On our last day of the rental car (thank the Lord because my heart couldn’t take much more driving in France) we headed the opposite direction of Antibes and drove to Monaco along the coast road. Again it was beautiful and the little towns along the coast are so charming but sometimes traffic on the little coast road can be a bear. We get stuck in some standstill traffic for about 30 minutes and start to get a little nervous because we are sort of on a schedule. Our main purpose in going to Monaco is to go to Monte Carlo and see the beautiful casino, the one in the James Bond movies, and they are only open to tours in the morning and then open up for gambling starting at 2pm.

We finally arrive at the casino and it is unreal. It has been around since the mid 1800s and even stayed open for gambling during the two world wars! This is a casino where anyone can join in on the fun with the minimum bet starting at 10 euros and the maximum at 2,000 euros, I’m sure in the private suits the max is much higher. My only complaint would be how slot machines can really make something so beautiful and unique so tacky and lose all appeal. I think it would be better for the look of the place if they would loose the slots and just add more table games but then again I am sure that’s where the big money is with someone sipping on free booze and putting in just one more penny hoping that this one is the big winner.

After our tour we had lunch at the Cafe de Paris which has been in operation since 1868! It was a swanky place where you could have drinks on the porch (and watch for celebs or so our book tells us) or eat in the restaurant for lunch. We were starved so we opted for lunch with all of the 80 year olds that were there for the early bird special; don’t laugh I have a kid that wakes up the same time as the old people do.

Killian is wiped out and we decide to take another scenic drive along the cliffs (hoping for a long nap in the car) and it is nerve racking as the passenger but I am glad we did it. We arrive home and Killian and I have to kill some time while dad returns the rental car so we visit the gardens a couple of blocks away at the Massee Palace and try and run all of his energy out. Chris has been gone some time now and I get a call saying that he has taken the bus in the wrong direction and is now sitting in the ghetto and isn’t sure when he will be back. Awesome… He eventually makes it home and since we couldn’t gamble at Monte Carlo I sent him off to go gamble at the casino a few blocks from us along the beach. He had a great time and came home with $230 bucks! Heck yea!!