We arrived in Monaco, for those of you who may not know the history of Monaco, it is not a part of France. It is an independent country that is under the protection of France. It is the second smallest country in the world with 35,000 people in population and a size of 2 square kilometers. Marisole hurried us through one of the gardens, to a scenic overlook, pass the church where Grace Kelly was married and is now buried. We couldn’t quite figure out why she was in such a rush until we arrived at the Palace. It was high noon, and the one and only changing of the guards was taking place.
The guards are not quite as serious as those in England or DC. They were quite friendly when people asked them questions or for directions. We noticed that all of them were not only young, but also good-looking (OK that was mostly Tina’s observation). This led to her desire to have a photograph with one. He said that he was not allowed to pose, but I could stand in front of him and he could be in the background. See photo for his serious face pose. He was definitely posing.
Marisole left us to explore Monaco, we had a little over 3 hours. You will see photos of beautiful parks, views, and buildings. From one of the spots you looked out and actually saw three countries; France, Monaco, and Italy. We enjoyed a nice baguette for lunch in one of the parks. It was a chicken baguette, with tons of real mayonnaise so Jared was in heaven. It was very satisfying, but lets be honest, anything with gobs of mayonnaise is great!
After walking around we realized there was not that much to see or venture into so we decided to sit for an afternoon drink and a snack. We ordered two beers; one was the beer of Monaco, while the other was flavored with Tequila. Not sure how French, um we mean Monacian the second one is, but it worked. We also decided to get a crepe; we are in France after all, actually we mean Monaco. So we decided on a crepe with Grand Marnier. Tina’s dad loved Grand Marnier, as well as good food so it had to be good. Well let’s just say between the beers and the Grand Marnier Crepe Tina was “feeling it.” We expected them to cook of some of the alcohol, but no it was drenched in the good stuff.
We headed off to spend the remainder of our time in a nice shady spot in one of the parks over looking the Mediterranean. On the way we saw benguiets, in a bakery window. Now we had benguiets in NOLA, so we had to try the real thing. This one was filled with chocolate and definitely satisfied the sweet spot we were looking to fill with the crepe. It was very different from the one we had in NOLA, the one there was more like fried dough pieces with powdered sugar. This benguiet was more similar to a doughnut, but it was filled with real chocolate (not crème) and the dough was a little bit different.
Monaco was crawling with police officers. Upon further reflection when your country is only 2 square kilometers it is not that big of a surprise. What was unique is that unlike the young good-looking guards at the castle, the requirements for being a police officer in Monaco must have something to do with height, because they were all huge. We also learned a contributing factor to the gorgeous green landscaping. People (and dogs) are not allowed in it, not even on the grass. We learned this as Tina attempted to cut through a small grassy area to a statue for a picture. Whistles were blowing and fingers were shaking.
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