a permit for
€140.00 which allows access and parking. It is a bit of a pain, and time
consuming, doing this but Sue has it all sorted before we go which is a big
help.
We drive in off the motorway and the views of the
principality are fantastic as we wind our way down to one of the main coach
parks built into the rock underneath the Royal Palace. For the duration of the
journey Sue has been giving us information and telling stories of the area we
are in and also Monaco.
Once parked up we take a series of escalators and lifts
to the top where Sue then walks the group to the main square and Royal Palace.
On the way we visit the cathedral where Princess Grace is
entombed and I light a candle to my dear friend Del who died a couple of weeks
ago. I am not very religious but seemed the right thing to do.
After explaining where everything is and showing them
into the Palace museum the group are left to explore at their leisure while Sue
and I retire to a small cafe she knows close to the square.
I have a coffee and Sue has a wine! It is never too
early!
We are chatting about different companies and the work we
do when the conversation gets around to Parry’s International, the coach
company with the best fleet of vehicles in the country. My mate Chris works for
them and it turns out that Sue knows him well! I then spend time sending and
receiving texts from Chris about Sue! All very funny.
We are all due back on the coach at 13:15 for the short
journey to the heart of Monte Carlo. The ten minute drive follows part of the
famous Grand Prix circuit past the starting grid and harbour and including driving through that tunnel!
We park in another underground coach park and then follow
Sue up to the famous square. It is very hot again today and the walk is up a
short hill so some of the group stay down by the water’s edge and the Japanese
Gardens.
On the way up we stop for pictures at Fairmont Corner, a
famous bend on the Grand Prix course, and home to a hotel of the same name that
must afford some of the best views of the race.
Once at the Casino Square I am amazed by the collection
of cars parked around the square. There are more Bentleys, Ferraris, Porsches
and Aston Martins than you can shake a stick at!
The casino opens to the public at 14:00 and I am
determined to go in and have a gamble in memory of Del. He loved his gambling
and liked nothing more than visiting a casino. He used to spend hours going
through the numbers of a roulette wheel trying to find a pattern and even
bought a house in Southsea to be close to the casino there!
I go in and buy
€40.00 of chips and choose one of the tables to place my bets on. I am going to
have four €10.00 bets on number 29, my birthday. I am feeling quite emotional!
The first three spins of the wheel prove fruitless even
though the little white ball falls on numbers very close by.
I put my last €10.00 on number 29 (and really am feeling
funny) and it comes in! I feel like Delboy is watching over me and had a hand
in me winning! Silly I know but it does make me shed a tear! I walk out of
there trousering €360.00 a profit of €320.00. Cheers Del! I will raise a glass
to you at your funeral on Monday.
I walk back to the bus feeling happy, excited and still a
bit emotional. I text my mate Bandit and tell him my news and he also thinks
Del is looking down on us.
I spend a bit of time strolling along the promenade
before my flock return to the bus. We leave Monte Carlo and keep off the
motorway as we drive around the headland to the lovely resort of Menton. We are
only stopping for an hour and I decide to stay on the bus while everyone goes
off in search of a coffee, beer or ice cream. It has been a very hot day and I
think they are all a little worn out! Because of this I don’t think Menton went
down that well at the end of a tiring
day.
I am pestered by a coloured geezer trying to sell me
something. He speaks good English and has been to England and in the end I buy
a small wooden Buddha from him for €5.00. He says it will bring me luck! He’s
three hours too late!
We are back at the hotel by 17:45 and it has been a
lovely day made all the better by having Sue with us. She was good!
Another delicious dinner awaits and after dinner we have
a corner of the bar area just for Greys where there is tea, coffee and cakes to
be enjoyed after dinner. We have this every evening and goes down very well.
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