Monte Carlo

I am uploading a lot of images of Monaco since I took so many that I really like. (I'll tell Blogspot to show them little, but click them to see them big). Monaco is a really special place. One could spend an entire day at the Musee Oceanographique. The specialized detailed stone carvings on the outside of the building were just fascinating to me. I have never seen such attention to theme in the design of a building.

One photo shows the very base of the street-side, the last course of stone that few people bother to look at, behind the shubbery, that had row upon row of carved drips of water. The brackets were on either side of an entranceway. They are similar but one has a crab and one an octopus. The corner photo of the waves shows just one area of the overall design, where there were multiple rows of splash-y waves.


Inside the mosaic floors were exquisite. They were difficult to photograph because of the many windows with sunny glare coming in from all directions, plus the many feet crossing all the time.

The Museum is built into the absolute side of the coastal cliff. I remembered seeing that on television years ago because it is such an unforgettable image. If you click on the photo to see the larger image, you can see our WindSurf ship docked on the right.

Inside the Oceanographic Museum are exhibits on all types of ocean exploration. They have model ships and lots of imformation about them like the copper-clad bottom Maquette du HMS Challenger
which is 1/67th size. That ship was launched in 1858 and did research from 1872-1876 under the direction of Capt. George Strong Nores with the Albert the Prince of Monaco on the team. The Challenger sailed more than 110,000 KM around the world collecting over 4000 new species from 362 research stations.

The Museum has several levels of aquariums. It is just unbelievable. The floor level with the street behind it has an exhibit hall and really special lighting fixtures that look like sea urchins. The upper floors have more exhibit halls with things like skeletons of whales, early submarines and diving suits, shells from around the world, and pickeled sea life--fish and such--from some early sea research voyages. The Musee Oceanographique is also the home of the J. Costeau research material it seems altho I do not know the exact relationship.

On the Museum's roof is a cafe and at various levels are garden terraces with wonderful views. Monte Carlo has all sorts of gardens at different levels and lots of wonderful views.

The roads are twisty turny and you can easily imagine Grace Kelly zooming off the edge. Because of the mountainous terrain, there are also lots of tunnels.

Monte Carlo is famous for their fancy casino that you can see from the photo that I took from the helicopter ride. My acquaintances that went to see it commented that it seemed smaller than it looked from afar, that there was about a 12 Euro charge to get in and that basically it was one big room. Seems the limits to gamble were pretty steep, so the folks I was chatting with on the boat who went up to it at night didn't do much wagering.

I can see that if I am to continue as a jetsetter, it is imperative that I learn Italian, French and Spanish (better) asap.
10 pm
I am at http://www.starsnbars.com/ and have been waiting on an Internet connection where I can use a diskette. It is a cross between Plant Hollywood& that SNL skit with the two disco guys, I hope this works. Music...LOUD...Pulse, pulse, pulse..
no dammit, this computer will not give me access to the A drive, it is disabled, the CD drive is ok but not the A drive, crazy, the only other computer that is not locked up in a wodden box has a guy using it who the desk says stays on it all the time, he talks in many languages, I have over-heard, he is on cell phone at the same time and drinking red wine from a large bottle that sits by the computer also...he has not offered me any, ....he may be there a while. ....after I typed this nice long informative blog post to a diskette in the ship's library, this is sooooooooo frustratiing you can't even imagine.
Forget photos, I am in computer neverland.......i have taken a zillion but no one will let me upload photos.
All I can do is try to use my 22 minutes now.
Monte Carlo is like a different world. Fancy and beautiful. I was one of 3 people (the COOL people :o) who signed up for a helicopter ride this morning over this mountainous and tropical terrain. The pilot made sure it was a thrill ride.
After that Sara and I went to the famous Oceanographic Museum and Aquarium. I had seen it on TV, and it is unforgettable. The outside of the building itself is just incredible. It is built into the sheer cliff of the hillside into the sea. Best aquarium I haVE EVER SEEN, Mosiac floors throughout of underwater creatures. I took a lot of photos and will add them later, when I return I guess.
We are well, laughing and having fun. The Wind Surf is pure luxury, the food....so so, but then we are spoiled. They try to be fancy, but our standards are high in the food dept !! But we are certainly not starving, ha !
Well, better use my remaining 13 min to ck email...
love to all, Lundy
thanks for the funny comments